Israel frees Palestinian hunger striker from jail

Israel has relented and released a leading Palestinian prisoner who recently ended a 56-day hunger strike. 

Looking thin and pale, Khader Adnan was transferred in an Israeli ambulance Sunday and handed to the Palestinian medical service. 

Adnan had been held for more than a year in Israeli administrative detention. Adnan's protests, which included a previous 66-day hunger strike, drew attention to Israel's policies of holding Palestinians without trial or charges indefinitely. 

Adnan ended his latest strike two weeks ago in return for a promise to free him.  

Adnan, a senior activist in the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, was originally scheduled to be released Saturday but Israel delayed it until early Sunday, to avoid celebrations by Palestinians.  

International rights groups have long said that Israel’s administrative detention practices are unlawful, but Adnan – whose hunger strike was the longest of any Palestinian prisoner –gained particular attention. 

Amnesty International has documented that "administrative detainees – like many other Palestinian prisoners – have been subjected to violations such as the use of torture and other ill-treatment during interrogation, as well as cruel and degrading treatment during their detention, sometimes as punishment for hunger strikes or other protests."