Khader Adnan has refused to eat since December 17 when he was arrested by the Israeli military in the middle of the night from his home in the West Bank. His life is in grave danger. His story was finally covered today in the New York Times blog, The Lede.
He has not been charged with any crime and is being held under administrative detention. Amnesty International has issued two urgent appeals for Khader. Administrative detention procedures allows the Israeli military to hold Palestinians on secret evidence without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. Military law empowers military commanders to detain a Palestinian for up to six month renewable periods for any security concern. On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is frequently renewed. This process can, and often is, continued indefinitely.
In a letter from prison last week, Khader wrote:
The Israeli occupation has gone to extremes against our people, especially prisoners. I have been humiliated, beaten, and harassed by interrogators for no reason, and thus I swore to God I would fight the policy of administrative detention to which I and hundreds of my fellow prisoners fell prey.
According to Amnesty, 307 Palestinians are in Israeli administrative detention, including 21 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council that was elected in January 2006.
Palestinians and solidarity activists will be fasting tomorrow for Khader's release.
Right now there is a twitter campaign to bring attention to Khader's plight. Tweet this story with #Khader61Days
Khader is 33 years old with young children and a pregnant wife waiting him to return home.