Akram Alrikhawi, 39 from the Gaza Strip has been detained by Israel since the 7th of June 2004. Alrikhawi has been on hunger strike for 49 days now and his health is slowly deteriorating. He is currently serving time in Ramla prison hospital in Israel. The bad treatment of Alrikhawi and thousands of other detainees being held in Israeli jails have forced Akram Alrikhawi and Mahmoud Al-Sarsak to continue their hunger strikes until Israel complies with the list of demands for better treatment of detainees inside Israeli prisons.

Mahmoud Al-Sarsak, 25, is a professional football player from the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Mahmoud has been on huger strike for 73 days, and is now on the brink of death. He was arrested three years ago at the Erez checkpoint while on his way to join the Palestine National Football team for a match in Balata refugee camp located in the Occupied West Bank. After being arrested, Mahmoud was transferred to Ashkelon prison where he was interrogated for 30 days. On the 23rd of August 2009 under “Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants Law” Mahmoud was given a detention order which provides even fewer legal protections than administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold Palestinians from Gaza for indefinite periods without charge or trial.

Al-Sarsak and Alrikhawi are two of over 4400 Palestinians held in Israeli jails in a violation of Articles 49 and 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the transfer of occupied peoples (Palestinians in this case), to the territory of the occupier (Israel). Breaches of these Articles are considered war crimes in international law, yet the cries of the prisoners continue to go unheeded by the UN and international community.

Palestinians are calling on all people of conscience to demand their immediate release, and to pressure governments and international organizations to force Israel’s compliance with the most basic standards of international law as defined in the UN charter and Geneva Convention. In particular they ask fellow football players and athletes to speak out in support of Mahmoud Al-Sarsak.
It is time for all solidarity organaisations to help put an end to Israeli crimes carried out with impunity, and to demand the release of Palestinians held illegally by Israel.

ENDS