An arrested member of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement has staged a hunger strike in the West Bank city of Nablus to protest circumstances of his arrest, reported the official KUNA news agency, citing family members.
Mahmoud Abu Hannoud was sentenced by a state security court in September for twelve years.
The Hamas activist had turned himself in to the PNA on 27 August 2000.
He had managed to escape the Duvduvan, Israeli agents disguised in Arab dress, who had stormed the village of Assera Ashimalieh in Nablus where he was hiding.
Two bullets hit him, one in the right shoulder and another in the back during an exchange of fire that also killed two Israeli soldiers, reports at that time said.
Abu Hannoud was charged with training military groups and equipping them with weapons. He was also charged with the establishment of a substitute leadership, which led to the infliction of damage to Palestinian security and duplicity and damage to the existing authority.
Family members told KUNA that Abu Hannoud started his hunger strike last Thursday protesting his detention in an isolated prison since last august 29.
They added that he was not granted personal freedom to see his family.
“Mahmoud is experiencing irregular conditions,” a family member told the agency.
The family said that it had made contacts with several Hamas officials to allow them see their son.
Since the outbreak of the Intifada late September, the PNA has released a number of Islamic detainees, at least two of whom were assassinated by the Israeli forces.
Israel charges that the Palestinian Authority has fueled “violence” through setting the “terrorists” free – Albawaba.com
