Prisoners on hunger strike
2007-10-23 14:06
Jerusalem - Palestinian prisoners held in Israel went on a hunger strike on Tuesday to protest against what they condemned as heavy-handed repression of a prison riot that left one inmate dead, officials said.
The Prisoners Club, the main group representing Palestinians held in Israel, said the one-day hunger strike was being observed by most of the 11 000 Palestinian security detainees in the Jewish state.
"This is a one-day hunger strike to protest against what happened at Ketziot," said Palestinian lawmaker Issa Qaraqi.
A spokesperson for Israel's prison service, Yarona Zamir, said some prisoners refused their breakfast but denied there was a widespread hunger strike.
On Monday, one Palestinian was killed in violent clashes between rioting inmates and Israeli guards armed with tear-gas, rubber bullets and batons at the Ketziot jail deep in the southern Negev desert.
Mohammed al-Ashqar, a member of the radical faction Islamic Jihad, died from his injuries in an Israeli hospital outside Tel Aviv. He was jailed for five years but had only two months left to serve.
Officials on both sides said the riots started when guards started to search a tented area where 1 000 Palestinians live.
Inmates threw objects at guards who put down the troubles with means of riot dispersal.
About 2 000 Palestinians are held at Ketziot, 700 of whom have seen no charges brought against them.