Ramallah- 21/9/2015- Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association attorney, Farah Bayadsi, visited on Monday the isolated hunger striker Nidal Abu Aker at Asqalan Prison. Abu Aker confirmed that he is still being held in solitary confinement in a very small cell (150x180 cm) under inhumane conditions, and that he is not permitted to go out to the Fora (prisoners’ recreation time) on regular basis. He gets shackled during lawyers’ visits and sometimes during the Fora as well. Abu Aker confirmed that he was not reached by any party for negotiations and that he will continue with the hunger strike until freedom and until the end of administrative detention policy.
Abu Aker reported that he is only taking water and the IPS offers him food on daily basis but he refuses. He added that the IPS delays bringing him water and that he cannot fill the bottle from the tap because it is too low. He added that the IPS did not offer him any vitamins or salts despite being on hunger strike for 22 days. Abu Aker refuses medical examination and stopped taking his medications. He suffers from severe headache, dizziness, joints and backache, as well as Tinnitus (a condition which results ringing in the ears) and the skin around his eyes is yellow. He also suffers from a severe throat infection for which he is not taking medications. Bayadsi expressed that Abu Aker’s face is more pale than it was in the visit she conducted on Thursday.
Abu Aker reported to Bayadsi that he threatened to stop taking water if he is not transferred to another cell because criminal prisoners are held in cells near him and cause loud noises which prevent him from sleeping. He also demands to be transferred from Asqalan to be held with the rest of the hunger strikers. Abu Aker calls for a national campaign to end administrative detention policy and the imposition of an international judicial supervision on the occupation’s military courts, in addition to the prevention of force-feeding which was recently legislated by the occupation authorities. He also demands to be compensated along with the rest of the administrative detainees according to Article 39 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states that the Occupying Power should provide for protected persons who are forced to live under conditions that prevent them from providing for themselves or family members.
Abu Aker expresses his high spirits and strong will that does not know weakness. He reports that he will continue with the hunger strike until all of his demands and the those of the rest of hunger strikers are met. Nidal Abu Aker calls upon all Palestinian individuals, organizations, and national committees to work on the issue of this collective hunger strike appropriately, as well as the prisoners’ issue, administrative detainees, and exposing the policy of administrative detention on an international level in order to put an end to it.
Finally, Abu Aker sends his best regards and greetings to his family and the rest of the Palestinians with the upcoming holiday (Al-Adha holiday) and confirms that the struggle of the hunger strikers is only to send hope and happiness to the Palestinian people and to achieve justice, dignity and humanity.