'Jordanian still awaiting gov't permission to return after serving prison term in Israel'

AMMAN — Jordanian prisoner in Israel, Akram Abu Zahrah, has been on hunger strike since January 23 and started refusing water on Saturday, protesting his continued detention after the end of his prison term, an activist said on Tuesday.

Shireen Nafe, a member of the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel (Fedaa), said the team received the information 10 days after Abu Zahrah started the strike through his attorney Arwa Hulihel.

"He embarked on the strike because he felt maltreated by Israel, and that Jordanian authorities are stalling in granting him permission to come back to Jordan," she told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The 47-year-old Jordanian finished his prison term on January 14 after serving 14 years for protesting against former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to Al Aqsa Mosque, which sparked the second Intifada (uprising).

"His attorney has recently visited court to check on his condition, and [Israeli] officials told her they only want a paper from the Jordanian authorities allowing him entry into the Kingdom," Nafe explained.

The Israeli authorities cannot allow the freed prisoner to stay there without a residence permit and decided to keep him in prison until Jordanian authorities approve his return, she said in previous remarks.

The activist said Abu Zahrah's mother went to the Foreign Ministry on Sunday to receive the entry permit, but ministry officials told her that relevant authorities had not issued the document yet.

The mother asked the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jordan to intervene in her son's case, but their reply was that the organisation could not provide help because Jordan and Israel have a peace treaty through which they can communicate directly, Nafe noted.

Officials at the Foreign Ministry were not available to comment regarding their procedures to secure Abu Zahrah's return to the Kingdom despite several attempts by The Jordan Times to reach them.