“Do not allow the occupier to dissect my body. Bury me near my father, and write on my grave, ‘Here lies God’s poor servant, Khader Adnan.’”
Martyr Khader Adnan left us with these words after an 87-day hunger strike. Adnan wrote his will in Ramla prison a month ago. He wished for his body to be freed after his martyrdom as his soul was free despite the repeated detentions.
Sheikh Khader Adnan Moussa was born in ‘Araba in Jenin on March 24, 1978. He attended Birzeit University in 1996 and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Economic Mathematics, and then pursued a Master’s degree in Economics. He was not able to complete his graduate program due to repeated arrests.
Adnan spent most of his life in Israeli prisons, he was detained 12 times, two of which were by the Palestinian security services. His first arrest was by the Palestinian security services in 1998 for protesting the visit of former French prime minister Lionel Jospen to his university campus, his second was in 2010. He was first administratively detained by the Israeli Occupation for four months in 1999, then again for one year in 2002. He was not charged both times. He was detained 10 more times after graduating and spent over six years in prison. He went on hunger strike for 25 days during his detention between May 2004 and April 2005 to protest his solitary confinement.
Adnan was known for his longest hunger strike during administrative detention on December 17, 2011, which lasted 66 days. It was the longest hunger strike for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. He was released in April 2012.
Adnan became a symbol, proving that determination and will can end administrative detention — a tool only used by the Zionist Occupation to detain whomever without trial or charges for a renewable period of six months, denying the detainee information for the cause of his arrest.
Several Palestinian prisoners who went on hunger strike followed the example of Adnan, such as Bilal Diab, Tha’er Halahleh, Hassan Al-Safadi, Omar Abu Shalal, Hana Al-Shalabi, Khalil Al-Awadeh, Hisham Abu Hawash, Alaa Al-Aaraj, Miqdad Al-Qawasmi, Samer Al-Issawi, Muhammad Al-Qeeq, and others.
The Israeli Occupation detained Khader Adnan again in 2014, and he went on a hunger strike for 56 days. In 2018, he was arrested again and went on a hunger strike for 58 days. In 2021, he was arrested again and went on a hunger strike for 25 days.
The latest detention of Khader Adnan was on February 5, 2023. He began his hunger strike on the day of his arrest and became a martyr 86 days later.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club indicated that Adnan was subjected to a “systemic assassination by Occupation Forces, it was clear that the Israeli Occupation wanted him dead.” The Israeli Occupation authorities did not allow Adnan’s family to visit him before his death, and the Israeli Occupation military court denied his release despite his deteriorating health.
May God have mercy on prisoner and martyr Khader Adnan.
