Sick Palestinian detainee Emad Ahmed al-Saraj from al-Bureij camp has joined a mass hunger strike launched in Israeli jails for 12 days running in what observes described as a sign of an unbreakable will.
38-year-old al-Saraj sentenced to life in Israeli jails on charges of involvement in anti-occupation operations in the West Bank has been diagnosed with a serious ulcer.
Al-Saraj incarcerated in Israeli lock-ups since 2004 has been denied the right to family visits since the death of his cancer-stricken father some four years ago. His siblings have frequently appealed for a visit. However their calls have gone unheeded by the Israeli prison authorities.
“My brother had been involved in anti-occupation activities since 2000. He had been chased down by the Israeli forces and arrested in June 2004. He survived two assassination attempts and was sentenced to life” his brother Khaled said lifting a snapshot of the detainee and his father taken during their last prison visit.
Pro-Israel collaborators poisoned al-Saraj during a manhunt before he was dragged to an ambulance and arrested by the occupation forces. He has also been made to endure harsh torture in Israeli jails where he caught a life-threatening ulcer.
Al-Saraj’s mother passed away in 1990 after she succumbed to an internal hemorrhage caught during a fight that broke out with Israeli soldiers who arrested her four sons. The mother had been subjected to heavy beating by the occupation forces. She was pronounced dead in the hospital.
A couple of days ago activists warned of the deteriorating health status of hunger striking al-Saraj after he was transferred to solitary confinement in Nafha jail.
His brother Khaled expressed concern over his exacerbated health status vowing that he along with the rest of his family members will start an open-ended hunger strike inside a sit-in tent in solidarity with the Palestinian detainees who have been on hunger strike in Israeli lock-ups demanding restoration of their usurped rights.
Khaled’s son also appealed to the concerned human rights institutions to work on releasing his uncle from Israeli prisons and restoring the detainees’ basic rights.
“I’ve been keeping tabs on my uncle’s situation on social media networks due to the visit-ban. I appeal to the world’s free people to take an urgent action vis-à-vis the prisoners’ cause” added the prisoner’s nephew.
Nearly 1500 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails joined a mass hunger strike as of Monday April 17 to protest mistreatment in Israeli jails and push for basic rights.
