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Palestinian Prisoner Ends Record Hunger Strike


FILE - Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeq, 33, who had been on hunger strike to protest his administrative detention in an Israeli jail, is seen at Haemek hospital in the northern Israeli city of Afula, Feb. 5, 2016. His family says he's ending his fast and will be released in three months' time.
FILE - Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeq, 33, who had been on hunger strike to protest his administrative detention in an Israeli jail, is seen at Haemek hospital in the northern Israeli city of Afula, Feb. 5, 2016. His family says he's ending his fast and will be released in three months' time.

The family of a Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for a record 94 days says he's ending his fast and will be released in three months' time.

Fayha, the wife of Mohammed al-Qeq, said Friday he will end his strike "today'' and will be freed on May 21. She says it's a "very big victory for us and for him.''

The 33-year-old al-Qeq is a journalist for a Saudi media outlet. Israel says he has been involved in militant activities linked to Hamas.

He was fasting to protest being held without charges, a measure called administrative detention. Israel has defended the practice as necessary to stop militant attacks.

His hunger strike was longer than fasts by other Palestinians or by prisoners in Northern Ireland in 1981, according to advocacy groups.

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