Bobby Sands’ hunger strike lasted 66 days. Mrs. Thatcher refused to accede to his demands, saying, “Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims.”
The MP from South Tyrone died at the age of 27. His death was followed by nine others in H-block of the Maze. Kevin Lynch lasted 71 days and Kieran Doherty succumbed to starvation 73 days into his strike.
Their sacrifice stirred fire into the IRA’s supporters and stiffened resistance to the British occupation of Ulster as well as granted an improvement in the treatment of political prisoners at the Maze and other prisons around the lost provinces of Ireland.
Another prisoner has resorted to the same tactic in Palestine, where Khader Adnan has foregone food for 61 days in protest of Israel’s , which is used by the occupation forces to detain West Bank Palestinians for six months without charges or trial. Khader Adnan has been receiving glucose, but his doctors have warned that his body is endangered by possible heart failure. He now weighs 40 kilograms according to a report from Al-Jazeera. An appeal for his release has been denied by Israeli authorities, who announced,
“Khader Adnan was arrested with an administrative arrest warrant for activities that threaten regional security. This warrant was authorised by a judicial review.”
A letter smuggled from prison showed Khader’s resolve.
“The Israeli occupation has gone to extremes against our people, especially prisoners. I have been humiliated, beaten, and harassed by interrogators for no reason, and thus I swore to God I would fight the policy of administrative detention to which I and hundreds of my fellow prisoners fell prey. Here I am in a hospital bed surrounded with prison wardens, handcuffed, and my foot tied to the bed. The only thing I can do is offer my soul to God, as I believe righteousness and justice will eventually triumph over tyranny and oppression.”
Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank are demonstrating for his release and the Israeli newspaper had demanded that the West Bank spokesman for Islamic Jihad be charged or released for humanitarian reasons. Zionist settlers on the West Bank have beseeched the government to let Mr. Adnan see out his end chained to a bed.
His fate will be decided by destiny, but he will not be forgotten, as the crowds on the streets of Palestine cried out, “We are all Khader Adnan.”
Dying so others can live in freedom.