Palestinian prisoner enters second month of his hunger strike

The Palestinian prisoner Bilal al-Kayed entered on Friday the second month of his hunger strike waged in protest against his administrative detention according to which he is illegally held after ending his 14-year sentence. Al-Kayed was earlier transferred to Soroka hospital, in Beer Sheba, after his health has taken a serious turn for the worse.

The Sawt al-Asra radio said prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) decided to go on a hunger strike for a couple of days in solidarity with al-Kayed.

In response to the move, the Israeli prison administration seized all electric kit from prison cells and imposed a fine of 600 shekels on the detainees. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) called for mass participation in the online campaign to be launched on Thursday in solidarity with al-Kayed.  35-year-old al-Kayed, from northern Nablus, was kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces in 2002 on charges of membership in the PFLP armed wing and involvement in anti-occupation activism.

The Israeli occupation authorities held him in administrative detention, with neither charge nor trial, right after he had ended a 14-year-sentence in Israeli jails.