Dozens gathered outside Emek Medical Center in Afula on Thursday, January 14, in support of a Palestinian political prisoner – journalist Muhammad Al-Qeeq – who has been on hunger strike for 50 days. The demonstration was organized by the Arab High Monitoring Committee, and was attended by a number of Joint List MKs who called on the state to release the political prisoner and to end the practice of administrative detention.
December 31, 2015 (Nabulus, West Bank) : Palestinians demonstrate in solidarity with the journalist Muhammad Al-Qeeq, 33, who has been on hunger strike since Israeli forces arrested him at his home on November 21. (Photo: Activestills)
Speaking at the protest, Joint List MK Yousef Jabareen ( Hadash) said, “We are calling for Al-Qeeq’s immediately release and strongly condemn the continued draconian policy of administrative detention which goes against the basic rules of law and justice.” Al-Qeeq, 33, works for the Saudi television channel Al-Majd.
Occupation forces arrested Al-Qeeq at his home in Abu Kesh, near Ramallah, on November 21, and he has been kept in administrative detention ever since. Administrative detention refers to arrests in which the detainee is not informed of the charges against him and is not brought before a judge to contest the arrest. These arrests are typically made for up to six months, but can be extended indefinitely.
Al-Qeeq was jailed in Ayalon Prison in Ramle, but on Monday, January 11, he was moved to the Emek Medical Center in Afula because of his declining physical condition. “Al-Qeek is emaciated and can hardly stand due to the atrophied muscles in his legs. He suffers from acidic vomiting several times a day, and his hearing and eyesight are impaired,” a spokesperson for Physicians for Human Rights, an Israeli rights group, said.
The Emek Medical Center representative claimed that “the hospital is treating him in keeping with the rulings of the Israel Medical Association’s ethics committee.” The IMA’s ethics committee is opposed to force-feeding hunger strikers which the former chairman of the committee, Dr. Avinoam Reches, has said constitutes torture. In July, the Knesset passed a controversial law allowing the force-feeding of hunger-striking prisoners if “their lives are in danger.”
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Palestinian Journalists’ syndicate (PJS) also are deeply concerned over the medical condition of the Palestinian journalist who has been on a hunger strike for almost 50 days in protest of his imprisonment without trial by Israeli forces. The PJS is demanding his immediate release and is holding all international legal parties and committees accountable for Al-Qeeq’s health. PJS says “Israel is trying to keep all cameras, pens and media away from reporting what is happening in the occupied territories by arresting journalists.” Anthony Bellanger, IFJ General Secretary, said: “The IFJ is demanding Mohammad Al-Qeeq’s immediate release. We also remind Israel of its obligation not to hold journalists prisoners solely on the basis of their profession.”
