State to consider freeing hunger-striker if he leaves country

Israel may be willing to release Palestinian hunger-striking prisoner Mohammad Allaan if he agrees to leave the country for four years, a document submitted to the High Court on behalf of the state said Monday.

The High Court of Justice convened on Monday afternoon to discuss an appeal filed by Allaan’s lawyer calling for his immediate release from Israeli detention. The attorney, Kamal Natur, appealed to the court on Saturday to release him on medical grounds.

Allaan has been held by Israel without trial since November under an anti-terror measure called “administrative detention.” He is said by Israel to be affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group, and Israeli intelligence claims he played a role in the group’s activities.

In its response to the court, the state outlined its conditions for his release.

“Though we are not compelled legally to do so, the state is willing to weigh the release of the petitioner from administrative detention,” it said, “if he agrees to go abroad for a four-year period and commits to not return to the region.”

Earlier, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said the appeal, which sought “the release of an Islamic Jihad terrorist,” was “ludicrous.”

“If Allaan is freed, obviously it will lead to a mass hunger strike among security prisoners, and supply a new weapon to the terrorists,” he said.

The Barzilai Medical Center on Monday said it was trying to bring Allaan out of a medically induced coma.

Administrators at the Ashkelon hospital told Channel 2 that doctors had been gradually decreasing the dosage of the drugs keeping him sedated since Sunday night, in a bid to draw him out of his unconscious state.

Allaan has been described in critical condition following over 60 days of a hunger strike.

He has been hospitalized since Friday at the Barzilai Medical Center, where he remains unconscious but stable after being given fluids and salts intravenously. He was also breathing with the aid of an artificial respirator.

If and when he regains consciousness — and if he continues to refuse to eat — Israel’s government must decide whether it will invoke a law passed in July allowing the force-feeding of prisoners when their lives are in danger.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club submitted a request to hospital officials Sunday asking them to wake Allaan from his coma in order to check where he stands on his condition, according to the Haaretz daily.

Several demonstrations in support of Allaan have been held since his condition began to deteriorate over the past two weeks, and especially over the weekend. Police on Monday were gearing up for additional protests.

On Sunday, some 15 people were arrested in demonstrations outside the Barzilai Medical Center by pro-Palestinian supporters of the hunger striker and Israeli right-wingers holding a counter protest. Two people were lightly injured. Arraignments for several of the protesters were expected Monday.

On Saturday, demonstrators in the northern area of Wadi Ara called for an “intifada” in all Israeli prisons should Allaan die.