The Democratic Palestine Committees in Berlin organized a protest on 11 January in front of the Bulgarian embassy to Germany in solidarity with Omar Nayef Zayed, former Palestinian political prisoner threatened with extradition from Bulgaria to Israel. They delivered a letter to the Bulgarian embassy calling on the Bulgarian government to reject the Israeli extradition request and defend Zayed’s rights.
The protest came as part of the Week of Action for Omar Nayef Zayed, with events taking place in London, New York, Brussels, Ramallah, Gaza and other cities in support of Zayed’s case and struggle for justice. He has currently taken refuge inside the Palestinian Embassy in Sofia.
Protest organizers emphasized that Zayed’s case is of extreme importance to the Palestinian and Arab communities in Europe, and especially former prisoners and veterans of the Palestinian struggle, with the potential for a dangerous precedent undermining the rights and status of Palestinians in Europe. They noted that Zayed’s case is a political case of a struggler for freedom for Palestine, and demanded that Bulgaria reject the demands to turn Zayed over to an occupying power for further torture and imprisonment. Zayed has lived in Bulgaria for 22 years after escaping Israeli confinement in 1990 after a 40-day hunger strike.
Events and actions in solidarity with Zayed are being organized in cities around the world and will continue in Berlin. German translations are available of key calls to action for Omar Nayef Zayed via Palästina Solidarität:
