Jordan calls on Israel to release woman on hunger strike

AMMAN, Jordan – Jordan is calling on Israel to release a Jordanian woman detained for over a month without trial on security charges.

Heba al-Labadi’s attorney said Wednesday that she was arrested Aug. 20 at the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and has been on a hunger strike since Sept. 26.

Al-Labadi, 32, who is of Palestinian descent, is being held in “administrative detention,” an Israeli policy that permits detaining people for months without formal charges.

Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency says she is detained “because of suspicion of her involvement in serious security violations,” without elaborating.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry says the hunger strike “makes the need for her immediate release more urgent.”

Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab countries to have made peace with Israel.