Hours after Israel rearrests Palestinian prisoner, he restarts hunger strike

A Palestinian lawyer, who recently went on a 66-day hunger strike to protest his administrative detention by Israel, started his strike on Wednesday after Israel renewed his detention without trial.

Mohammed Allan's two-month hunger strike left him in a coma twice. His detention without trial, scheduled to last until 4 November, was suspended by Israel's High Court on 19 August as he received medical treatment following the strike.

The 31-year-old, whose condition had improved, was recuperating in an Israeli hospital in Ashkelon where he was arrested on Wednesday morning and transferred to Ramleh prison hospital.

Allan's lawyer Jamil al-Khatib confirmed to AFP late on Wednesday that he has resumed his hunger strike.

In November, Allan, an alleged member of Islamic Jihad, was arrested in his West Bank hometown of Einabus and held by Israel without charge or trial. On 18 June, Allan announced his hunger strike, during which he only drank water. 

The hunger strike caused Allan to slip in and out of a coma, and he also suffered partial brain damage.

After Allan was transferred to a hospital when his condition deteriorated during the strike, doctors refused to force feed him, a practice that Israel legalised this summer. They did, however, administer supplements to his body intraveneously.

According to a statement released by the Israeli police, Allan will remain in the Ramleh prison hospital until his original detention period ends on 4 November.

Allan was originally released based on medical grounds, which Amnesty International said "took no account of the legality of his detention," sparking fears that he would be arrested again once his health improves. 

Qaddoura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoner's Society, said that this was only to be expected from Israel, who has based Allan's release solely on his medical condition.

"The arrest of Mohammed Allan resembles a play carried out by the military prosecutor of the occupation and so-called Supreme Court of Justice," Fares said.

"The Supreme Court decision was clear and includes malicious intentions towards the prisoner Allan, as exemplified by the disgraceful decision taken today to re-arrest him," he added.