Allan has been on hunger strike in protest at his internment under administrative detention, which allows people to be held without charge for six-month intervals that can be renewed indefinitely. A doctor, who is working on behalf of the Allan family, Dr. Hani Abedin, was denied access to visit Allan by Israeli Prison Service guards.
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The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club has submitted a request to hospital officials on Sunday, asking them to wake Allan from his coma, so they can assess his situation.
Earlier this month, a Palestinian non-governmental organization said that nearly 150 prisoners have gone on hunger strike since the beginning of August. The prosecution further added that Allan’s release would deliver a message to the rest of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, that going a hunger strike ensures their release, a claim, which the prosecution said, would put the Israeli government in much trouble.
The UN labelled hunger strikes “a fundamental human right”. But it’s still unclear if the contentious procedure will be carried out in Allan’s case.
Both sides threw stones and Jewish protesters broke the windows of a Palestinian television news vehicle.
Allan, slipped into a coma Friday after ingesting only water since June 18 in protest at his being held in custody without charge.
A Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli forces after stabbing a border policeman at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, the army and Palestinian medics have said. “The patient is receiving medical treatment including ventilation and intravenous fluids and salts”. The force-feeding law was enacted to repress this tactic. A doctor who complies could face sanctions from the IMA, Walden said, although any action by the group would not affect the physician’s medical license, which is authorized by the Health Ministry.
“This force-feeding is trying to be imposed on doctors for security and political reasons, that have nothing to do with medical reasons”, Walden said. He participated today in the protest in Ramallah, one of many around Palestine, including outside Barzilai Hospital, in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus and elsewhere, demanding Allan’s immediate freedom. “We tried to save him but he died”, he said. Force-feeding can cause serious pain as well as damage to the esophagus and lungs, according to Walden. The evidence for this fear can be found in a recently enacted law permitting doctors to administer nutrition to hunger strikers against their will to try to keep them alive.
Palestinian attorney Muhammad Allan has been detained in prison since November of last year without rights or a trial.
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Allan’s strike has reached the point where his body may shut down at any time.
