German MPs meet Palestinian hunger striker on right to live in Qods

Berlin, Aug 31, IRNA -- Deputy head of German parliament, Wolfgang Thierse here Monday met Palestinian activist Firas Maraghy who has been on a 35-day hunger strike at Zionist regime embassy in Berlin over his baby daughter's right to live in occupied Holy Qods.


Thierse who was joined by the human rights spokesman of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) fraction, Christoph Straesser, urged a 'fair solution' to Maraghy's case which has attracted worldwide attention.

A weak and frail-looking Maraghy updated Thierse and Straesser of his dossier.

The MPs held also talks with the Zionist regime envoy on the case of Maraghy who served a five-year prison term in Israel during the first Palestinian intifada in the late 1980s for taking part in demonstrations.

Maraghy said the diplomatic mission of the Zionist regime had yet to provide any written assurances that his daughter could receive the much-needed travel documents which Palestinians are required to have in occupied al-Qods.

He told the leftist legislators that the Zionist regime is involved in 'ethnic cleansing' in occupied Holy Qods.

Maraghy has been on a hunger strike since July 26 over the Zionist regime's refusal to issue travel documents to his seven-month-old baby daughter Zainab which would allow her to live in occupied al-Qods.

The Palestinian activist could also risk his own residency status, if he does not return to al-Qods by May 2011.

The German capital has been the scene of numerous rallies in solidarity with Maraghy.

Branding the Zionist state as 'racist,' Maraghy has vowed to continue his hunger strike until Israeli officials would grant him the necessary residence permit for his child.

His humanitarian case has also become of major interest to Germany's mainstream media which usually do not highlight the Zionist regime's ongoing discriminatory policies against the oppressed Palestinian nation./end