Imprisoned Palestinian lawyer Shireen Issawi goes on hunger strike

Palestinian prisoner Shireen Issawi (35) has started an open hunger strike in solidarity with prisoner Mohamed Allan, who slipped into a coma after being on hunger strike for more than two months.

"Issawi announced her hunger strike in solidarity with Allan last Friday," the head of the Jerusalem detainees' committee Amjad Abu Asab told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Meanwhile, Issawi's brother Samer has been on hunger strike in solidarity with Allan for a few days.

Both Shireen and Samer Issawi were freed as part of the Wafaa al-Ahrar prisoner swap deal in 2011. However, Shireen was re-arrested in March 2014, while Samer was re-arrested in June in an arrest campaign against dozens of freed prisoners following the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli settlers near Hebron in June 2014.

Samer is has been on the longest hunger strike to protest his detention. He was on hunger strike for eight months in 2013.

Allan had been on an open hunger strike for more than two months to protest his administrative detention. His health condition has thus deteriorated, and he is currently held at the Israeli Barzilai hospital.

Last week, Allan's family said that Israeli authorities were threatening to force-feed him.

In July, the Israeli parliament approved a law allowing prisoners on hunger strike facing death to be force-fed. Since then, the move has sparked criticism from rights groups and medical experts.

This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.