Israeli authorities released Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq from administrative detention on Thursday, May 19. Al-Qiq came close to death a number of times in the course of his 94-day hunger strike waged to protest his detention.

Palestinians and Israelis holding posters of Muhammad al-Qiq during a joint protest at the Tunnel Checkpoint, south of Jerusalem, February 5, 2016 (Photo: Activestills)

The release of the hunger-striker marks the end of his six-month administrative detention – an Israeli policy of internment without charge or trial based on “secret” evidence allegedly held by Israeli authorities which even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.  In a rare move, Israel released al-Qiq near the illegal settlement Beit Hagai located in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank, according to Ibrahim Najajra, director of the Ministry of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs in the Hebron district.

The family of al-Qiq, including his two children, excitedly awaited him at the Mitar crossing to welcome him back to his home following his grueling six month ordeal. The 33-year old journalist from the northern occupied West Bank district of Ramallah was originally detained in November 2015. Initially he embarked on his hunger strike to protest the torture and ill-treatment he faced in Israeli custody, but it was soon transformed into a protest against Israel’s internationally condemned policy of administrative detention.

Al-Qiq’s imprisonment – widely condemned by the United Nations, Amnesty International, the International Federation of Journalists and human rights groups in Israel and Palestine, and his subsequent hunger strike, which brought him to the brink of death, focused a spotlight on Israel’s use of administrative detention, its arbitrary imprisonment of Palestinians, and the concerted targeting of Palestinian journalists.

According to Ma’an Palestinian news agency: “None of the 700 Palestinians currently being held in administrative detention in Israeli prisons are granted any rights to defend themselves in a fair trial, nor have they heard a single piece of evidence against them that could justify their detentions.”  According to the Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer, Israel’s policy of administrative detention is almost exclusively used against Palestinians.

Following a wave of violence that erupted across the occupied territories starting in October, Palestinian journalists have been targeted by Israeli forces amid a concerted crackdown on Palestinian media outlets, with at least 43 journalists being arbitrarily detained since the violence began.  In a statement released in March, Palestinian media freedoms group MADA said Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists and media was ignoring “the main reason for the whole conflict, which is the continuous occupation and systematic violation against the rights of the Palestinian people.”

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