2 May 2023
21/2023
ICHR holds Israeli occupying authorities responsible for the death of political prisoner Khader Adnan while on hunger strike and demands an international inquiry commission
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) condemns the crime perpetrated by the Israeli occupying authorities, involving the murder of political prisoner Khader Adnan, who was on hunger strike for 86 days. Adnan started a hunger strike in protest at his arbitrary detention and fabrication of criminal charges for his peaceful and social activity and advocacy for the Palestinian people. According to available information, Adnan was found unconscious in his cell at the Ramleh Prison Hospital facility early this morning. He was transported to the Israeli Assaf Harofeh medical centre, where he was officially pronounced dead.
The circumstances of Adnan’s murder clearly demonstrate the Israeli occupying authorities’ premeditated intention to leave him to face death. In spite of recurrent petitions filed by his lawyers, Israeli military courts, which do not provide the minimum guarantees of a fair trial, had refused to release Adnan even on bail. The circumstances of death also indicate that necessary medical care had not been provided to Adnan. The Israeli Prisons Service refused to transport him to hospital despite his critical state of health as a result of his ongoing hunger strike.
The murder of Adnan was perpetrated amid growing incitement by political leaders of the Israeli government against Palestinian political prisoners. The Israeli government submitted a draft law to the Knesset, providing for the execution of Palestinian prisoners. Meantime, the Israeli occupying authorities persist with inhuman measures and repressive policies against Palestinian political prisoners, including deliberate failure to provide health care to ill prisoners, solitary confinement, invasive body searches degrading the human dignity, and torture and ill-treatment of detained Palestinians in Israeli interrogation centres.
In the light of the foregoing, the ICHR calls for establishing an international commission of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of political prisoner Adnan. His body must be released and handed to his family to ensure honourable burial. Detention conditions of all Palestinian political prisoners will be examined. The ICHR further demands that United Nations agencies and international community bear their legal and moral responsibilities for, and condemn, this crime. They will hold leaders of the Israeli occupying authorities accountable for this and other incessant crimes against the Palestinian people, including political prisoners. Under the International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, these acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, which fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.