Palestinian and solidarity activists in Berlin, Germany, gathered at Breitscheidplatz to call for freedom for imprisoned Palestinian Bilal Kayed on Thursday, 30 June. Carrying Palestinian flags and posters of Kayed, they demanded freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and distributed leaflets to passersby urging action on Kayed’s case.
Kayed has been on hunger strike for 16 days, demanding his freedom from administrative detention without charge or trial after the expiration of his 14.5 year sentence in Israeli prisons. Fellow Palestinian prisoners have launched hunger strikes and a series of protest actions inside the prisons, while Palestinians have taken to the street in protest to support Kayed and his fellow 7,000 Palestinian prisoners behind bars.
Kayed is one of over 700 Palestinians jailed under administrative detention without charge or trial, on the basis of secret evidence. Administrative detention orders, issued for one to six months at a time, are indefinitely renewable. His case is seen as threatening a dangerous precedent of indefinite imprisonment of Palestinian prisoners upon the completion of lengthy sentences.
Over 150 international organizations have joined the call to free Bilal Kayed; this is the second protest in Berlin urging his freedom. Protests took place in cities around the world urging his immediate release on 24 and 25 June, and more protests are being organized in the coming days and weeks around the world.
Kayed’s sister Suha issued an appeal in German urging action for her brother’s release:
The protest was organized by the Democratic Palestine Committees.
Photos by Afif el-Ali
