JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Supreme Court has brought forward a hearing this week on the appeal of a Palestinian prisoner waging an unprecedented two-month hunger strike, court officials and his lawyers said Monday.
A statement from the Supreme Court said Khader Adnan's appeal will be held Tuesday. No explanation was given as to why it had been brought forward. It was scheduled to take place on Thursday.
Adnan's lawyer Mahmoud Hassan says the 33 year-old member of the Islamic Jihad militant group is in danger of death after 65 days of a hunger strike protesting Israel's policy of long-term detention without trial.
His case has attracted widespread attention among Palestinians, with large crowds holding regular protests in his support.
The life-threatening gamble has also drawn broader attention toward Israel's policy of "administrative detention," under which Palestinians can be held without charge for months or even years at a time.
Adnan has not been charged with a crime and says he does not know what he is suspected of doing.
His family says he is a member of Islamic Jihad, which has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks, but it is not known if he was involved in violence.
Both the European Union and the United Nations have said they are following the case closely and urged Israel to give Adnan an open trial.
Adnan was arrested on Dec. 17 and later sentenced to four months of administrative detention. He launched the strike a day after his arrest, protesting his administrative detention and claiming he was beaten and humiliated in captivity.
Israel has defended its policy as a way to address imminent security threats. It says that releasing evidence against suspects would endanger its network of informants.
Capt. Eytan Buchman, an Israeli military spokesman, says Adnan is suspected of acts that "threaten regional security." He would not elaborate.
A military court already rejected an appeal by Adnan on Feb. 13. Adnan's lawyers said that after 65 days without food, his condition is so poor that they are not sure he will make it past the hearing.
He is losing his hair, his muscles have atrophied and he can only speak in whispers, said Yael Moram, a spokeswoman for Israel's Physicians for Human Rights, which has been monitoring his condition.
Adnan is being held under guard in a hospital in northern Israel. He has been taking liquids infused with electrolytes to keep alive.
In a separate development Monday, Israeli police said vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on a Baptist church in Jerusalem.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the words "price tag" were also scrawled on the church property. It is a reference to a practice of Jewish extremists who lash out against the Israeli government for actions against settlers.
Such attacks usually target Muslim and Palestinian sites in the West Bank, but the vandals have recently spread their activities to target Muslim and Christian minorities in Israel.
Rosenfeld said police were searching for the suspects.
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