Family of prisoner Khalil Awawda appeals to international community to intervene to release him

 “Life is of no value when my father is absent from us. He is detained in the cells of the Israeli occupation. I and my three brothers miss him and fear for him as he continues to go on hunger strike in defiance of the occupation. I dream of hugging him and sitting with him,” with these words, the 9-year-old girl, Tolin, described the state of anxiety and pain she lives with her family, fearing for the life of her captive father, Khalil Awawda, who continues for the 38th  day his hunger strike in protest against the occupation’s crimes against the prisoners.

The prisoner’s wife, Dalal Awawdeh, said, “My four children and I, daily feel  and suffer as a result of the occupation preventing us from visiting or contacting him. We are waiting for any information to reassure us about him. Every minute that passes is a danger to his life with the continuous deterioration of his health.”

Dalal added, “Khalil has lost the ability to move and stand on his feet and suffers from severe pain in the bones. He has lost more than 15 kg of his weight. He needs urgent health care to save his life, especially that he only takes water without any suppliers, and this poses a serious threat to his life.”

Dalal made a distress call to the international community and its human rights institutions to intervene urgently to save the life of her husband, who is fighting death inside the occupation prisons, which lacks all the necessities of life. She stressed that the battle of honor and dignity that her husband is waging through his hunger strike is nothing but a rejection of the crimes of the occupation against him and the right of all prisoners, foremost of which is solitary confinement, Medical negligence, prevention of visits and physical and psychological torture.

In turn, spokesman for the Prisoners Club, Amjad Al-Najjar, indicated that the occupation is holding Awawda in solitary confinement and torturing him physically and psychologically in a failed attempt to pressure him to stop his hunger strike. He noted that Awawda has a strong and unbreakable will and that he continues in his battle until victory over the jailer.

Al-Najjar pointed out that all the Palestinian prisoners are fighting for their freedom, calling for urgent international action to save their lives, especially the hunger strikers, as they live in harsh detention conditions in which the occupation violates all international conventions and norms.

The spokesman for the Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, Hassan Abd Rabbo, stated that Awawda, who is detained in Ramleh prison, suffers from a continuous deterioration in his health. He pointed out that the occupation authorities refuse to respond to the requests made by the Authority for his release. He called for a move by the international institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs to pressure the occupation to release him.

The 40 year old prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, who is from the town of Idna in the city of Hebron in the West Bank, has been detained since the 27th  of last December. He had previously been arrested five times, during which he spent 12 years inside the prison. He was subjected to physical and psychological torture, which caused him multiple health problems, especially in the senses of sight and hearing.

Inas Abdulkareem