PFLP Prison Branch Suspends Hunger Strike After Winning Concessions From IPA

Palestine, May 30, 2023: The Handala Center for Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners announced in a statement on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached between the Prison Branch of the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Israeli Prison Administration.

According to the Handala Center’s statement, the agreement provides for the suspension of the open-ended hunger strike, which the PFLP Prison Branch waged in occupation prisons, on the condition that the Israeli Prison Administration terminated the penalties imposed by the IPA against the Secretary-General of the PFLP, Ahmad Sa’adat, and two other imprisoned PFLP leaders, Ahed Abu Gholami and Walid Hanatshe, and the return of the three of them to general population.

The imprisoned PFLP cadres had started a hunger strike a few days ago, in support of cancer-stricken prisoner Walid Daqqa and other sick prisoners, and to confront the targeting of the PFLP’s leaders in captivity.

In a statement, the PFLP stated that it had “taken a decision to escalate in all the Israeli occupation prisons in the context of confronting the jailer’s retaliatory measures against the leader Ahmad Sa’adat and the leadership of the PFLP in prisons.”

The strike came after the IPA returned sick prisoner Walid Daqqa to the Ramallah prison clinic, days after he was transferred to Assaf Harofeh Hospital due to his deteriorating health condition, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees. According to a statement issued by the family and the campaign for his release, occupation authorities postponed the special court session for the immediate release of the prisoner.

The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees said that the statements made by Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir about the case of Daqqa underline that the occupation authorities intend to kill the prisoner, and reflect the atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation through medical neglect against prisoner Daqqa and hundreds of other sick prisoners.

Ben-Gvir and his fascist government are leading an unprecedented brutal campaign against Palestinian prisoners, and they are carrying out the death penalty through systematic policies and practical measures aimed at getting the prisoners sick and then letting them die slowly, the ministry underlined.

Source : https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/palestinian-prisoners-end-hunger-strike-iof-drops-penalties