Israel frees prominent Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike

A Palestinian prisoner and Islamic jihad leader who had been on a hunger strike in an Isreali jail for 55 days, has been released.

Khader Adnan, who launched an indefinite hunger strike on April 6, had been placed under medical supervision at a clinic in Israel’s Ramla prison earlier this month.

Adnan's strike had galvanized Palestinians behind a "battle of empty stomachs" against Israeli detentions without trial and both sides had feared the threat of his death could hurt a shaky Gaza truce or spur further violence.

Adnan, 37, had been hospitalized in critical condition after refusing food since May 4. Israel freed him in the early hours on Sunday, the agreed date for his release.

Israel had arrested Adnan last July for the 10th time, detaining him without trial under so-called “administrative detention” – a practice in which Israel holds Palestinians without charges or trial - for a year, since soldiers took him from his home in Arrabeh, in the north of the occupied West Bank last July.

Under the administrative detention, Israel can detain Palestinians indefinitely for renewable six month intervals, a practice which according to Israel is employed to prevent violence.

It was the tenth time that the 37-year-old father of six, who worked as a baker, had been placed in detention without charge. Adnan had spent a total of around six years in jail.

He has previously been on longer hunger strikes and refused food for 66 days back in 2013.

Adnan, a father of six from the West Bank city of Jenin which launched celebrations when he returned home, had begun an extended hunger strike in 2012 that also led to his freedom.

His family had also been denied visitation rights for "security reasons".

Israel has sought to prevent hunger strikes by introducing legislation for prisoners to be force fed, but the measure has hit obstacles, such as condemnation by the national doctors' union, which says it contravenes ethical commitments.

Adnan is a known Islamic Jihad figure in the West Bank, territory that Israel captured in a 1967 war, where Palestinians seek an independent state. Like Islamist Hamas, Islamic Jihad opposes peace deals between the Palestinians and Israel and advocates the destruction of Israel. He had denied ever been involved in violence.

An estimated 426 Palestinians in Israeli lock-up are currently being held as administrative detainees, according to the Ramallah-based Addameer Prisoner Support Network.