Detention of Palestinian Woman on Hunger Strike Shortened

An Israeli court decided Sunday to shorten the administrative detention of a Palestinian woman freed in a prisoner swap with Israel and refusing food since she was re-arrested, her lawyer said.

Hanaa al-Shalabi has been on hunger strike since the day of her arrest on February 16, when she was originally ordered detained without trial for six months.

According to lawyer Jawad al-Imawi, head of the legal department in the Palestinian prisoner's ministry, "an Israeli judge decided to shorten Shalabi's administrative detention from six to four months."

According to Imawi, Shalabi's health was mediocre, and the judge said that in case of a deterioration in her health the court would reassess the case.

Imawi said that despite the ruling, Shalabi was refusing to stop her hunger strike.

Shalabi was among more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in October in a trade for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Gaza-based militants for more than five years.

Her refusal to be fed came shortly after Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan ended a 66-day hunger strike in protest at his imprisonment without charge, under a deal that will see him released in April.

Shalabi from the West Bank village of Burqin village, near Jenin, spent 30 months in detention before her release last year.

The Israeli army said she was "a global jihad-affiliated operative" and re-arrested on suspicion that she "posed a threat to the area."

The Palestinian Prisoners Club says she was one of five inmates freed in the October swap who have since been re-arrested.