Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, who is in critical condition after being on hunger strike since March, could die at any moment due to heart or kidney failure, a doctor who examined him said Monday.
Dr. Lina Qasem–Hassan, who visited him, said the prisoner, who has been on hunger strike for nearly 170 days, could die at any moment.
“There is no doubt there is a risk to his life,” the doctor working with Physicians for Human Rights stated.
She said there are signs of neurological damage, with symptoms like memory loss, an inability to concentrate, involuntary eye movement and a near loss of vision. The doctor added that there was a risk of heart failure or kidney failure at any time.
Awawdeh, 40, has been on a hunger strike since March to protest his administrative detention, an Israeli policy of holding Palestinians in militant activity. Detainees can be held without charge or trial for months or years at a time, without seeing the purported evidence against them.
An Israeli military court on Friday suspended Awadeh’s administrative detention. He was admitted to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center near Tel Aviv after his health deteriorated.
His lawyer, Ahlam Haddad, submitted an appeal last week to the High Court of Justice to have his client’s detention revoked completely, but it was rejected on Sunday.
Photos of Awawdeh taken by his lawyer on Friday showed him emaciated and lying in a hospital bed.
Source: Palestinian and Israeli media
