Former Hadash MK and leading Communist activist, Mohammed Barakeh, and Sheikh Ra’ad Salah were arrested on Thursday, February 18, after visiting the hunger-striking Palestinian journalist, Mohammed al-Qiq, currently hospitalized in the Haemek Hospital in Afula in northern Israel. Barakeh and Salah recently announced that they and 20 other activists are joining Qiq’s hunger strike in solidarity with him. According to the police, Barakeh, who is currently the chairman of the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, and Salah, “refused to leave the hospital after being asked to do so” and were consequently held for 3 hours before being released. The two have been barred from visiting the hospital for 14 days.

Mohammad Barakeh with Hadash MKs Aida Touma-Sliman and Yousef Jabareen (in center) together with supporters in front the Afula police headquarters on Thursday, February 18 (Photo: Al Ittihad)

Head of the Joint List, MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash), blasted the incident as an attempt to silence political dissent among Arabs in Israel. “This is part of the campaign by the regime’s institutions, from the prime minister down, to silence any form of criticism of the occupation and the expropriation of lands,” he said. “The police’s attempts to intimidate us will not stop us from fighting the administrative detention of al-Qiq, now on strike for 83 days, all the time that no reason for his being held has been given.” Hadash MK Yousef Jabareen of the Joint List called Barakeh’s detainment “a provocative move that reeks of vindictiveness and efforts to silence dissent.”

Barakeh echoed the claim. Speaking to the Arabic-language newpaper Al-Ittihad, he stated that he objects to the restraining order placed on him and Salah, preventing them from visiting the hospital for two weeks. Barakeh claimed that he and Salah were not causing any crowding in hospital, rather they were merely standing the waiting area when detained by police, and that they intend to appeal the decision. Barakeh added that his and Salah’s presence at the hospital was not just an act of solidarity but also an attempt to resolve the crisis surrounding the Palestinian journalist’s hunger strike. Earlier in the week, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected Mohammed al-Qiq’s petition to be moved from Haemek Hospital in Afula to a hospital in Ramallah in the West Bank. The hunger-striking Palestinian journalist is demanding to be moved to a hospital under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, given that his condition requires hospitalization.

Related:

Supreme Court Rejects Palestinian Hunger-Striker’s Request to Be Transferred to Palestinian Hospital