Liberated Palestinian prisoner Abdel-Nasser Issa speaks at event in Crete, expresses solidarity with Mohammed Khatib, urges Greek action for Palestine

On Saturday, 7 February, liberated Palestinian prisoner Abdel-Nasser Issa, who spent 30 years in Zionist prisons, spoke remotely at an event in Heraklion, Crete, organized by the Assembly of Solidarity to the Palestinian People. This is the event that Samidoun Europe coordinator, Mohammed Khatib, had traveled to Crete to attend as a speaker when he was arrested at the Heraklion airport, detained, and told that he was ordered excluded from Greece for “national security” reasons. The event also included a presentation by Konstantina Kartsiotis of the Anti-Imperialist Front.

Rather than causing a cancellation or postponement of the event, the arrest and ongoing detention of Mohammed Khatib only encouraged greater attendance and enthusiasm for the event, which was fully packed to capacity to hear from Issa, a veteran Palestinian prisoner and a leader of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, liberated in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange in February 2025. During his presentation, he emphasized that the Palestinian cause is an international cause and requires action from the world, urging Greek people in particular to act:

“Our just Palestinian cause is primarily a human cause because it is a national liberation cause that concerns all free people of the world fighting for freedom and justice. Especially the dear Greek people and their vital forces, who have always stood by just causes, foremost among them, Palestinian national liberation from the clutches of the Zionist occupiers.”

He expressed solidarity with comrade Mohammed Khatib, emphasizing that repression and arrests must inspire greater organizing:

“We in Palestine need your efforts and your continued voices despite the persecution of free voices here in Europe and Greece. Most recently, the arrest of our dear Comrade Mohammed in an attempt to silence this voice. I urge you to keep raising the banner of justice supporting Palestine and the Palestinian people and supporting all causes of justice globally, among Arabs, in Europe, America, and everywhere. This is a proud, free voice that must not be silenced. The arrest of Comrade Mohammed should motivate us all to continue our struggle and fight for just causes, and specifically for Palestine. On the contrary, this will only strengthen and encourage us. We must not yield to tyrannical governments or governments that are hostage to narrow interests. When any government arrests and prosecutes Palestinian, Greek or European activists, they do so simply because they raise the banner of justice for Palestine, the banner against the Zionist occupation and the perpetrators of genocide led by the occupation’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. That is why they are being persecuted.”

He further called for action against the ongoing economic and military cooperation deals between the Greek and Cypriot governments and the Zionist entity:

“We must emphasize here that we hope and expect our dear, generous Greek people who have always stood against Nazism and fascism, and stand for human justice to reject the agreements made by the Greek government with the Zionist occupation, specifically regarding the gas. This is stolen Palestinian gas. It belongs to the Greek people too. This gas belongs to the people, not to governments driven by narrow interests and who prioritize the interests of dependent figures linked to foreign agendas over the people’s welfare.”

Watch the videos of his speech:

Abdel-Nasser Issa was liberated on 27 February 2025 in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange and has continued to participate in international forums and events, including expressing solidarity for the hunger striking Prisoners for Palestine in British jails. Imprisoned since 1995, he was born in Balata refugee camp in Nablus in 1968. He joined the Hamas movement upon its launch and then the al-Qassam Brigades, carrying out multiple operations. Serving 2 life sentences, he became one of the leaders of the prisoners’ movement, serving as the representative of Hamas prisoners and one of the architects of the 2006 Prisoners’ Document, as well as writing multiple articles and studies behind bars.

Mohammed Khatib was a featured speaker at the event alongside Issa, and the European coordinator of Samidoun — a Palestinian refugee born in Ein el-Helweh camp in Lebanon — was arrested upon his arrival at Heraklion airport on the morning of Saturday, 7 February. He remains detained in a Greek detention center and has allegedly been slated for deportation, as part of the ongoing attack on Palestinian organizing and Palestine solidarity throughout Europe in complicity with Zionist/U.S. genocide in Gaza and throughout Palestine.