Israel releases hunger-striking Palestinian

Khader Adnan, a security prisoner in Israel who went on a hunger strike for two months earlier this year, was released from administrative detention Tuesday night.

Adnan, a baker by trade and an alleged member of Islamic Jihad from the village of Arabe near Jenin, was administratively detained for the third time on December 17, 2011. The following day, he stopped taking food and fluid.

Sixty-six days later, he had lost his hair and some 30 kilograms and was close to death. Israel, fearing the repercussions of a death behind bars — the first intifada was sparked by a traffic accident — decided to “offset the days in which the appellant was detained for the purpose of a criminal investigation prior to his administrative detention from the period of the current administrative detention order” and set a firm April 17 date for his release. Adnan, in return, agreed to end the strike.