RAMALLAH: On Monday a military prosecution in Ofer court in the Israeli-occupied West Bank issued a laundry list of charges against detained human rights researcher Ayman Nasser, an Addameer press release stated. Nasser's detention period was extended at least six times before he was charged. Since his arrest he has been held in isolation, receiving little to no human contact aside from interrogations. The charges against Nasser, an employee of Addameer, a Palestinian prisoners' rights organization, include “support and solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, participating in the annual Prisoner's Day on 17 April (the charges specified participation in 2011 and 2012), as well as participating in solidarity activities during hunger strikes (both collective hunger strikes and individual hunger strikes), in addition to attending a festival anniversary of Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa on 27 August 2012," the statement said. 42-year-old Nasser was initially arrested during a raid on his home in Saffa on October 25th, after which he was placed in a 39-day interrogation, during which some days spanned 20 consecutive hours, Addameer said. His pre-existing health conditions, notably an inflamed spine and ulcerous colon, have significantly worsened while in detention. Addameer called on the United Nations to interfere on behalf of Nasser, whose detention they maintain is illegal under international because he qualifies as a human rights defender. Last month Human Rights Watch demanded that Israel “stop harassing Addameer employees." As recently as September, Israel held 4,606 Palestinian political prisoners, 212 of which were in administrative detention without charge. Three prisoners are presently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons, all of whom are suffering from rapidly deteriorating health conditions. On Monday, over a thousand prisoners joined them in a one-day solidarity hunger strike.
