JERUSALEM: Israeli forces have rearrested a Palestinian journalist who was freed from prison last year after an extended hunger strike, his family and Israeli officials said on Tuesday.
Mohammed Al-Qiq was detained on Sunday night at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah on his way back from a demonstration against Israel鈥檚 refusal to return the bodies of slain Palestinian assailants, his wife Fayha Shalash told AFP.
According to Shalash, Qiq鈥檚 lawyer told her he was being held in Ofer prison, west of Ramallah, and 鈥渉as been on hunger strike since the moment they arrested him.鈥�
In May, 34-year-old Qiq was released from a six-month prison term without trial following a 94-day hunger strike.
He occasionally took minerals and vitamins but mainly ingested only tap water.
Qiq had been held under the administrative detention system, which allows Israel to hold prisoners without trial for renewable six-month periods.
Israel鈥檚 Shin Bet domestic security service said at the time he was detained for 鈥渢error activity鈥� on behalf of the Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Qiq denied the allegation, saying he worked for the Saudi television channel Al-Majd.
Qiq鈥檚 case was widely covered, and the UN expressed concern about his condition during his previous time in prison.
Shin Bet said Qiq had been detained on Sunday night along with 12 other men, including a member of the Palestinian Parliament, as part of a network of Hamas operatives.
Shin Bet said the men were accused of a series of 鈥渆conomic and social鈥� activities, including organizing demonstrations and financially supporting families of prisoners, to 鈥渟trengthen Hamas influence in the West Bank while attempting to topple the (Palestinian) Authority.鈥�
The Palestinian Prisoners Club said Israeli forces had arrested 20 people, 15 of them former prisoners.
A spokesman for the Israel Prison Authority said Qiq was in its custody since Monday but denied he was on hunger strike.
Israel rearrests freed Palestinian hunger striker
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