Fears were growing Wednesday as the condition of a Palestinian hunger striker entered what a human rights group said was a critical phase. Hanaa Shalaby, 30, from a village near Jenin, on the northern West Bank, saw here hunger strike in opposition to her illegal detention by Israel, enter its 35th day. Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said her condition was becoming “life-threatening.” She was transferred overnight from a prison medical facility to a civilian one – Meir Hospital north-east of Tel Aviv. “Her condition is really, really bad,” Anat Litvin, the director of PHRI's Prisoners and Detainees Department told German press agency dpa, adding that Shalaby had lost more than 18 percent of her body weight, risked a heart attack, and had a “very, very low” pulse and blood pressure. About 20 other Palestinian prisoners, including a lawmaker of the radical Islamist Hamas movement, are currently also on hunger strike in Israeli jails. Her brother Ammar Shalaby told al-Ayat newspaper on Friday that his sister's lawyers fear for her life and asked for her to be moved to a hospital after she lost 13 kilos and suffers from eminent organ failure. Her defense lawyers from the al-Dameer organization for Prisoners Care visited Shalaby in her cell and reported back that she is suffering greatly and only consuming water and salt, so her stomach does not deteriorate from fungus. They added that the prison administration promised to move her to a hospital “within a couple of days.” According to Eissa Qaraqe', minister of Palestinian Prisoners Affairs, Shalaby refuses to see the prison doctors, demanding medical attention from an independent institution. He said in a press conference in the city of Ramallah, that she is not able to stand or speak, and accused the prison administration of being indifferent to her case and neglecting her. Qaraqe' said that 16 prisoners have entered hunger strikes in solidarity with Shalaby, and to bring attention to the inhuman and illegal procedures taken by the Israel towards Palestinians. Shalaby, who was arrested on February 16, after she was imprisoned for two and half years and released last year in the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit prisoners swap deal brokered by Egypt. She is in detention under what is called “administrative detention,” which allows the Israeli authorities to put Palestinians in prison without charges and for an open ended period of time, at times years. The procedure is based on “secret evidence” and the detainees do not get a trial in court. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/8GgBY Tags: Hunger Strike, Israel, Jail, Palestine, Shalaby Section: Human Rights, Latest News, Levant, Palestine, Women
