Israel: Palestinian-Jordanian Hunger Striker Moved to Hospital

Palestinian-Jordanian prisoner Heba Al-Labadi who has been on hunger strike for over a month was transferred Thursday to a hospital in Haifa, Israel after her health condition intensely deteriorated, according to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry.

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Sufyan Al-Qudah the ministry’s spokesman said Al-Labadi was moved to the hospital to receive the necessary treatment and returned to prison on the same day.

Her father Ahmand Al-Labadi had previously told Quds Press that his daughter was suffering from a grave deterioration of her health along with heart-related problems.

The young woman was arrested by the Israeli forces on Aug. 20 at Allenby Bridge border crossing (a bridge that connects the West Bank with Jordan) as she was traveling with her mother to attend a wedding in the West Bank.

In prison, she was tortured and interrogated for hours and for 16 days straight she was handcuffed and tied to a chair and not allowed to see her family or a lawyer. 

Some 35 days following her arrest, without a trial or any charge, an Israeli military court issued a five-month administrative detention against her.

As a result, she began an open-ended hunger strike against her administrative detention, a practice used by Israel to detain indefinitely Palestinians without charge or trial. This kind of detention order is reviewed every six months but the detainees are not told for what crimes they are being accused of, making them unable to defend themselves.

Al-Labadi rejects the accusations against her, which were not made public aside from a statement by Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, saying she was arrested under “severe security circumstances.” According to what suggested in the statement, her detention is reportedly related to posts she published on her private Facebook page, which allegedly expressed support for Hezbollah.

On the other hand, Palestinian and Israeli activists are taking action to raise awareness about her case. On Sunday, they launched a campaign urging her release. In Tel Aviv, Israel, a 24-hour long protest was organized in Habima Square during which several women sat handcuffed to a chair inside a transparent box meant to resemble al-Labadi’s interrogation cell.

“This is a young woman who has been imprisoned since August with no indictment and no one in Israel is talking about it,” said Sigal Avivi, a prominent political activist and one of the organizers of the initiative.   

Avivi added the protests were also the occasion to demonstrate against the practice of administrative detention. 

“We can no longer be silent. Time and time again we see Israel use this tool, which is in violation of international law,” he said.