Israel releases Palestinian Prisoner on Hunger Strike

Israeli authorities on Wednesday freed Palestinian detainee Hader Adnan who launched a 66-day hunger strike against his administrative arrest, the Jerusalem Post said.

Adnan, 33, who is a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which has vowed to destroy Israel, began his hunger strike on December 18 to protest what he said was abusive treatment suffered during his arrest a day earlier at his home in a West Bank village. Later he announced that the strike was in protest of the entire practice of administrative detention in the West Bank.

The man agreed to eat food only after his lawyers struck a deal with the state last month, just hours before the High Court of Justice was set to demand that he either be charged or released.

The freed detainee was taken by authorities to the Salem Checkpoint, after which he proceeded to his home village. He was greeted by hundreds of supporters upon reaching his home, according to RIA Novosti.