Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed was due to be released from Israeli prison on June 13, after serving close to 15 years behind bars. But on the day of his scheduled release, Israel’s military authorities placed him under administrative detention for a period of six months. Administrative detention orders can be renewed indefinitely. According to Al Ittihad, the daily Arabic-language newspaper of the Communist Party of Israel, Kayed has begun a hunger strike to protest Israel’s refusal to release him.
Solidarity rally for imprisoned Bilal Kayed in the occupied West Bank town of Asira ash-Shamaliya, Saturday June 18, 2016 (Photo: Al Ittihad)
On Saturday, June 18, dozens of Palestinians conducted a protest march in the occupied West Bank village of Asira ash-Shamaliya, Kayed’s home town, in solidarity with the now administratively detained activist. The demonstrators gathered at the center of the town located 2 km north of Nablus and marched to the home of Kayed’s family holding aloft posters with his photograph together with Palestinian flags and flags of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Once outside the family home, PFLP activists read a press release written by party leaders, calling for mass protests across the country in support of Kayed. “June 21 and 22 will be days of hunger strikes in all Israeli prisons,” an initial step “that could be followed with an open-ended hunger strike by all PFLP prisoners if no Israeli response” to their demands for his release are met. The statement also condemned Israel’s refusal to allow family members to visit PFLP prisoners.
Bilal Kayed, 34, has been imprisoned by Israel since December 2001 on charges of membership in the proscribed PFLP, as well for alleged participation in activities against the State of Israel. At the time of his arrest, Kayed was 19 years old. Today he is among 750 Palestinians currently held by Israel in administrative detention without charges being made against him or being brought to trial, in flagrant disregard of the writ of habeas corpus.
