The Tel Aviv district court rejected today the application for a writ of habeas corpus for which the Israeli lawyer Max Seligman had applied in behalf of his clients, Peter Bergson, Jacob Meridor and three other members of the Irgun Zvai Leumi. Their continued imprisonment was thus confirmed.
Judge L. Kassan dissented from the opinion of the other two judges sitting in the case. The five detainees, who were arrested after on Irgun gun-runner attempted to land a cargo of arms off Tel Aviv during the first truce period, sent letter a today to e number of prominent persons stating that they intended to go on a hunger strike that would end only with death.
The prisoners wrote that they had by now been under detention without trial for six weeks. They pointed out that they had intended to start their hunger strike earlier but had awaited the outcome of the habeas corpus proceeding. The five men said that they had now decided to go ahead with the hunger strike and the blame for the consequences would lie with the Israeli State Council and with the Jewish community.
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