Since March 10, 2022, Salah Hamouri has been held in administrative detention in the high-security prison of Hadarim, Israel. He was arrested without charge or trial, on the sole basis of a file declared secret that his lawyer is not allowed to consult. This makes his detention illegal under international law.
On September 25, 2022, 30 detainees, including Salah Hamouri, went on hunger strike to protest the administrative detention imposed on them and 740 other Palestinian prisoners. In response to this action, the authorities placed Mr Hamouri in solitary confinement on September 28, 2022. The prisoners must also pay fines for each day of their hunger strike. On October 9, 2022, 20 other prisoners joined the strike.
These punitive measures are in violation of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Indeed, Mr Hamouri has been placed in a 3m2 cell without windows or ventilation. He has been denied the right to have visits, access to the canteen and cannot change his clothes. On October 2, 2022, a lawyer visited Mr Hamouri and was able to report on these inhumane conditions of detention. His health has deteriorated and he needs daily medical care but refuses to be examined by Israeli prison doctors, who deliberately neglect Palestinian detainees. He suffers from muscle pain, dizziness, headaches, insomnia and has lost about 7kg. Mr Hamouri is deprived of outdoor time and has not seen the light of day since the beginning of his solitary confinement.