Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network condemns in the strongest terms the Greek government’s arrest, detention, exclusion and planned deportation of Mohammed Khatib, European coordinator of Samidoun. Today, Saturday, 7 February, as he was traveling to Crete where he was scheduled to speak at an event in solidarity with Palestine, highlighting the struggle of the prisoners inside the occupation jails and the voices of liberated prisoners freed by the resistance, he was suddenly detained at Heraklion airport and told that he had been labeled inadmissible to Greece due to reasons of “national security.” His detention pending deportation is an official escalation against the Palestinian community and solidarity movement in Greece, and we demand his immediate release.
This order was allegedly issued on 24 December 2025 — only two days after the tenth “Greece-Cyprus-Israel tripartite summit.” It is clear that, contrary to the strong sentiments and solidarity of the Greek people with Palestine, the Greek government is once again carrying out the will of the Zionist entity, the United States and EU imperialist powers like Germany. The Greek people have repeatedly made clear, in mass marches and demonstrations, powerful direct actions, and labor actions rejecting cargo for the Zionist war machine, that they stand with Palestine and against the genocide — yet the right-wing Greek government has gone out of its way to deepen the state’s entanglement with the Zionist economy and military.
On 23 January, the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, issued a call to the Greek movement, including workers, students, and political parties: “The almost weekly visits of Israeli ministers to Athens today reflect an accelerating Zionist infiltration inextricably linked to the imperialist project in our region. This infiltration aims to consolidate the influence of the criminal Zionist entity through oil, gas, and energy agreements in the Eastern Mediterranean, the relentless acquisition of land and real estate, and the integration of the Greek economy and infrastructure with the interests of the occupation and its security, economic, and military companies. This is all part of a broader effort to redraw the map of imperialist control over the region and transform Greece into a strategic outpost against the peoples of our region.”
Mohammed Khatib remains detained; as news of his detention spread, supporters gathered outside the central police station in Heraklion, Crete, carrying a banner: “Sumoud: The resistance will be victorious. Palestine will be liberated” and demanding his immediate release. Tonight’s event, at which he was scheduled to speak, in solidarity with the prisoners and the resistance, and for the liberation of Palestine, will continue at 6 pm at Mastraha 9, in Heraklion, Crete. We urge all to participate widely in this event to show support for Mohammed, for the Palestinian prisoners, and for the liberation of Palestine — especially at a moment when the occupation regime is continuing and escalating its daily war crimes and genocidal crimes against humanity throughout Palestine, and especially in the Gaza Strip.
This is only the latest repressive incident targeting the movement for Palestine, especially in Europe and North America, including the ongoing attacks on the Samidoun Network, denials of entry for Mohammed Khatib in the Netherlands, Switzerland and now Greece, attempts to confiscate his asylum status in Belgium, the ban on Samidoun in Germany and its designation on “anti-terror lists” in the United States and Canada. In Belgium, the far-right Arizona government is attempting to create a new law allowing it unprecedented authority to ban organizations, explicitly seeking to ban Samidoun. Of course, these attacks are far more widespread and target the movement as a whole, including the British proscription of Palestine Action, the attempt to prosecute dozens of direct actionists (including six who won their case just days ago), the arrests of prominent Palestinian community leaders in Italy, the imprisonment of over 10 Palestinians in Germany, the ongoing use of “apology for terrorism” allegations in France to criminalize activists, and the targeting of Palestinian students and youth in the United States, including Mahmoud Khalil and Leqaa Kordia, for detention and deportation. All of these attacks are part and parcel of imperialist complicity with and direct involvement in genocide — and the attacks on Samidoun are part of the targeting of the nearly 10,000 Palestinians jailed in occupation prisons.
We urge all supporters of Palestine to respond to repression with organizing and action, to escalate our activities in support of the Palestinian people and their struggle for return and liberation, to stand with Gaza under siege and under fire from the genocidal forces and subjected to the pseudo-ceasefire of the “Board of Peace,” and to organize wide-scale protests, actions, educational events, disruptive activities and mobilizations for the liberation of the Palestinian prisoners inside the Zionist and imperialist jails, and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.
Solidarity with Mohammed Khatib!
Free all Palestinian prisoners!
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Discover more from Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
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