Israel to release former hunger striking prisoner in November

Former hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Allan is due to be released by Israel on 4 November, a lawyer with the Palestinian Prisoner's Society reportedly said on Tuesday.

Allan captured headlines when he embarked on a 66-day hunger strike in June, protesting his administrative detention, a form of internment in which Israel can detain a person indefinitely without charges or trial.

Jawad Boulos, head of the legal unit at the prisoner's support group, told Ma'an News Agency that an Israeli court ruled that Allan will be released once his current six month administrative detention ends.

The 33-year-old lawyer and alleged member of the Islamic Jihad group was arrested last year in the West Bank and given a six month administrative detention. Towards the end of that period, his detention was extended for another six months, leading to his hunger strike.

Allan was slated to be the first prisoner to be force-fed by Israeli authorities after a controversial Israeli law allowing the practice was adopted in July.

The Public Security Ministry said that the law, which the Knesset passed by a narrow majority of 46-40, would make it clear that “hunger striking is not a way out of prison”.

Allan, who slipped into a coma twice during his fast and suffered partial brain damage, suspended his hunger strike in August after Israeli authorities agreed to end his sentence, although no details were given regarding release. He was kept in Barzilai Hospital in the southern city of Ashkelon to recover.

However, when Allan tried to leave the hospital earlier this month, he was rearrested and sent to the Israeli Ramleh Prison hospital. Allan promptly announced a second hunger strike, but suspended it two days later after consulting his lawyer.

Boulos said that Allan still requires medical treatment and suffers from nausea.

Amnesty International issued a statement in August regarding Israel’s decision to suspend Allan’s sentence, saying that the verdict was based on his medical condition alone and “took no account of the legality of his detention".