Al-Rekhawi ends 102-day hunger strike

Akram al-Rekhawi has ended a 102-day hunger strike in an Israeli prison after reaching a release deal. Israeli prison services spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told Ma'an that al-Rekhawi ended the strike on Sunday. Mona Nadaf, a lawyer for prisoner rights group Addameer, visited al-Rekhawi on Monday in Ramle prison clinic. She confirmed he ended the strike after Israel's Prison Service agreed to release him on Jan. 25, 2013, six months earlier than his original release date, Addameer said in a statement. Al-Rekhawi, a father of eight, will be released to his home in the Gaza Strip, Addameer said. The 39-year-old suffers diabetes, asthma and osteoporosis and went on hunger strike to demand his immediate release on medical grounds. He is in a critical condition after over three months on hunger strike, the rights group said. Rekhawi was detained in June 2004 at an Israeli military checkpoint on the main road as he headed from Gaza City to his home in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. He has been held in a clinic in Ramle prison since he was detained by Israeli forces, having served eight years of a nine-year sentence.