High Court suspends administrative detention for 72-day hunger striker

Shin Bet says Muhammad Kik was arrested for terrorist activity connected to Hamas.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Updated: FEBRUARY 5, 2016 01:41
A Hebron man demonstrates in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike in protest at being held in administrative detention (photo credit: MUSSA QAWASMA / REUTERS)
A Hebron man demonstrates in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike in protest at being held in administrative detention
(photo credit: MUSSA QAWASMA / REUTERS)
The High Court of Justice late Thursday suspended the administrative detention of alleged Hamas operative Muhammad al-Kik after his health deteriorated from a 72-day hunger strike.
Under the court order, family members can visit Kik, but he cannot leave Emek Medical Center in Afula without permission.
In the one recent instance where the High Court employed this new idea of suspending administrative detention, the detention was immediately reactivated once the detainee’s health had recovered – though only for a short period before he was released.
Kik has been on hunger strike for 72 days to protest the use of administrative detention against him, which allows the state to hold suspects for renewable six-month periods with special judicial proceedings in place of all of the protections of a defendant as part of a full trial.
Kik’s lawyer did not commit to ending the hunger strike of the correspondent for Saudi Arabia’s Almajd TV network, since his freedom is not yet guaranteed.
He was arrested on November 21 at his home in Ramallah.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has said Kik was arrested for terrorist activity connected to Hamas.
He was jailed for a month in 2003 and for 13 months in 2004 for Hamas-related activities.
In 2008, he was given 16 months in prison for illegal activities on the student council at Bir Zeit University north of Ramallah.