Roger Waters, world-renowned musician known for his work with Pink Floyd – and for his commitment to speaking up for Palestinian rights – joined in a global social media storm to free Khitam Saafin, the imprisoned Palestinian feminist and president of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees. Waters posted a video mashup bringing together his own music along with graphics calling for Saafin’s freedom.
Hey Israel leave Khitam alone. #FreeKhitamSaafin pic.twitter.com/nav2FAO8GV
— Roger Waters (@rogerwaters) November 16, 2020
The posts came as part of a #FreeKhitamSaafin social media campaign organized on Monday, 16 November by the US Palestinian Community Network and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network along with the National Alliance against Racial and Political Repression and the National Lawyers Guild.
Waters, 75, long renowned for his musical work with Pink Floyd, continues to perform globally and produce new work. He has become an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights and liberation, a supporter of the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, and a committed critic of imperialism, racism and settler colonialism. Today, he lent his voice – and his music – to the campaign to free Saafin, a Palestinian activist and organizer detained by Israel without charge or trial.
Saafin was ordered by an Israeli military commander to six months in administrative detention, imprisonment with no charge or trial and based on so-called “secret evidence”, on 9 November 2020. She had been seized by Israeli occupation forces from her home in occupied Beitunia at the same time as six other Palestinian activists and human rights defenders on 2 November 2020.
She was last arrested by Israeli occupation forces in 2017, when she was ordered to three months in administrative detention — leading to a global outcry. Saafin is a well-known international advocate for Palestinian women and freedom and justice for the Palestinian people. She has spoken around the world about the struggle of Palestinian women, including at the World Social Forum, and served as chair of the Global Women’s March Palestine.
Check out the post on Facebook.
Administrative detention, a practice first introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate, imprisons Palestinians without charge or trial on the basis of a so-called “secret file.” Even the detainee’s lawyer is denied access to any of the contents of this file; instead, it is simply asserted by the Israeli occupation military commander. These detention orders are issued for up to six months at a time and are indefinitely renewable; Palestinians routinely spend years a a time jailed under administrative detention. There are currently approximately 370 Palestinian prisoners held under administrative detention orders, among approximately 4500 Palestinian political prisoners in total.
To get more information and join the campaign for Khitam Saafin and her fellow Palestinian political prisoners, follow and share our campaign page at https://freekhitamsaafin.org/
Download graphics and resources at: https://bit.ly/KhitamResources
