Wife says Palestinian prisoner ends hunger strike after sentencing

Khader Adnan, an Islamic Jihad member, had been on a hunger strike since September and will now likely be released soon due to time served

Palestinian Khader Adnan is greeted after his release from an Israeli prison in the West Bank village of Arrabeh near Jenin, July 12, 2015.  (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed/File)
Palestinian Khader Adnan is greeted after his release from an Israeli prison in the West Bank village of Arrabeh near Jenin, July 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed/File)

A Palestinian prisoner ended his hunger strike Monday after an Israeli military court sentenced him to a year in prison, his wife said.

Khader Adnan has been in detention since last December so the sentence means he is expected to be released within two months.

Adnan began a hunger strike in early September against his detention but was given a one-year sentence Monday, his wife and lawyer said.

“The judge’s decision to sentence him for a year was based on my husband’s bad health situation as a result of his hunger strike,” said his wife Randa.

The Israeli army confirmed the sentence and said in a statement that the military court convicted him of having been an active member of the banned Islamic Jihad terror organisation, after he pleaded guilty in a plea bargain.

Adnan has staged protests during previous stints in Israeli jails.

In 2012 he went on hunger strike for 66 days in protest against a term of internment without trial, what Israel calls “administrative detention.”

In 2015 he went without food for over 50 days after another arrest.

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