Hunger-striking Palestinian Islamic Jihad administrative detainee prisoner Mohammed Alla’an is still in very serious condition at Barzilai Medical Center, but is not being force-fed, and technically he is free at this time.
The High Court of Justice has suspended his administrative detention after it became clear that his medical condition had deteriorated and he had caused himself brain damage as a result of refusing food for more than 60 days.
Attorneys for the suspected terrorist and for the state have been debating over what has been the core cause of Alla’an’s condition — his hunger strike or the administrative detention that led him to refuse food in a bid for freedom.
Few are pointing to the behavior that led to the administrative detention in the first place, in part because the evidence has not been made public.
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel told Galei Tzahal Army Radio in an interview this morning (Aug. 20) he opposes the use of administrative detention except for when the suspect can be classified as a “ticking time bomb.”
“The State of Israel resorts to the practice of administrative detentions too easily and too often,” Ariel said. “It should only be used in cases in which there is an imminent threat of an attack.”
Ariel said the state, rather than the High Court, has mishandled the current situation with the hunger-striking Alla’an.
“My problem is not with the High Court of Justice,” the minister said. “It’s the fact that the representatives of the state don’t force-feed him and make sure that [Allan] stays alive.”
“They can’t find any doctor in the entire country willing to force-feed him,” Ariel said. “It boggles the mind. The situation that has been created is more than strange.”