Éirígí Activists Participate In 24hr Fast In Support Of Palestinian Prisoners
Six Éirígí activists from Dublin, Tipperary and Galway are participating in a symbolic 24hr fast in support of Palestinian prisoners who are being held under draconian Israeli legislation, including Maher al-Akhras who today ended a 103 day hunger strike.
Maher al-Akhras, a 47-year-old father of six from from the Palestinian town of Silat ad-Dahr, was detained by Israeli forces on July 27th, 2020. He immediately embarked on a hunger strike in protest at his detention under Israel’s draconian system of ‘administrative detention’.
Today, 103 days later and with his health in serious decline, Al Akhras agreed to end his protest in return for Israel committing to releasing him on November 26th. He is set to remain in hospital recovering from his hunger strike until that date.
We in Ireland are all too familiar with the draconian legislation of an occupying power. Israeli ‘administrative detention’ amounts to a form of internment without trial, very similar to that which the British state has repeatedly deployed against Irish republicans. We are also all too familiar with the use of the hunger strike as a tool of political struggle.
Éirígí stands in continuing solidarity with Maher al-Akhras and demands that the Israeli state fully honours all aspects of the agreement which it reached with him today. We believe that it is important for his international supporters to continue to monitor and highlight his case until he is actually released by Israel.
We further support the call for an end to the entire system of administrative detention and the immediate release of the more than 300 Palestinians who are currently being detained under this outrageous system.
As an occupying power Israel is obliged to protect the human rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to access an open and fair legal system - a right which is effectively shredded by the system of administrative detention.
