Tadamun: Nassif suspends hunger strike

[ 10/11/2010 - 03:56 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Hamas detained leader Ra'fat Nassif has stopped his hunger strike, which he started nine days earlier, the international Tadamun institution for human rights reported on Wednesday. Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher at the institution, said that Nassif temporarily halted his strike after the Israeli prison services (IPS) promised to give him his full rights as an administrative detainee. Nassif threatened to return to his strike in the event the IPS did not live up to its promises, he added. Beitawi noted that Nassif's health condition deteriorated during the strike as his body suffered shortage in white blood cells and acute fall in blood sugar level leading to repeated fainting. He said, however, that his condition stabilized after ending the strike. The Israeli occupation authority arrested Nassif in his Tulkarem home on 19/3/2009 and was since then held in administrative custody, without trial or charge. He has thus served nine years in administrative detention on aggregate. International laws prohibit administrative detention, but if present they stipulated special treatment and rights different from the ordinary prisoner. The IPS refuses to apply those rules to the Palestinian detainees.