“An agreement was reached to release him on May 21,” says Issa Qraqe, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s detainees committee. In view of this agreement, al-Qeeq is now taking food, but he remains in custody in Israel.
Having graduated from Birzeit University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Mohammed al-Qeeq held a position at Al Majd, a Saudi-owned media network before his incarceration.
Al-Qeeq was arrested by the Israeli authorities on 21 November 2015 and held without trial. He commenced his hunger strike just four days after initial interrogation. According to television network Al-Jazeera, his wife, Fayha Shalash, said “His arrest was very difficult because he was snatched from his family and children at dawn in a barbaric way by smashing down the door to our house.”
Despite the Israeli High Court of Justice reviewing his case, the Israeli authorities insist that al-Qeeq must remain in custody under “administrative detention” until late May, for allegedly “inciting violence” through his journalism.
According to Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), an independent doctor visited al-Qeeq at HaEmek hospital in Afula, Israel, in early February, and said that he appeared to be close to death. But now the end of his hunger strike bring hope not only to Palestinians and their supporters, but also for anyone advocating a free press.
“Journalists have a powerful voice with the outside world via social media,” said Abbas Hamideh, director of the Global Campaign for Palestinian Political Prisoners. “This, in particular, Israel tries to crush.”
In this context, Shakira Sez, Vice President at the University of East London’s Palestine Society supports the boycott of Israel: “It’s what the Palestinians want. All I can do as an international living comfortably in Hackney is show solidarity with them, and the best way to do so is through BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement).”
Hanna-Mariam Chowdhury