Samer Issawi at risk of imminent death, on artificial ventilation

Ramallah, Palestine – Lawyer Shireen Issawi, sister of the hunger-striking Jerusalemite political prisoner Samer Issawi, has confirmed that her brother is living in an extremely critical health situation. She indicated that “at the moment, he is living on artificial ventilation, and is in danger of dying at any instance.”

Issawi also clarified in a report to Palestine that her brother is in an especially dangerous condition after his weight decreased to 45 kilograms, and his average heart rate to 24 beats per minute, whereas 85 beats per minute is normal for a healthy human being.

She also said: “Samer is exposed to death at any moment, and to the occurrence of a brain infarction due to various diseases that are affecting his body”, as she demanded the release of this information to all human rights institutions and international organizations, in order for them to intervene with the utmost urgency to save his life as quickly as possible.

She wondered: “What is the world waiting for? What are our Palestinian people waiting for? Are they waiting for Samer to return to us in the same way that the prisoners Maysara Abuhamdieh and Arafat Jaradat, and others, returned to their families, being carried on their shoulders?”

Political prisoner Maysara Ahmad Abuhamdieh (64 years) was martyred at  the Israeli Soroka hospital last Tuesday, as a direct result of medical negligence, which raised the number of prisoner martyrs to 204.

Samer Issawi is insisting on continuing his open-ended hunger strike, which he started in August last year, protesting against his renewed arrest which took place in violation of the prisoner exchange accords under which the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released. These accords became known as “the Fulfillment of the Free”.

Under the “Fulfillment of the Free”, the resistance secured the release of 1047 male prisoners and one female, in varying batches, in exchange for the soldier Gilad Shalit, in these accords that were signed between Hamas and ‘Israel’, under the auspices of Egypt.

The Jerusalemite political prisoner, whose roots lie in the Issawiya village south of Occupied Jerusalem, refused to accept an Israeli offer in which he would be banished to the Gaza Strip, holding on to his demand that he be released and returned to his village, which is suffering from continued attempts by the occupation  to drive its Palestinian inhabitants out.

Source: Palestine – translation: Tariq Shadid