Monday, 21 October
7:00 pm
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
10405 Berlin, Germany
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/539822943493593/
“Palestinian Political Prisoners: The Intersection of International Law and the Palestinian Struggle”
Coalition for Palestinian Rights and Against Racism (Palästina Spricht) and the International League for Human Rights (ILMR) in Berlin are proud to host Sahar Francis, General Director of Addameer, directly from Colonized Palestine.
Sahar Francis will be speaking about “The continued prosecution of Palestinians under military law, the widespread arrests, human rights defenders arrests, women arrests, daily life and torture in Israeli jails, children detention, administrative detention and serving sentences of an occupied people exemplify the apartheid nature of the Israeli regime. Through the law and practice of Israeli military courts that distinguish between criminal and security prisoners, the Israeli authorities practice an “institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination” by Israelis over Palestinians, “committed with the intention of maintaining that regime” in line with the definition of apartheid by the International Criminal Court.viii This system serves to repress Palestinians through lower trial guarantees, longer interrogation periods, and legal cover for torture.”
She will emphasize about the Israeli mechanism of censoring and silencing Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations, and the continuous persecution while they investigative and expose Israeli war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
ADDAMEER (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners. The center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international level, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.
Addameer was the leading organization supporting the historic Dignity Strike in Palestine and supported different hunger Strike for the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and still doing a great national and international efforts to protect the basic rights for Palestinians.
Since 2006, Sahar Francis has been the General Director of Ramallah-based Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian NGO providing legal and advocacy support to Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. An attorney by training, she joined the association in 1998, first as a human rights lawyer, then as head of the Legal Unit. With over sixteen years of human rights experience, including human rights counseling and representation, Ms. Francis also was on the Board of Defence for Children International – Palestine Section for 4 years, and currently sets in the Board of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. Sahar did her practice on Human Rights in the Society of Saint Yves in Jerusalem, on issues of Land confiscations, house demolitions, labor rights and freedom of movement. On 1997 worked in Badil Refugee Rights Centre, in the legal unit. Sahar did her masters in international Studies at Bir Zeit University, and her law degree at Haifa University.