EMERGENCY Vigil for Hana Shalabi, Palestinian prisoner on Hunger Strike for 36 Days
SATURDAY, March 24
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Vancouver Public Library
Robson and Homer St. – Vancouver
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/270375406382165/
Join us for an emergency vigil for Palestinian prisoner and hunger striker Hana Shalabi, now on her 36th day of hunger strike. Hana is held without charge or trial – and her life is now in jeopardy.
Hana Shalabi is a Palestinian political prisoner held in an Israeli jail. She has been on hunger strike for 36 days, protesting her detention without charge or trial.
Hana Shalabi is a 30-year-old Palestinian woman from Burqin village near Nablus, under Israeli occupation. She is currently held in administrative detention, without charge or trial, after her arbitrary and violent arrest on February 16, 2012. She was arrested by Israeli military occupation authorities only four months after her release from a 30-month term – also without charge or trial – in an Israeli prison as part of a prisoner exchange. At no time has Hana Shalabi been charged with a crime, or placed on trial – even one of the rigged military trials conducted by the Israeli occupation.
Hana has been on hunger strike since her arrest – now 36 days. She is in hospital under armed guard, and Physicians for Human Rights report that her life is now in danger.
There are currently 4,489 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails. 310 of these prisoners are held under administrative detention, meaning arbitrarily, without charges or trial, in violation of international human rights law. 40% of Palestinian men in the West Bank have been held in Israeli jails at one point in their life – targeted for insisting upon their people’s freedom from occupation and return from exile.
The Canadian government under Stephen Harper has declared itself to be Israel’s “greatest friend,” and worked around the world and in Canada to silence Palestinians and the Palestinian cause. Now is the time for people to speak out against injustice. Protests are taking place in Toronto, Chicago, New York, Glasgow and more. Join us to stand with Hana Shalabi and demand her freedom, and freedom for Palestine.
For more information about Hana Shalabi and her case, please see: