Hadarim and Gilboa prisons join wide-ranging hunger strike

[ 18/05/2011 - 10:14 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinians held in the Hadarim and Gilboa prison have joined four more Israeli prisons in a wide-ranging hunger strike that has progressed intermittently for the past five days, the Gaza prisoner affairs ministry has declared. The actual number of prisoners that joined is 620. The prisoners are discussing lately going on an open-ended strike this July, a strike that would include all prisoners from various parties. They seek to pressure the prison administration into responding to demands to release the prisoners held in isolation and to end daily violations against them, and more. The prisoners enjoy high spirits, and they are determined to continue striking until demands are met, despite punitive measures taken against them in response by the prisons, said the Gaza ministry's media director Riyadh al-Ashkar. Since the strike, some prisoners have been denied visits for two months, and recreation time has been declined from three to one hour. Restrictions were also placed on canteen and television rights. Separately, the Palestinian Prisoner Society has reported that two prisoners from the Gaza Strip held at the the Shatta prison have gone on hunger strike for the past several days demanding to be moved to the Negev prison. One of the men is seriously ill, and the food strike is a life-threatening risk. Another prisoner has been infected with a virus in the face, which has cost him his speech and sight in the right eye, rights groups in Palestine have reported. They said he was taken to the Ramle hospital but now has returned to the Shatta prison. Meanwhile three men under threat of being banished from occupied Palestinian territory have been set free on NIS 30,000 bail bond and on condition of house arrest.