- On 29 October 2024, two activists in the Palestine liberation movement are being called to a first hearing at the Spanish High Court, which is investigating an alleged crime of “glorification of terrorism” on the basis of a complaint from far-right political party VOX.
- The accused activists will make a brief statement to the media following the hearing, along with Amnesty International and the Palestinian Community of Madrid.
- Jaldía Abubakra, one of the defendants and a leading activist in Samidoun, Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization and the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, declares categorically “those who should be taken to court are Netanyahu and Biden, who are carrying out a genocide in real time before the passive gaze of the so-called international community”.
Madrid, 28th October 2024
On the morning of 29 October 2024, two pro-Palestinian activists are being called to a first hearing in the Spanish High Court on the basis of a lawsuit filed by the Spanish extreme right-wing political party, VOX, for an alleged crime of “glorification of terrorism.” The complaint, which has ended up in Court Room number 6 of the Spanish High Court and which is still in the investigation phase, was filed in response to an event organised on 3 June 024 by Podemos in the Spanish Congress under the name “Defence of Palestine and criminalisation in Europe” where the two activists and the Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta spoke and presented analysis on the current situation and the repression of the Palestinian cause in Europe.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Madrid will hold a press conference at the Villa de Paris Square outside the Spanish High Court with the participation of Amnesty International, the Palestinian Community of Madrid, and members of the left in the Spanish Parliament.
This is yet another example of the use of “glorification of terrorism” provisions in Spanish law at the expense of freedom of speech and expression; previous such examples of these harmful effects include puppeteers hired by the Madrid City Council in 2016 being pursued under such a complaint, as were Cassandra Vera in 2013 for jokes on Twitter and comedian Facu Díaz, for jokes in a sketch in 2014.
The accused activists have rejected the accusation of “glorifying terrorism” and see this new lawsuit by the far-right-wing group as an attack on the freedom of speech and a manoeuvre to divert attention from the massacres and genocide that are being committed daily against the Palestinian people. Jaldia Abubakra, one of the accused activists and a Palestinian from Gaza, says: “Those who should be taken to court are Netanyahu and Biden, who are carrying out a genocide in real time before the passive gaze of the so-called international community.” She continues: “The lawsuit and the media smear campaign that we have been subjected to by the ultra-right party are a demonstration of the total collusion between the Israeli regime and reactionary movements in Europe.” She concludes: “It is nearly unbelievable that the defence of the Palestinian people takes you to court while certain politicians and journalists in this country trivialise and cheer on genocide”.
Samidoun, in a statement published on 27 October on social networks, denounces this as one more episode in an “escalation of the repressive climate” that is happening both internationally and in Spain. As the statement notes, “Samidoun is a direct target of the Zionist-reactionary alliance,” noting that, on 15 October, Canada and the United States of America sanctioned the organisation, thus joining the example of Germany, or to the attempt to dissolve the Collectif Palestine Vaincra in 2022 by the French Ministry of Interior. In all cases, the bans have come from political decisions that avoid or fail to provide meaningful evidence to sustain their accusations in an open legal process. Samidoun emphasizes that there is an international strategy to silence the voices of Palestinian activists through intimidation, censorship and bureaucratic repression by state institutions.
With this lawsuit, VOX shows its close relations with the Zionist lobby in Spain, which is expressed in a combination of associations and personalities from politics, journalism and the business world. There are many initiatives in which the right wing has unconditionally endorsed Israel’s interests. Now, after a year of intensification of the genocide –and the liberation struggle — in Palestine, this alliance is more dangerous than ever, making a qualitative leap and finding in the persecution and targeting of activists a new front for action.
