On Sunday, 23 January, campaigners in Montreal gathered on a snowy day outside the Israeli consulate to call for justice and freedom for Palestinian political prisoners. The demonstration, organized by Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU), the Canadian Palestinian Federation of Quebec and Canada Sanctions Israel, came as part of the international Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners.
Watch the seven videos taken by videographer Robin Edgar below:
The demonstration urged the liberation of Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was jailed 20 years ago this week by the Palestinian Authority at the behest of Israel, and in 2006 was kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces from Jericho prison. Today, he is serving a 30-year sentence in Israeli jails and is a leader of the Palestinian national movement.
Participants also gathered to express support for Nasser Abu Hmaid, Palestinian prisoner who is suffering from cancer and a lung infection and has been largely comatose for weeks. After suffering from medical neglect inside Israeli jails for years, his life is now at severe risk. His family continues to be denied visits to him, even as he lays unconscious in an Israeli hospital.
The demonstrators urged the liberation of Sa’adat, Abu Hmaid, and their over 4,650 fellow Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. The organizations in Montreal that convened this mobilization will be organizing further actions to free Palestinian prisoners and build the boycott of Israel.
