Posted on the PFLP website
The Popular Campaign to Free Writer and Journalist Ali Jaradat issued an urgent call on January 20, 2010, to protect the life of imprisoned Palestinian writer and journalist Ali Jaradat. Jaradat, 57 years old, has been held repeatedly in administrative detention, with the most recent detention stretching from the time he was kidnapped from his home in Ramallah on April 22, 2008.
Despite the passage of nearly two years in administrative detention, said the Popular Campaign, he has not been charged or tried, and his detention has been extended repeatedly under the pretext of a "closed security file." Ali Jaradat is a writer and journalist, and a member of the Secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers.
During this detention, he has been subjected to interrogation, cruelty and abuse, including medical misttreatment and neglect, particularly of his heart disease and coronary artery disease after the heart attack he suffered in the Ofer detention camp, during a prior period of administrative detention, in March 2004. Since that time, he must take medication on a daily basis.
He has developed chronic heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, which together have become life-threatening, particularly in conditions of imprisonment and detention. In mid-2008, his diabetes worsened and he must now take daily medication. The popular campaign noted that he has on multiple occasions, like many prisoners, been denied adequate medical care. In fact, he has not received a comprehensive medical examination in nearly two years.
Instead, he has been transfered to Ofer, Naqab, Eshel, Nafha, and Kedar prisons, all while under administrative detention, in extremely harsh conditions of transport, without charge or trial.
During his detention, he has been denied family visits with his wife and children, adding to his suffering.
His administrative detention has been extended once again, until March 1, 2010. The call urged all forces of freedom and social justice organizations to act to save the life of the struggling imprisoned writer and journalist Ali Jaradat, through all forms of pressure on the Israeli government, calling for his release, medical treatment and return to his family.
