Ma’an reported that Hassan Safadi addressed a letter to the Palestinian people, all their institutions and forces, in particular all of the free and honourable people who supported the prisoners in their open hunger strike.
Safadi, held in arbitrary administrative detention without charge or trial, engaged in an open-ended hunger strike from June 21, 2012 until September 21, 2012 when his administrative detention was not renewed and it was confirmed that he would be released in October.
The message reads as follows:
In the name of God, the most merciful…
At this time of victory, wrenched from body and spirit through hunger, among heroic colleagues who shared commitment, steadfastness and pride in the battle for freedom and dignity, I extend my salute and appreciation to the Palestinian people, free and proud. I greet all of the free institutions, honourable and conscientious lawyers who stood alongside us and supported us through their struggle and activities and fought for our just and legitimate rights. This is a triumph over darkness and the oppressors, and a triumph of freedom and all prisoners and detainees, and a victory for our hopes and dreams, our martyrs and wounded. My own long hunger strike has been suspended, but the prisoners’ battle is not over. Samer al-Issawi and Ayman Sharawna continue to strike against the policy of arbitrary detention, prisoners continue to languish in jails of medical negligence, and assaults, attacks on our rights, and humiliation continues. I have learned that God’s will and the will of steadfastness and faith is stronger than the will of the torturers and the racist policies.
I held first to my promise, pledged my soul to God and relied on God in struggle, convinced that the very foundation of my arrest is unjust and void, and that the policy of administrative detention must stop, it is a guillotine on the necks of thousands of prisoners.
Therefore I urge all international bodies and human rights organizations to continuously advocate and pressure to end arbitrary detention that violates the principles of humanitarian and human rights law.
Greetings to my ill mother, my steadfast and patient mother who has been a constant source of patience, strength and determination, and to the memory of my brother, the martyr Fareed, and all of the martyrs who have come before us on the road to freedom and justice. We will, God willing, soon see the hour of the dawn of freedom.
Hassan Safadi
September 26, 2012
