Israelis re-arrest former hunger striker Thaer Halahela

Israeli Occupation Forces re-arrest former hunger striker Thaer Halahela

UFree Network to defend the rights of Palestinian prisoners condemned the re-arrest of the former-prisoner Thaer Halahela on Wednesday from his home in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.

UFree denounced, in a statement on Thursday, the motives and circumstances of the arrest, and quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the Israeli occupation forces violently broke into and ransacked the house of Halahela at midnight.

Thaer had been released last June after a deal that ended his hunger strike which lasted 77 days, in protest at his administrative detention for two years without charge or trial.

The Oslo-based Network confirmed that the re-arrest of Halahela opens the file of the re-arrest of ex-prisoners and the file of administrative detention, which violates the international laws.

It pointed out that the occupation authorities have arrested 15 ex-prisoners, released under the exchange deal that took place in 2011, under Egyptian auspices.

UFree Network called in its statement on the occupation authorities to immediately release Thaer and all the ex-detainees who have been re-arrested, including the Jerusalemite hunger striker Samer al-Issawi.

It also urged the Egyptian government - as the sponsor of the prisoner exchange deal - to pressure Israel to commit to the terms of the agreement.

The Network called on the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the United Nations to take the Palestinian prisoners' issue more seriously, especially after the occupation issued a military order allowing the re-arrest of ex-detainees without clear charge.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said that Thaer was transferred to the detention and interrogation center of Moscobiya and that the Israeli military court decided to extend his detention for 12 days.

PPS lawyer pointed out that he will submit an appeal against the court's decision.

UFree Network is an independent European-wide human rights network; set up to defend the rights of Palestinian political prisoners and detainees.

www.ufreenetwork.eu

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