Evyatar Slonim, who has been in administrative detention since early August 2015, has joined Meir Ettinger, who has also been in administrative detention since early August 2015, in a hunger strike in protest of their continued remand.

They are both being held in solitary confinement in a high-security wing in Eshel Prison. Ettinger began his hunger strike on Monday, 8 Shevat and Slonim began his on Sunday, 14 Shevat.

In one week the administrative detention of both Ettinger and Slonim will be over. However, their friends are concerned that Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon intends to extend their detention by signing an order, without holding a trial and without presenting any evidence.

This is Ettinger’s second hunger strike. Ettinger began his first hunger strike on October 8, 2015 one day after being transferred to solitary confinement in the Eshel Prison and being denied the right to make phone calls with no explanation or reason given. He ended the strike four days later, after being allowed to speak to his close family members.

Mordechai Meyer, who was detained with Ettinger and Slonim after the Kfar Duma arson incident, was held in administrative detention for five months and released on January 3 after it became known that the information presented by the ISA to Defense Minister Ya’alon and to the courts was erroneous.

Honenu: “Only recently it was revealed to us that the intelligence information in the case of Mordechai Meyer was erroneous, and he was released. The time has come to immediately release Ettinger and Slonim from the administrative detention they have been under as a result of the Defense Minister’s media spin. The administrative detention is a drastic step which violates their rights and does not allow the detainees to defend themselves against the claims made against them.”

Honenu Attorney Aharon Roza, who is representing Evyatar Slonim: “I hope that the security authorities internalize the fact that Evyatar Slonim does not pose a danger to the public, and will refrain from extending his administrative detention, which has caused a great deal of damage to him and his family, for no justifiable reason, all the while knowing very well that they could keep a close watch on him if they returned him to the restrictions under which he was being held before his detention, especially since in any event he has not been charged with having a connection to the incidents which have been investigated.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)