Prison to give infusions to Palestinian on hunger strike

Medical Ethics C'tee instructs Israel Prisons Service to give salt, sugar infusions to Palestinian in "imminent danger of death."

By BEN HARTMAN
Prison jail generic (photo credit: Courtesy)
Prison jail generic
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Medical Ethics Committee on Tuesday instructed the Israel Prisons Service (IPS) to give a Palestinian hunger-striker salt and sugar infusions after ruling that he is in imminent danger of death.
The IPS said Tuesday that Hadar Adnan, who has been on a hunger strike since his arrest on December 17 in the West Bank village of Arrabe, met with the ethics committee and a Muslim clergyman, who told him that they are considering giving him infusions. He then was given a potassium pill and returned to the Prisons Service medical facility.
The IPS said that Adnan is on a hunger strike because he asserts he is innocent and that shortly after his strike began he was taken for medical treatment by the Prisons Service, but refused to be examined.
Monday night’s ruling follows one made by the Medical Ethics Committee on January 17 that concluded that Adnan did not want to die, and therefore the Prisons Service could not forcibly give him medical treatment.
On Sunday, according to the IPS, Adnan made the decision to stop drinking water as well, a decision they said made the risk to his life more serious.
On Tuesday afternoon he was taken for treatment at Mayane Hayeshua Hospital, and on Wednesday he will be brought for a legal hearing on his arrest, the IPS added.
While Adnan is believed to be a leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) General Security Services would not confirm his membership in the organization on Tuesday, saying that because he is being held on administrative detention, they prefer not to comment on his case.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel said Tuesday that Adnan is “fighting for his freedom and against the administrative detentions used by Israel against a number of Palestinian political activists, heads of professional organizations, lecturers, authors, students and journalists.”