Hunger-Striking Prisoner Refuses Medical Treatment

Local Editor

Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayid decided to escalate his hunger strike and refuse any medical treatments or tests until an "Israeli" court agreed to hear his case, prisoners' rights group Addameer said on Monday.

Addameer lawyer Farah Bayadsa visited Kayid, who is currently held in the "Israeli" entity's Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon under maximum security, on Sunday, and reported that Kayid wanted to be transferred back to prison so he could continue his hunger strike alongside other Palestinian prisoners.

Kayid has been on hunger strike for 48 days after he was sentenced to six months in administrative detention -- internment without trial or charges -- on the day he was due to be released after serving a 14-year sentence in "Israeli" custody.

Bayadsa said Kayid had decided to escalate his strike since an "Israeli" court turned down the appeal against his administrative detention. Beginning in August, Kayid announced he would refuse all medical tests or treatment until a date is set for a court hearing.

Kayid has also asked to be transferred back to prison after denouncing his harsh treatment in the hospital.

While detained at the Barzilai hospital, Kayid has had his right hand and left leg cuffed to the bed at all times, with three "Israeli" guards and a surveillance camera always present in his room, preventing any privacy, even during visits by his lawyer, which are limited to half an hour.

He said that he was being harassed by both "Israeli" extremists visiting the hospital and his guards, whom he accused of taking pictures of him in his sleep and turning the air conditioner on high when he felt cold.

After more than a month and a half of hunger strike, Kayid's health has seriously deteriorated. The 35-year-old prisoner has been suffering from severe headaches, heartburn, exhaustion, insomnia, and weight loss.

Doctors have only allowed him to drink one liter of water each day because of his condition, and Kayid has also complained of suffering physical pain due to being shackled to his bed.

After insisting, he has been allowed to walk in his room for 15 minutes each day, even though he has only been able to walk slowly because of his feelings of dizziness.

Addameer called Kayid's imprisonment a violation of human rights, and demanded the instant release of Kayid, as well as an end to all punitive measures against prisoners standing in solidarity with Kayid.

Kayid a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP], is from the town of Asira al-Shamaliya in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus.

Tel Aviv's administrative detention policy is widely criticized among Palestinians, who say it has been used to detain Palestinians without justifications.

According to prisoners' rights group Addameer, 7,000 Palestinians were being held by the "Israeli apartheid regime as of May, 715 of whom were held in administrative detention.

Source: News Coverage, Edited by website team