BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Saturday issued a fatwa, or religious decree, declaring hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners in Israel as acceptable.
An Islamic website quoted Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah as saying the religion accepted the "use of indefinite hunger strikes as a weapon for Arab prisoners in Israeli jails to reveal the blatant violations being committed against them, including rape and physical assault."
Fadlallah was quoted on Islam Online as adding, however, that hunger strikes were "acceptable in principle, but it is important to protect life as much as possible, except in extraordinary circumstances."
His decree came as 3,000 Palestinian prisoners launched a hunger strike 13 days ago to protest the prison conditions and measures in Israeli jails.
