Action: Former prisoner and current law student Salah Hamouri banned from West Bank

salahIsraeli occupation forces issued an order banning Palestinian former prisoner Salah Hamouri, 29, from entering the West Bank for six months. Hamouri, a Palestinian Jerusalemite who holds French citizenship, was summoned to the Moskobiya intelligence building in Jerusalem, and handed a military order, signed by Nitzan Alon, Israeli military commander in the West Bank. The order bans him from the West Bank for six months, from March 24 through September 24, 2015, under the pretext of “maintaining the security and safety” of the area.

Hamouri is a law student at Al-Quds University-Abu Dis with courses in Ramallah, where he must take a qualifying exam in July in order to become a lawyer. This arbitrary military order will prevent him from completing his studies and obtaining his qualification as a lawyer.

It should be noted that Salah Hamouri was released on December 18, 2011, as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, after 7 years in the prisons of the occupation. The Israeli authorities accused him of belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and planning the assassination of right-wing Rabbi Ovadia Yosef; he was convicted of PFLP membership and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on that charge.

French organizations and activists, including the Association France-Palestine Solidarite, the French Communist Party, the Union of Communist Students and others, are launching a campaign to pressure the French government to defend the rights of French citizen Salah Hamouri to freedom of movement and freedom to live. The initial signatories of the petition include:

Jean-Claude Lefort, Honorary MP, coordinator of Salah Hamouri Defence Committee; Françoise Diehlmann, Regional Councillor (EELV); Jérôme Gleizes, Paris Councillor (EELV); Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, professor of international law; Claude Léostic, president of the NGO Platform for Palestine; Annie David, Isère Senator (PCF); Pascal Boniface, scholar of geopolitics; Patrice Leclerc, Mayor of Gennevilliers (PCF); Daniel Breuillet, Mayor of Arcueil (EELV); Pascal Joly, general secretary of the CGT-URIF; Dominique Vidal, writer for Le Monde Diplomatique; Tawfiq Tahani , president of the Association France Palestine Solidarity (AFPS); Michel Duffour, former Minister (PCF), Jacqueline Fraysse, MP (PC), Patrick Jarry, Mayor of Nanterre (PCF); Michel Billout, Senator (PCF); René Balme, honorary mayor of Grigny (Left Front); Jean-Guy Greilsamer, co-president of the French Jewish Union for Peace (UJFP); Pierre Stambul, co-president of the UJFP; Pierre Barbancey, journalist

Take action! Click here to sign the petition for freedom of movement for Salah Hamouri: https://www.change.org/p/pr%C3%A9sident-et-ministre-action/