Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed, a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was arrested in 2002 during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, and was charged with belonging to the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Front, and carrying out commando operations against the occupation.
The occupation authorities released him on December 12, 2016 after he went on a long hunger strike, refusing to be transferred to administrative detention, after he spent about 15 years in Israeli prisons.
Birth and upbringing
Bilal Al-Kayed was born on November 30, 1981 in Syria to a Palestinian family whose roots go back to the village of Asira – in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank – that embraced national action and struggle, as his father was among the first generation of men of the Palestinian revolution and resistance.
Bilal is the youngest brother in the family. He has 3 brothers and two sisters: Muhammad, the eldest, resides in Saudi Arabia, Ahmed died months before Bilal was arrested, Mahmoud holds a doctorate in physical education and works as a teacher, then Najwa and Soha, who reside in Germany.
In 1983, his family moved from Syria to live in Jordan until 1995, the date of his return to the homeland, specifically the village of Asira, the birthplace of his parents.
Study and training
Upon his return to Palestine in 1995, he continued his studies at Qalandia Institute, from which he graduated in 1998, specializing in air conditioning and refrigeration technology.
Arrest
In 1999, Bilal Al-Kayed joined the Palestinian Police Service and showed dedication and sincerity to his work, which led him to join the Personal Protection Forces in 2001, and to be one of those responsible for protecting the martyr Mahmoud Abu Al-Hindi (1967-2001), and from there to the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, which played a major role in resisting the occupation. Israeli.
On December 14, 2001, Israeli occupation forces stormed his family’s home in the northern village of Asira and arrested him on charges of resistance and carrying out operations against the occupation when he was 19 years old.
At the beginning of his arrest, he was subjected to harsh interrogation in the Al-Jalama and Al-Mascobiyya interrogation centers that lasted approximately 75 days. Then he was sentenced to 14 and a half years in prison, after a long indictment was presented against him, summarizing actions and operations to resist the occupation.
Three years after his arrest, his mother was allowed to visit him, and his father died on February 19, 2015, that is, the year before his release, without being allowed to shake his father’s hand or even bid him farewell.
Prison experience
The prison experience gave Bilal Al-Kayed a unique opportunity that marked his life and contributed to the formation of his personality and building himself culturally and educationally, as he was able to master 4 additional languages: Hebrew, English, French, writing and reading, and in the last years of his detention he began learning the German language.
His education was not limited to himself, but he worked on preparing an English language educational curriculum for prisoners.
Bilal Al-Kayed continued reading books, poetry collections, and novels, especially those that dealt with the most important global liberation experiences. He was influenced by this popular belief and began writing, completing in 2007 two books: “Intellectual Ideologies in Palestine” and “Aspects of Liberation,” but they have not been published yet. .
Al-Kayed was able to overcome all the challenges and difficulties imposed on him by the Prison Service administration, including the decision to deprive him of university education as a punishment for him after he and his fellow prisoners went on demanding strikes, the last of which was the strike in 2012, which the prisoner movement waged for 23 days demanding an end to the isolation policy against 19 prisoners. Captive.
He was accepted into the Hebrew University to study political science, but was prevented from passing the final exam despite his excellence in all subjects.
Solitary confinement and administrative detention
On September 6, 2015, 9 months before his release, the prison administration issued a decision to isolate him in solitary confinement, claiming that he posed a security risk. Based on this decision, he was transferred to Ashkelon Prison.
In protest against this decision, Bilal went on an open hunger strike for several days, but he stopped it based on a petition addressed to him from the Prisoner Movement, which at that time was taking steps against the policy of isolation and restrictions practiced by the Prison Service on Palestinian prisoners.
Suspension of the hunger strike did not dissuade the occupation prison administration from its policy of abusing the prisoner, as it transferred him between the isolation sections in Ashkelon and Raymond prisons in conditions that lacked the minimum respect for human dignity. It also renewed the order for another 6 months, ending in September of the year 2016. That is, 3 months after the date that was scheduled for his release.
On June 13, 2016, Bilal Al-Kayed was transferred from isolation in Raymond prison to Ofer prison. He was surprised when the military court issued an administrative detention order against him for a period of 6 months, instead of releasing him. Following this measure, he announced an open hunger strike on June 15, 2016. In protest against his transfer to administrative detention.
However, military judge Ron Dalomi confirmed the ruling on July 5, 2016, under the pretext that Al-Kayed was a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine during his imprisonment, as he was its spokesman in Megiddo prison.
The judge added that the reason for the administrative detention was his activities that had an impact in prison and in his hometown, and that the secret materials directed against Kayed are new security materials that show “an expected future danger.”
Kayed went on an open hunger strike that lasted more than 70 days in rejection of this extension. During this period, he was hospitalized in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon due to the sharp deterioration of his health condition, until the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the period of renewing administrative detention was sufficient for 6 months, which ended with his release on December 12. /December 2016.