Days Of Palestine – Ramallah

Israeli occupation authorities on Wednesday released two Jordanian nationals who were illegally placed under administrative detention in Israeli jails without charge or trial.

Hiba al-Labadi and Abdelrahman Meri were released from administrative detention, an Israeli policy which allows imprisonment without charge or trial for six-month intervals that can be renewed indefinitely based on “secret evidence”, following an agreement between the Israeli and Jordanian governments.

Al-Labadi, 24, was arrested on August 20 as she entered the occupied West Bank from Jordan through the Israeli-controlled crossing.

Following her arrest, al-Labadi was subjected to 30 days of interrogation in the Petah Tikva interrogation center. During her interrogation, which sometimes extended to 20 hours a day, she was tied to a chair and placed in a painful position.

In protest of her illegal detention, al-Labadi launched an open-ended hunger strike that lasted for 42 days until her releasing and was transferred to hospital twice before being returned to prison due to her deteriorating health, according to the Palestine Prisoner’s Society, a group that mainly advocates for Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, Meri, 29, was arrested on September 2 although he has been battling cancer since 2010 and needs regular medical checkups.

The detention of the two Jordanian nationals, who hail from Palestinian descent, had forced Jordan to recall its ambassador to Israel, Ghassan Majali, in protest, and threatened to cause a diplomatic crisis.