#StopIsraeliTorture: Demand world governments act to free tortured Palestinian prisoners and hunger strikers

 

On Friday, 4 October 2019, call your government to demand it sanction Israel and intercede to free Samer Arbeed, a Palestinian hospitalized in intensive care after his brutal torture by Israeli interrogators, and six other political prisoners on hunger strike against their “administrative detention,” internment without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation forces.

Arbeed, age 44, was moved to Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital on Friday, 27 September, two days after his abduction by Israeli special forces in the occupied West Bank.

When his attorney was finally able to see him for the first time at 1:30 am on Sunday, 29 September, he reported that “Samer was unconscious, had several broken ribs, mark were all over his body, and he suffers a severe kidney failure.”

Israel’s internal intelligence agency, the Shin Bet or Shabak, admitted it had “used extreme and exceptional techniques” after a “judicial body” granted it legal sanction.

Heba Al-Labadi, a 24-year-old Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, was tortured by Israeli interrogators after occupation forces abducted her from the occupied West Bank’s Allenby Bridge crossing with Jordan, where she had traveled to attend a wedding in Nablus, on Tuesday, 20 August.

Subjected to painful stress positions and humiliating treatment, she was then sentenced to “administrative detention” and launched a hunger strike protesting her imprisonment on Tuesday, 24 September.

Among “administrative detainees” on hunger strike, Ismail Ali, age 30, has reached his 71st day, while Tareq Qa’dan, 46 years old, is on his 64th. Basel Sawafta, 36, is on the 14th, and Mus’ab al-Hindi, 29, Ahmad Zahran, 42, and Heba have reached their ninth.

On Tuesday, 1 September, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported that Israeli forces have tortured 73 Palestinians to death since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967.

Call on Friday during your country’s regular office hours:

• Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
• Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland: +1-613-992-5234
• European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
• New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
• United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab: +44 20 7008 1500
• Your United States House of Representatives member: 1-202-224-3121

Tell your government:

• Last month Israeli interrogators tortured a Palestinian political prisoner, Samer Arbeed, so badly that he is now unconscious and critically inured in a hospital.
• Six other Palestinian political prisoners are on hunger strike against their “administrative detention,” internment without charge or trial by the Israeli military.
• Israel’s use of torture and “administrative detention” against Palestinians are universally-recognized violations of human rights and international law.
• The government must sanction Israel for its torture, “administrative detention,” and other crimes against Palestinian political prisoners, and intercede for the immediate release of Arbeed and the hunger strikers.