Lawyers : Hunger-striking prisoners in critical condition

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Published yesterday (updated) 08/10/2012 14:35

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Hunger striking prisoners Samir Issawi and Ayman Sharawna are both in a critical condition, their lawyers told the Palestinian Authority prisoners ministry on Sunday.

Sharawna has been on hunger strike since July 1, and Issawi joined a month later. They were both released under the 2011 prisoner swap deal but rearrested shortly after, and held without charge.

Issawi suffers from dizziness, headache and severe kidney pains, and the Israeli prison service has refused to take him from Nafha prison to a clinic in Ramla prison, ministry lawyers Fadi Ubeidat and Rami al-Alami said.

He takes only water and salt, with no vitamins, the lawyers said.

Issawi refuses to be deported and told his lawyer that he would continue his hunger strike until he “is set free or dies a martyr.”

Meanwhile, Sharawna has lost sight in his right eye and is suffering pains all over his body, Ubeidat said. He is being treated at Ramla prison clinic where his hands and feet are cuffed, the lawyer said.

The Palestinian prisoner’s society and the ministry of prisoners’ affairs have appealed to Egypt, who brokered and supervised the last prisoner swap, to ensure that Israel releases the Issawi and Sharawna, as well as six other prisoners who were detained after previously being released in the swap deal.