Thursday, 5 April
5:00 pm
MellemRummet
Ravnsborggade 11
Copenhagen, Denmark
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1839391449687657/
Right now, 330 Palestinian child prisoners are held in Israeli prisons. Approximately 700 Palestinian children under the age of 18 from the occupied West Bank are prosecuted every year through Israeli military courts after being arrested, interrogated and detained by the Israeli army. The most common charge levied against children is throwing stones, a crime that is punishable under military law by up to 20 years in prison. Since 2000, more than 12,000 Palestinian children have been detained. Palestinians tried in Israeli military courts face a 99.7 % conviction rate and are denied a just and due process.
Come join us for an evening of writing letters of support and solidarity to a few of these imprisoned minors. Bring a friend and drop by the MellemRummet Café to write a letter (in English or Arabic), have a coffee, listen to Palestinian music, and eat Palestinian snacks. We will collect all the letters and send them to the families of the child prisoners.
Read more about the child prisoners to whom we are writing letters of support:
AHED TAMIMI
Since december 2017, the then 16-year old Palestinian teenage activist Ahed Tamimi has been detained by Israeli authorities for slapping an Israeli soldier. After being tried in an Israeli military court behind closed doors, she’s now been sentenced to 8 months in prison.
Ahed lives in the village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank. Every week, villagers demonstrate against the illegal Israeli settlement built on their land and the theft of the fresh-water spring by settlers. During a demonstration, a soldier shot Ahed’s 15-year-old cousin Mohammad in the face from close range, shattering his skull. He was rushed to the hospital and medically induced into a coma. Shortly after, soldiers came to Ahed’s home, and it was then that Ahed slapped and pushed a soldier, trying to make them leave her home. Later that week, the soldiers came back to arrest Ahed in the middle of the night, and in the following days, also her mother Nuriman and cousin Nour were arrested by Israeli soldiers.
If you are not able to attend the letter writing café in person, you can send words of support for Ahed here: https://www.ms.dk/tamimi
ABDUL-KHALIQ BURNAT
On the night of December 10th 2017, 17-year-old Abdul-Khaliq Burnat was beaten and arrested by Israeli soldiers while he was on his way to get pizza with two of his friends. All three teenagers were taken to Ofer Military Prison where they are still being detained.
Abdul-Khaliq is the son of prominent Palestinian activist Iyad Burnat, an active leader of the Non-Violent Resistance Movement in the village of Bil’in in the occupied West Bank. For more than 10 years, the villagers have held weekly demonstrations to protest the illegal eight-meter tall concrete wall and Israeli settlement built on village lands.
A year ago in January 2017, Abdul-Khaliq was shot in the head with a rubber coated steel bullet while attending the weekly protest. Now he is facing charges for damaging the wall and stone-throwing. Abdul-Khaliq is a senior in high school, and was planning on going to college abroad after graduation.
SHADI FARAH
In December 2015, 12-year old Shadi Farah became the youngest Palestinian political prisoner. Shadi and his friend Ahmad were arrested at a bus stop in Jerusalem. A group of East Jerusalem illegal settlers called police to investigate the two boys, on suspicion of being Palestinian.
In the ensuing process of arrest, interrogation, and abuse, the Israeli police proclaimed that the two boys had gone to Jerusalem with the intent to stab a soldier, and subsequently charged them both with attempted manslaughter. During the interrogation, the boys were shouted at, beaten and given electric shocks. According to Shadi’s family, he still maintains his innocence, but in the Israeli courts, no evidence is needed to convict a Palestinian.
Shadi is now imprisoned in Masra youth detention centre in Israel, a facility for teenagers incarcerated for theft, assault and drug possession, where he suffers from abuse and isolation. His family visits him as often as possible, but travelling from the hometown Kufr Akab to the north of Israel is expensive, and the Farah family has no prospect of paying for a good lawyer to take Shadi’s case.
// This event is part of the Palestinian Culture Nights. If you would like to become a volunteer with us, please connect to our group in the following link //
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