91 Palestinian and international organizations have come together to issue a joint call to action to free Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed and end administrative detention. These organizations are urging actions around the world on Friday and Saturday, 24 and 25 June – or before – to demand freedom for Kayed, who was ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, after the completion of his 14 and one-half year sentence in Israeli prison. Kayed joins over 700 other Palestinians in administrative detention, out of a total of approximately 7,000 Palestinian prisoners.
This call to action comes in response to the announced protests inside Israeli prisons, launched by Palestinian prisoners, and will coincide with a two-day hunger strike demanding Kayed’s freedom involving hundreds of jailed Palestinians. Kayed’s case is a high priority for Palestinian prisoners, who view his administrative detention immediately upon release from a lengthy sentence as creating the potential for a dangerous precedent that threatens all imprisoned Palestinians with indefinitely renewable detention.
The call to action will be updated and additional organizational signatories are welcome. Protests and actions are currently planned in Berlin, Sakhnin, New York City, and Asira al-Shamaliyeh (Kayed’s hometown), and a cross-US call in day is scheduled for 24 June. Please email [email protected] or post to Samidoun on Facebook about events on 24-25 June, including existing events, protests, literature distributions or tables incorporating materials about Bilal Kayed and administrative detention. Samidoun will be happy to provide downloadable materials for your events and actions.
Participating organizations have made the call to action about this case available in:
French | German | Greek | Italian | Spanish | Turkish | Czech | Dutch
Call to Action: 24-25 June – Days of Action to Free Bilal Kayed and End Administrative Detention
This call out is open for organizational endorsements. Thank you! Please use the form or email [email protected] to sign on.
On 13 June, Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed was slated for release after 14 and one-half years in Israeli prison. His family was waiting for him, as were his comrades and friends; however, Bilal never came – because instead of being released, he had been ordered by the Israeli occupation military to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial. He is now on an open hunger strike which he launched the morning of 15 June – demanding his freedom and an end to administrative detention.
Bilal Kayed, 35, is one of approximately 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence under administrative detention, and 7,000 Palestinians total in occupation prisons. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable – Palestinians can spend years in administrative detention at a time, never knowing when they will be freed.
Kayed is known as a leader among Palestinian prisoners – as the representative of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine prisoners in Megiddo prison, he was targeted for solitary confinement for one and a half years. His fellow Palestinian prisoners are engaged in a series of protests and actions to demand his release and will be conducting their third two-day hunger strike on 24 and 25 June, returning their meals to demand Kayed’s freedom and and an end to administrative detention.
This is an attempt to impose a precedent for all Palestinian prisoners – that on the date of release, after five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years in prison, rather than being released, Palestinian prisoners be held indefinitely without charge or trial, ordered to administrative detention. The denial of Bilal Kayed’s freedom is a threat to the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners.
The detention of Kayed, a prisoner leader, scheduled for release; Mohammed Abu Sakha, circus performer and teacher; Jerusalemite human rights defender Hasan Safadi; youth organizer Bilal Abu Diab; members of the Palestinian Legislative Council such as Abdel-Jaber Fuquha and Hatem Kufaisha; journalist and union leader Omar Nazzal – amid hundreds more, indicate the level of Israeli state impunity to lock away Palestinian emerging leaders and prominent community figures without charge or trial. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have put their bodies and lives on the lines in extended hunger strikes to demand an end to administrative detention.
We raise our voices around the world to join the call to free Bilal Kayed and all of his fellow administrative detainees and bring an end to the practice of administrative detention. We call for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners – and for the cause for which they struggle, the freedom of Palestine and its people.
We join the call for protests, actions and events around the world on 24 and 25 June in support of the Palestinian prisoners striking for freedom and urge organizations and people of conscience everywhere to join in actions to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed and his fellow prisoners, including building the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to internationally isolate Israel, its institutions, and the corporations – like G4S -that profit from imprisonment, occupation, racism, colonialism and injustice.
Free Bilal Kayed and all Palestinian Prisoners!
End Administrative Detention!
Signed:
This call out is open for additional organizational endorsements. Please use the form or email [email protected] to sign on.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Abna’a el-Balad Movement – Palestine
ACAT France
Actions4Palestine – Toronto, Canada
AFPS Association France Palestine Solidarité
Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition NY
Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition – US
Alternative Information Center
Asociación Palestina BILADI
Association Belgo-Palestinienne
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) – India
Association of Academics for the Respect of International Law in Palestine – AURDIP
Association of the Palestinian Community in Scotland
Associazione Amicizia Sardegna Palestina
BAYAN USA
BDS Action Calgary
BDS Amsterdam
BDS Austria
BDS Berlin
BDS Nederland
BDS Oudàh
BDS Slovenija
BDS Trieste
BDS Turkey (Filistin Için Israil’e Boykot Girisimi)
BDS Vancouver
Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israeli citizens for BDS)
Byron Friends of Palestine
Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Canada Palestine Association
CAPJPO – EuroPalestine
Cátedra de Estudiso Palestinos Edward W. Said
Citizens International – Malaysia
Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (Sydney)
Collectif Judeo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
Collettivo Autogestito CASAROSSA40
Comité Palestina Libre / Uruguay
Comite Salta de solidaridad con Palestina
Committee of the Greater ABC/SP of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Brazil
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Committees for a Democratic Palestine – Brazil
Communist Party, Sweden
Contemporary Lawyers Association (Çagdas Hukukçular Dernegi)
Corvallis-Albany Palestine Solidarity
Coup Pour Coup 31
Democratic Lawyers’ Alliance – Palestine
Democratic Palestine Committees – Germany
docP (Diensten en Onderzoek Centrum Palestina , Netherlands)
éirígí
Education Equals Making Community Connections
European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP)
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
Faculty for Palestine (Canada)
February 20 Movement – USA
Filipino Refugees in the Netherlands
Finnish-Arab Friendship Society
Football Against Apartheid
Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Friends of Ain el-Helweh, Grenoble
Fronte Palestina
Gaza Action Ireland
Gerechtigkeit und Frieden für Palästina
Gesellschaft Schweiz Palästina
Groupe Non-Violent LOUIS LECOIN
Grupo de Tecnología Alternativa S.C.
Gruppo Azione Palestina – Parma
Handala Center for Prisoners and Former Prisoners
Handala Cultural Center – Vienna
Hilton Head for Peace
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (Türkiye Insan Haklari Vakfi)
Human Rights Institute – Bratislava, Slovakia
Human Rights March – Denmark
Hunter College Students for Justice in Palestine
Initiative for a Just Peace in the Middle East – Slovakia
Inminds.com
intal
International Action Center
International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
International League of Peoples Struggle in Canada
International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
International Solidarity Movement – Palestine
International Solidarity Movement – Northern California
International Solidarity Movement Czech Republic group
Internationale Socialisten
Internationalt Forum/Middle East Group
InvictaPalestina – Torino
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Isçi Demokrasisi Partisi (IDP)
Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Labor for Palestine
LADH (Liga Argentina de los Derechos del Hombre)
Landless Workers ‘ Movement (MST) – Brazil
Lefterianews – Greece
Left Perspective – Czech Republic
Leuvense Actiegroep Palestina
Libertarian Lawyers Association (Özgürlükçü Hukukçular Dernegi)
London Palestine Action
Los Otros Judios
Merton PSC – London
MRAP Vaucluse
Mouvement Citoyen Palestine
National Jericho Movement
National Lawyers Guild – Palestine Subcommittee
Netherlands Palestine Committee (NPK)
New York City Students for Justice in Palestine
Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition
NY 4 Palestine Coalition
NYC Free Peltier
NYC Friends of MOVE
Palästinensische Kulturzentrum Schweiz
Palestijnse Gemeenschap in Nederland
Palestina Kommitee Rotterdam
Palestina Rossa
Palestina Solidariteit
Palestine Platform Human Rights and Solidarity (PPMS)
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Brazil – Rio Grande do Sul
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Brazil – Sao Paulo
Palestinian Arab Society – Corumba (Brazil)
Palestinian Child and Youth Institute – Lebanon
Palestinian Democratic Coalition – Chicago
Palestinian Documentation Center
Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee – Palestine
Palestinian Youth Organization
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine
Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association
Progressive Palestinian Youth Union – Palestine
Progressive Student Labor Front – Palestine
Proletaren FF, sports club, Sweden
Raja’een Folkloric Dance Troupe
Red Sparks Union
Release Aging People in Prison
Resistance for Free Palestine – Greece
Revolutionaire Eenheid
Revolutionary Communist Group/Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
Revolutionary Communist Youth, Sweden
Sawt al-Shaab (Voice of the People Radio) – Palestine
SODePAZ Balamil
Solidarity with Novorossiya and Antifascists in Ukraine – NYC
Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine
Stichting Groningen-Jabalya
Studenten Voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina- Nijmegen
Studenten voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina (SRP) – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
SJP at Sacramento State University
Students for Justice in Palestine – Maastricht
Students for Justice in Palestine at the College of Staten Island
Students For Justice in Palestine – Rotterdam
UDAP – Unione Democratica Arabo-Palestinese
UJFP French Jewish Union for Peace
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees – Palestine
United for Palestine
USC Students for Justice in Palestine
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
Vlaams-Socialistische Beweging
Voice of Palestine
West Valley Neighborhoods Coalition
Women In Black International(Seattle USA chapter)
Women in Black (Vienna)
Women in Black The Netherlands
