After hunger strike
Jihadi member dies in Israeli custody
Chader Adnan, a senior member of the Palestinian militant organization Islamic Jihad (2012 archive photo). photo
© Alaa Badarneh/EPA/dpa
Chader Adnan has been imprisoned in Israel several times – often without official charges. The senior member of Islamic Jihad repeatedly went on hunger strikes to force his release.
A senior member of the Palestinian militant organization Islamic Jihad has died in Israeli custody after nearly three months on a hunger strike. A spokesman for the Israeli prison authorities said on Tuesday that 44-year-old Chader Adnan was found unconscious in his cell. During attempts to revive him, he was taken to a hospital, but was pronounced dead there.
Palestinian militants fired three rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israel on Tuesday morning in protest after Adnan’s death. According to the Israeli military, the projectiles did not land in inhabited areas. A general strike was called in the West Bank.
The Islamist from Jenin in the West Bank began the hunger strike on February 5 after his arrest for terrorism-related offences, the Israeli spokesman said. He was imprisoned for suspected membership in a terrorist organization, support for terrorism and hate speech. It is already his tenth prison term in Israel. Jenin is considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians.
The married father of three children has been repeatedly arrested by Israeli security forces and held in custody without official charges in the past – around 2014 as part of a wave of arrests in the West Bank. Israel was reacting to the kidnapping and murder of three teenagers by militant Palestinians.
Adnan was released in 2015 after a life-threatening hunger strike. In February 2012, Adnan ended a 66-day hunger strike after a similar agreement was reached. With the action he protested against his so-called administrative detention in Israel. Those affected can be detained for six months or longer without charge for security reasons.