Mohammed Allan: Israel rearrests Palestinian hunger striker after his release from hospital

The army says the 31-year-old lawyer is a member of the militant Islamic Jihad group which planned attacks against Israelis

Palestinian protesters take part in a rally in solidarity with Mohammed Allan, in Ramallah, last month (Getty Images)

Israeli authorities have rearrested a Palestinian security detainee immediately after his release from the hospital where he had been recovering from a 65-day hunger strike.

Mohammed Allan’s protest against being held without trial, which he has resumed, had raised tensions among Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israel.

An army spokeswoman said a temporary suspension of Mr Allan’s administrative detention order, announced by Israel’s supreme court last month because his health had gravely deteriorated, had been cancelled and his original detention order was reactivated. That is due to expire on 4 November. A spokeswoman for Barzilai Hospital, where Mr Allan was treated, said had been discharged “in a very good medical condition”.

The army says Mr Allan, 31, a lawyer, is a member of the militant Islamic Jihad group which planned attacks against Israelis. Mr Allan denied this and demanded that the army either put him on trial or free him.

The case has focused attention on Israel’s practice of detaining Palestinians without trial, which rights groups say violates international law. Rights groups say such detentions are used to cripple political activity against the occupation.

Most detentions are initially for six months but can be renewed indefinitely. They need approval by a military judge, but the case is in effect rigged because lawyers cannot see the evidence against their clients.

Qadura Fares, director of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, said: “When they told him he is in administrative detention he informed them he is back on hunger strike.”