Occupied Ramallah‪, 5 June 2013‪- Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association’s lawyer‪,Faris Ziyad‪,visited the clinic in Ramleh Prison‪ last Sunday, 2 June 2013. There, he met with two Palestinian prisoners who hold Jordanian citizenship‪,Abdallah Barghouthi and Muhammad Rimawi‪. They are both on hunger strike along with three other Jordanian prisoners: Hamza Othman, Alaa Hamad, and Mit’ib Mar’ee. All five prisoners are making the same demands.

 
Abdallah Barghouthi ‪(41 years old‪), who is from the village of Beit Rima in the governorate of Ramallah, told Addameer‪’s lawyer Faris Ziyad that he began his hunger strike on 2 May 2013 while in Gilboa prison‪.When he announced his strike‪, he was transferred to a prison section with civilian prisoners for 14 days‪. He was then transferred to Al‪-Jalameh Prison on 15 May 2013 for interrogation concerning his hunger strike‪. On 19 May 2013‪, he was brought to the hospital in Ramleh Prison‪. He refused water for the entirety of his interrogation in Al‪-Jalameh‪.
 
Barghouthi confirmed to Addameer‪‘s lawyer that 5 of the Jordanian prisoners who announced their hunger strike on 2 May 2013 from Ramon‪,Naqab‪,and Gilboa Prisons are united in their demands‪,asserting the strength of their resolve and their willingness to engage in a prolonged battle‪.He said that they will not stop their hunger strike until their demands are met‪.
 
As for the reasons for the hunger strike‪, Barghouthi clarified that the demands of the Jordanian hunger strikers are as follows‪:
 
1‪. That they be released from Israeli prisons and serve their sentences in Jordanian prisons according to the Wadi Araba Agreement between Jordan and Israel. This agreement was previously applied to the case of prisoner Sultan Al-Ajouli, who was transferred to Jordanian custody in accordance with the agreement.
 
2‪. That the Occupation disclose the whereabouts of missing Jordanian prisoners, of which there are 20.
 
3. That the Occupation remove martyrs from the ‘numbered graves’, where prisoners who died in custody are currently kept in nameless graves.
 
It is important to note that Abdallah Barghouthi received the highest sentence handed down by a military court in the history of the Israeli occupation ‪(67 life sentences‪) and has been detained since 5 March 2003‪.
 
As for prisoner Muhammad Rimawi ‪(47 years old‪), who is from the village of Beit Rima in the governorate of Ramallah‪, he is still on open hunger strike‪, which he announced on 2 May 2013 in Ramon Prison‪. He was transferred to Al‪-Ramleh hospital on 22 May 2013 and has only been drinking water‪.
 
With respect to his health, Rimawi clarified that‪,before the hunger strike‪,he suffered from inflammation of the lungs and the intestines, as well as Mediterranean fever‪.As a result of the hunger strike‪, he is currently suffering from extreme fatigue‪. He confirmed that the prison administration is refusing to provide him with the medication he requires for these pre-existing health complications unless he stops his strike‪, an offer that he has categorically refused‪.
 
It is worth noting that Rimawi has been detained since 19 October 2001 and was given three life sentences‪.
 
Moreover, yesterday in Ramallah, the Government Media Center held a press conference in which the Minister of Prisoners and Ex‪-Prisoners‘ Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, participated, as well as a member of the Central Committee of Fatah, Mahmoud Al-Aloul, and Qadoura Faris, the director of the Prisoners‘ Club. The speakers announced that today, 5 June 2013, 700 prisoners belonging to PA security services will begin a staged protest. They plan to refuse to wear the brown Israeli Prison Service (IPS) uniform and to refuse to stand for the headcount. They will also undertake other forms of protest that will escalate in the coming days. These 700 protesting prisoners are demanding that the prison administration recognize them as prisoners of war and transfer them to prisons within the 1967 Occupied Territories.
 

Addameer stands behind the demands of all prisoners and detainees and emphasizes the need to deal with them in accordance with international humanitarian law‪, specifically the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions.