On Friday 30th August we will be protesting outside G4S HQ in London in solidarity with the Hares Boys – five Palestinian children tortured and caged in a G4S secured Israeli prison facing life sentence for a crime that never happened! (See below for details of their case)
We will also be expanding our campaign against G4S to include its complicity in the abuse of Palestinian women prisoners. Currently there are 13 Palestinian women detainees in Israeli prisons, all of them are in a G4S secured prison. In particular we will focus on three Palestinian women activists were were seized just a week ago – the Nablus 3, and campaign for their immediate and unconditional release.
Friday 30th August 2013
5-7pm @ G4S HQ
Southside Building,
105 Victoria Street,
London SW1E 6QT
Closest tube station : Victoria
JOIN FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/551059231596101/
FREE THE HARES BOYS – PROTEST G4S COMPLICITY IN THEIR TORTURE
On 14th March 2013 in what appears to have been a car accident when a illegal settler car crashed in to the back of an Israeli truck which had stopped due to a flat tire resulting in four people being hurt, was later at the behest of angry settlers presented as an attack by Palestinian stone throwing youth.
Over the next few days over 50 masked Israeli soldiers stormed the local village of Hares in the early hours of the morning and in waves of violent arrests kidnapped the children of the village. In total 19 children were taken to the infamous G4S secured children’s dungeon at Al Jalame where they were violently tortured and locked up in solitary confinement for up to 2 weeks in windowless 1m by 2m cells with no mattress. To coerce confessions from the boys, sexual threats were made against the female members of their families.
After extracting confessions under torture, five of the Hares boys were charged with 25 counts of attempted murder even though there were only four people in the car. Apparently the military court had decided that 25 stones were thrown, each with an “intent to kill”. The five boys – Ali Shamlawi, Mohammed Kleib, Mohammed Mahdi Saleh Suleiman, Tamer Souf, and Ammar Souf are currently locked up in another G4S secured facility – Megiddo prison where G4S provides the entire central command room.
The children have got three court hearing in August and two more in September. A study conducted by the Israeli NGO ‘No Legal Frontiers’ over a 12 month period concluded that 100% of Palestinian children brought before the Military court are convicted. If the five boys are convicted they will be locked up for 25+ years – five young lives ruined with no evidence of a crime let alone their guilt.
Further information:
Hares Boys website: http://haresboys.wordpress.com/
Video where parents of Ali Shamlawi describe the torture their son endured leading to his forced confession: http://youtu.be/MANc8H2Mk2U
Palestinian Prisoners Campaign homepage: http://www.inminds.com/caged
FREE LINAN, MYASSAR & LEENA #FreeNablus3
Since 1967 more than 12,000 Palestinian women have been imprisoned by Israel. Most recently on 15th August three Palestinian women activists from Nablus, all former prisoners – Leena Jawabreh, Linan Abu Ghoulmeh and Myassar Atyani were seized whilst visiting a friend in ’48 Palestine. Leena was sentenced today to one month imprisonment and 1000 shekel fine for traveling in her own land without an Israeli permit. Linan and Myassar’s hearing is on Sunday.
Linan Abu Ghoulmeh is a former political prisoner who was held in Israeli prisons for over five years from 2004 until 2009, when she was released in a prisoner exchange; she was then re-arrested in July 2010, when she was imprisoned until the October 2011 prisoner exchange.
Myassar Atyani, a leading prisoners’ rights activist, was repeatedly subject to arrests in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been one of the leading organizers of campaigns in solidarity with the prisoners, and particularly the hunger strikers.
Leena Jawabreh served four years in Israeli prisons until her release on July 16, 2008. She has organized multiple actions and solidarity hunger strikes in support of Palestinian prisoners, in particular women prisoners.
We are demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the three women activists and all the women prisoners. Currently, there are in total 13 Palestinian women detainees, all of them caged in Israel’s infamous HaSharon prison.
HaSharon prison is illegally located outside the 1967 occupied territory, in direct contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that an Occupying Power must detain residents of occupied territory in prisons inside the occupied territory. HaSharon prison is secured by the British Danish security firm G4S. G4S provides the full security system including the whole central command room for the entire prison where all 13 Palestinian women detainees are caged and abused.
At HaSharon prison Palestinian women prisoners have to endure beatings, insults, threats, sexually explicit harassment and sexual violence, and humiliation at the hands of Israeli guards. Often they are forced to undergo degrading and intrusive body searches during the middle of the night for no reason other an as a punitive measure. Women have been beaten and left tied to their bed for a day and a half and not allowed to go to the toilet as punishment for spilling water. The women are denied family visits.
The cells at Hashoron prison are overcrowded, dirty and infected with mice and cockroaches. There is a total absence of basic hygiene, women have even been denied sanitary pads when menstruating. The heat is unbearable, The windows are closed and covered so that hardly any air or daylight can enter. The food is insufficient, of inferior quality or even spoilt, it is dirty, often containing insects and worms, and sometimes there are not enough portions for all the women.
We hold G4S directly culpable for its complicity in these Israeli crimes and demand that they immediately cancel all their contracts with the Israeli Prison Service and cease all business dealings with Israel.
PROTEST FRIDAY 30th AUGUST
Please join us on Friday 30th August to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all the women and children and to hold G4S to account for its complicity in Israel’s crimes, particularly in the torture of Palestinian children and abuse of Palestinian women.
Friday 30th August 2013
5-7pm @ G4S HQ
Southside Building,
105 Victoria Street,
London SW1E 6QT
Closest tube station : Victoria
Live updates during protest
We will, inshAllah, be tweeting live (hash tags #FreeHaresBoys #FreeNablus3 ) from the protest with live photos being uploaded to our twitter and facebook page. So if you can’t join us on the day, please help us by sharing the photos as they get uploaded.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inmindscom-Boycott-Israel/365007213584914
https://twitter.com/InmindsCom
Palestinian Prisoners Campaign
www.inminds.com/caged
The Palestinian Prisoners Campaign aims to raise awareness for the plight of Palestinian prisoners and build solidarity for their struggle and work towards their freedom. The campaign was launched by Innovative Minds (inminds.com) and the Islamic Human Rights Commission (ihrc.org) on the occasion of Al Quds Day 2012 (on 17th August 2012), since then we have held actions every fortnight in support of Palestinian prisoners, if you can spare two hours twice a month then please join the campaign by coming to the next action.
