Farouk Abdel-Muhti, Saleh Hamza, Ali Akhbar, Cacko Kirob, and Mohammed Seif initiated the protest action on January 14. They have been held in jail for up to 13 months with no charges. From Palestine, Lebanon, Pakistan, Mali, and Egypt respectively, they were all among the hundreds of people who were picked up in the post-September 11 police sweeps.

Their statement also called for "the release of all detainees who are accused of no crimes, and of all detainees who have already served their terms." The men demanded ventilation in their cells, improvements in food and medical care, and the resumption of Friday Islamic service--halted one month earlier by prison authorities.

Following meetings with INS officials, several of the strikers reportedly accepted offers of transfers to another jail in Hudson County, New Jersey. Farouk Abdel-Muhti turned down the transfer, however, saying that he will sustain his strike until he is released.

The Palestinian fighter, who is 55, has been imprisoned without charges since April 2002. Having lived in the United States since the 1970s, he is active in the Palestinian Education Committee and the Palestine Aid Society. Before his arrest he hosted a regular program on the WBAI community radio station in New York on the struggle of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

David Wilson, of the Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti, sent a letter January 16 urging the INS to immediately set Farouk free. The INS has threatened to deport Abdel-Muhti and turn him over to the Israeli secret police.

After meeting with the hunger strikers on January 15, Deputy Warden Brian Bendl claimed that prison authorities had "done more for the Muslim inmates than any previous administration." In answer to complaints about the long periods of detention, he said, "Some immigration cases take forever to get through the system."

The hunger strike is at least the third protest action by prisoners in New Jersey jails in the last year and a half. Last October almost 80 inmates released a statement protesting the length and conditions of their detention. In November 2001 a number of detainees in Passaic and Hudson county jails refused to eat for several days on the same grounds.  
 
 
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