Facebook Instagram Mail RSS Telegram Twitter Youtube
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Home Blog

International Al-Quds Day 2026: A call to action for Al-Quds, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and humanity

This year, in 2026, the International Day of Al-Quds, the international day of action held on the third Friday of Ramadan for the Palestinian cause and the liberation of Jerusalem from Zionism and imperialism, takes on an extremely urgent and historic significance. Marked since 1979, when it was first declared by Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, this year’s commemoration arrives amid one of the most dangerous escalations faced by the peoples of the region. As the world marks the 47th International Al-Quds Day, the struggle for the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem stands at the center of a regional and global confrontation with Zionism and imperialism.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates our urgent call to action for Al-Quds Day, Friday, March 13, and throughout the weekend, March 14-15, for actions, mass mobilization and protest, direct actions and confronting the Zionist and imperialist war machine everywhere. 

As the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement and the Popular Democratic Party in Lebanon appealed: “Declare International Quds Day, Friday, March 13, a global day against war and aggression, and a day of solidarity and unity for Palestine, Iran, and Lebanon, affirming the peoples’ right to liberation, sovereignty, and self-determination.”

On this Al-Quds Day, the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a major battle in defense of its sovereignty and in defense of al-Quds, Palestine, and the peoples of the region against the aggression of the Zionist occupation and its imperialist sponsors, the United States and its European, British, Canadian and Australian partners. Iran is confronting a relentless war of aggression and daily war crimes carried out by U.S. and Zionist forces. The Leader of the Islamic Republic, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, was martyred while preparing the defense of the nation and confronting this aggression, after a lifetime devoted to scholarship, leadership, service and deep faith in God, the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran and to the cause of Palestine and Al-Quds.

The Islamic Republic of Iran does not stand alone in this struggle. Across the region, the Resistance Front is confronting the expanding war of imperialism and Zionism.

In Lebanon, the Resistance continues to defend Lebanon, Palestine and al-Quds in the face of constant aggression. During the so-called “ceasefire” observed only by one side for 15 months, the Zionist occupation carried out more than 15,000 violations, including assassinations, abductions of Lebanese political prisoners, and massacres in the Beqaa and in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh. In the early hours of of Thursday, March 12, Zionist forces, armed and backed by the U.S. and supported by the European imperialist powers, bombed displaced civilians in tents on the beach in Ramlet al-Baida, Beirut; later on the same day, amid a series of massacres and assaults, they bombed the Lebanese University in Beirut, martyring two prominent academics.

Over 800,000 Lebanese, including Palestinian refugees from the camps, have been displaced from the South of Lebanon and al-Dahiyeh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, while the Zionist drones, planes, and naval forces carry out massacres, assassinations and an overall assault on Lebanon, as they seek to occupy and colonize south Lebanon, destroy al-Dahiyeh and remake Lebanon as a subservient vassal to Zionism and imperialism.

Amid this assault, Hezbollah is leading a powerful Resistance that has astounded the enemy and the world with its coordination and strength, repelling invading occupation forces and once again decolonizing the north of Palestine with its missiles. The armed resistance in Lebanon is defending the sovereignty and future of Lebanon — and of Palestine.

In Iraq, Resistance forces continue to confront the presence of U.S. and European imperialist forces and defend the sovereignty of the country and the cause of Palestine, liberating Iraq of the foreign military bases that seek to plunder Iraq’s wealth and direct its future.

In Yemen, the people and armed forces remain mobilized in their millions in defense of Palestine and the region, providing an inspiring example of collective popular and military mobilization against imperialist domination that stands before the world.

The Palestinian resistance, in the occupied homeland and everywhere in exile and diaspora, has confronted the genocidal Zionist colonial project for more than 78 years, armed, funded and directed by British, U.S. and European imperialism. Following the launch of the Al-Aqsa Flood and the historic operation of 7 October 2023, the day that changed the world, the Zionist regime has escalated its genocidal campaign against Gaza and against the Palestinian people as a whole. Once again, there is an unjust, so-called “ceasefire” that exists for one side only, as the occupation continues its massacres with the full political, military and financial support of the United States and its European imperialist partners and the so-called “Board of Peace,” which is nothing more than a council of war, empire and plunder.

The Zionist entity and U.S. imperialism have misjudged the strength, resilience and determination of the Islamic Republic of Iran, of the Lebanese Resistance, and of the resistance front throughout the region. Every one of the missiles targeting U.S. bases and the center of imperialism in the region, the Zionist entity, is an arrow of liberation shot through the heart of the colonial project.

Internationally, Al-Quds Day carries a clear responsibility: to build the international popular cradle of the resistance that can be a meaningful partner in the Resistance Front. This Al-Quds Day must be a powerful day of mobilization, popular action and mass demonstration for Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and all those standing on the front lines of this struggle, with Al-Quds and its liberation at the heart.

As Imam Khomeini stated when declaring Al-Quds Day:

“Al-Quds Day is an international day and is not exclusive to Quds. It is the day when the oppressed confront the arrogant.”

