Palestinian hunger striker beaten unconscious

A Palestinian hunger striker in Israel's Ramleh prison was knocked unconscious by prison guards earlier this week in the most recent abuse of prisoners, a coalition of human rights groups said on Thursday.

Hassan Safadi, who has gone 57 days without food, had his head slammed against the steel door of his prison cell during an assault on him and another hunger striker, Samer al-Barq.

The assault occurred after they refused to be transferred to a new cell, Addameer, al-Haq and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said in a joint statement.

"During the attack, Mr Safadi’s head was slammed against the iron door of the cell two times, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious. Prison guards then dragged him through the hall to be seen by all the other prisoners," it said.

Safadi announced after the beating that he would no longer be drinking water.

The two prisoners are refusing food to protest their detention without trial under a system Israel calls administrative detention.

Over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners ended a mass hunger strike in May after reaching a deal with Israel.

The deal specifically stipulated that Safadi would be released following the expiration of his detention order, but the agreement was not upheld.

Two other Palestinian prisoners, Ayman Sharawna and Samer al-Issawi, have also been refusing food for 47 and 16 days, respectively.

Israel's draconian administrative detention allows for the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable six month periods.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have slammed the policy as a violation of international humanitarian law.

Published  by Al Akhbar, Thursday, August 16, 2012 http://english.al-akhbar.com/search/node/hunger%20striker