Middle East Monitor / October 8, 2021
Mohammed al-Arida, one of six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Israel’s high-security Gilboa Prison on 6 September and was recaptured days later, yesterday ended his hunger strike after Israeli authorities agreed to his demands, Arab48 reports.
The 46-year-old began the hunger strike on Monday.
Al-Arida has been subject to harassment and harsh punitive measures imposed by the Israeli prison service since he was recaptured, Wafa news agency reported.
These include keeping him in isolation for 14 days without any personal belongings, banning him from family visits, and buying essentials from the canteen for two months, in addition to fining him.
He is being held in isolation without blankets or a pillow in a small, dirty, and unventilated cell that lacks the basic living standards. He has not been able to take a shower for days because he is being monitored around the clock by surveillance cameras.
Al-Arida, from the town of Arraba near Jenin, was arrested in 1996 and he is serving a life sentence.