Today, al-Quds itself remains under siege. For the past 13 days, amid the holy month of Ramadan, he Zionist occupation has forcibly closed Al-Aqsa Mosque, as its officials and settlers make no secret of their demands for its destruction. Palestinians in Jerusalem face relentless ethnic cleansing and displacement as the occupation attempts to erase the Palestinian identity of the city — the eternal capital of Palestine. Every night, occupation forces  invade homes and abduct dozens of Palestinians, even as settlers rampage and kill in the villages of the West Bank in a drive to steal even more Palestinian land. More than 9,500 Palestinian prisoners remain held in Zionist prisons under brutal and torturous conditions.

The imprisoned Palestinians are at the heart of the struggle for liberation. Their steadfastness embodies the spirit of resistance that Al-Quds Day represents. Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei himself said, when speaking about Al-Quds Day, in a special appeal about the prisoners, “Commemorate al-Quds Day and if world propaganda does not broadcast it, it does not matter. The prisoner behind the walls of the prisons in Occupied Palestine must not feel lonely to resist. Those men and women who are attacked by Zionists in alleys and streets of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and other cities of Occupied Palestine need to feel that you support them in resistance.”

The Zionist regime seeks to escape accountability for these crimes. Yet around the world, more people than ever recognize the reality of Zionism as a colonial project that must be dismantled. In cities across the globe and in the heart of the imperial core, including New York, Toronto, London, Paris and Berlin, people are mobilize to demand an end to the aggression on Iran, Lebanon and the region, an arms embargo on the Zionist regime, the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, and the freedom of Palestine from the river to the sea.

It is precisely because Al-Quds Day expresses this global unity and resistance that governments across Europe and the imperial core attempt to suppress it. Authorities in Britain have banned the Al-Quds Day march in London, while Germany has banned Al-Quds Day mobilizations in Berlin for years. In fact, it was the first of the major mobilizations for Palestine — followed shortly thereafter by Al-Nakba Day and Palestinian Prisoners’ Day — to be banned in Berlin. In Canada, Zionist organizations and the Ontario government are attempting to ban the massive Al-Quds Day protests in Toronto, which bring out thousands annually. These bans expose these Western imperialist governments that claim to defend freedom while repressing solidarity with Palestine. In fact, as they make clear their imperial solidarity with unlimited Zionist aggression on the region and genocide in occupied Palestine, they want to silence the call of Al-Quds Day: that Palestine can and will be free of Zionism and the entire region can and will be free of imperialism.

On this International Al-Quds Day, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network calls on people everywhere to mobilize, organize and escalate their solidarity with Palestine and the prisoners, to stand with the forces confronting Zionism and imperialism, and to continue marching on the road to liberation of Al-Quds and the victory of Palestine.

Al-Quds will be liberated. Palestine will be free — from the river to the sea.

Posters being used by Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine (French):

Join the demonstrations and mobilizations (send yours to samidoun@samidoun.net to be added to this list):

Massive demonstrations are being organized in Pakistan, Kashmir, Yemen, and in cities throughout Iran; we do not have precise time and location information but will share all reports.

Note: In the United States, the Unified National Antiwar Coalition is maintaining a list at https://unac.notowar.net/al-quds-day-solidarity-actions-with-palestine-and-iran/

New York City:

Friday, March 13
3:30 pm
Times Square (42nd and Broadway)
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVzHg1dESBX/

Seattle:

Friday, March 13
4:30 pm
Victor Steinbreuck Park
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVwbARVEirY/

Vancouver:

Friday, March 13
4:30 pm
Grandview Park
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVtdY2FDgb7/

Toronto:

Saturday, March 14
3 pm
US Consulate, 360 University Ave
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVtf9M1kRZ4/

Montreal:

Friday, March 13
6 pm
Place Norman-Bethune Town Sq.
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVpMkOJkXkX/

Saturday, March 14
2 pm
Zionist Consulate, 1 Westmount Square
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVG0PZcDiBH/

London:

Sunday, 15 March
1 pm
Home Office, 2 Marsham St, Westminster
NOTE: Despite the march ban, a stationary protest at least will take place and the organizers are waging an urgent legal battle.
Details: https://www.ihrc.org.uk/al-quds-day-2026/

Dallas:

Friday, 13 March
1:45 pm – Jummah Prayer
3:00 pm – Rally
The Grassy Knoll
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVE0fYfkQ6d/

Houston:

Friday, 13 March
3:30 pm
Westheimer and Post Oak
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVclW8Oju5C/

Charleroi:

Friday, 13 March
5 pm (17h)
Pont devant la gare de Charleroi-Central
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DV0Fy3Ogju4/

Brussels:

Sunday, 15 March
2 pm (14h)
European Parliament – Place du Luxembourg

Stockholm:

Friday, 13 March
3:30 pm (15h30)
Zionist Embassy, Stockholm

Saturday, 14 March
1 pm (13h)
Medborgarplatsen to Slussen
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVytXYOChwQ/

Gothenburg:

