Today, February 20, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel submitted an urgent request to the Petah Tikva District Court that Judge Clara Reggiano reconsider her February 16 decision to uphold the detention of Mr. Khader Adnan. Mr. Adnan, a Palestinian administrative detainee, has been on hunger strike for 66 days in protest of his detention.

The urgent request was submitted after PHR-Israel discovered that information provided by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to the court, and on which Judge Reggiano based her decision to reject a petition for Mr. Adnan's release, was incorrect. The IPS stated that Mr. Adnan had been unshackled and that he would not be shackled while hospitalized. Yet Mr. Adnan, whose life is in imminent danger of death due to the length of his strike, was found yesterday to be handcuffed to both sides of his bed during a medical visit by a PHR-Israel volunteer physician.

The shackling of a patient to his hospital bed constitutes a violation of medical ethics and IPS regulations, and is inconsistent with the recommendations and guidelines of the Ministry of Health, the Israeli Medical Association, and international medical institutions.