Friday, 13 March
4 pm (16h)
Brunnsparken to Centralstation

Washington, DC:

Saturday, 14 March
12 pm
White House
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVynwt5jjLj/

Chicago:

Friday, 13 March
4 pm
Consulate General of “Israel”, 500 W Madison St
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVhfBNlCn53/

Paterson, NJ:

Friday, 13 March
3 pm
Little Palestine, Main St, 76 Gould Avenue
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVzoU-wj50w/

Paris:

Saturday, 14 March
2 pm (14h)
Place de la Nation
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVvSxhsCIGV/

Ottawa:

Friday, 13 March
3 pm
50 O’Connor St, Ottawa
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVyP1L5jhVF/

Portland:

Sunday, 15 March
3 pm
Sewallcrest Park, 1715 SE 32nd Place
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVuPo8uj5Ls/

Minneapolis:

Friday, 13 March
8 pm (Candlelight Vigil for Minab School Massacre Victims)
Whittier Park
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVvr6S7ERlV/

Sunday, 15 March
1:30 pm
28 University Ave SE
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVy2P3tDpww/

Detroit:

Sunday, 15 March
3 pm
Spirit of Detroit
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVyyqi2iYnP/

Rosario, Argentina:

Friday, 13 March
6 pm (18h)
Aula 12ER – Facultad de Humanidades y Artes/UNR
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVmhxYkj-f5/

Caracas, Venezuela:

Friday, 13 March
4 pm
Plaza Bolivar, Caracas

Urgent call to act against the U.S.-Zionist aggression: Stand with Iran, stand with Palestine

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces in the strongest terms the joint U.S.-Zionist attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran, and calls for the broadest mobilizations everywhere to not only protest but to shut down the war machine with action and meaningful solidarity. The aggression on Iran, timed for the holy month of Ramadan, is an attempt to destroy a nation that refuses the domination of its economy, military, energy, foreign policy and its future by U.S. imperialism and Zionist demands. It is an attack on Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and all of the people of the region — it is an attack on humanity itself.

We urge all people of conscience around the world to take to the streets in mass protests, organize direct actions, mobilize to block the war machine, and to shut down the weapons of imperialist destruction that are currently attacking and seeking to destroy peoples and nations in Iran and around the world. Once again, it is clear that the U.S. participation in negotiations is nothing more than a cover for its war plans, and that the U.S. can never be trusted in any so-called negotiations or peace talks — not in Gaza, and not in Iran.

For weeks and months, there has been a dedicated attempt to prevent active solidarity and undermine resistance to the escalating threats of war, from the attempt to carry out regime change through targeted and directed riots that took the lives of thousands of Iranians, to the resurrection of decrepit “neither Washington nor Tehran” rhetoric, to the promotion of sectarian hatred and division in Arabic-language media and social media. All of this forms the psychological front of war, side by side with the U.S. and Zionist bombs and missiles currently targeting Tehran, Qom, Isfahan and Kermanshah. Imperialism and Zionism are one enemy — the common enemy of the entire region, and indeed, the peoples of the world.

This is the time for action, awareness and confrontation. It must be clear to all that the U.S., the Zionist entity and their fellow imperialist powers have the most extreme disregard for international law, the sovereignty of states and the rights of peoples, seeking only war, destruction, devastation, and the theft of land, wealth, resources, and the very future of targeted nations. There is no conflict between the U.S. imperialists and the Zionist entity — regardless of the fact that the vast majority of Americans want nothing to do with war on Iran, the war is being carried out with their planes, bombs, missiles, and billions of their tax dollars. Once again, we observe the complicity of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in promoting and developing war on Iran; on June 13, hours before the last Zionist attack which launched the 12-day war, they issued a resolution condemning Iran. This time, on February 27, they issued a report that they “could not confirm” that Iran had stopped enrichment, highlighted an Isfahan facility for targeting, and demanded Iran allow their personnel to enter secure facilities — once again providing aid and support to the warmongers, and failing entirely to hold the U.S. and “Israel” accountable.

All people of conscience, movements for justice, and nations that seek to defend their sovereignty and independent development must stand now with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The assault on Iran is a clear continuation of the ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine; it followed only one hour after a series of bombings and attacks against southern Lebanon. We join the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, in calling for “broad popular mobilization across all arenas — through demonstrations, sit-ins, comprehensive boycotts of the enemy and its interests, and the escalation of all forms of popular and political pressure and direct action in defense of Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, and the peoples of the region,” immediately and on an ongoing and emergency basis; and in making the international Day of Al-Quds, March 13, the last Friday in Ramadan, a unified day of action “to affirm that Palestine will remain the central cause, the compass of the struggle, and the center of confrontation until the demise of the Zionist entity and the end of colonialism.”

We urge all to mobilize emergency demonstrations in cities, communities and campuses around the world, especially in the imperial core; to take direct actions, and to shut down the business-as-usual of the imperialist/Zionist war machine. The anti-war, Palestine liberation and global justice movements cannot allow themselves to become distracted or misdirected: the reality is as clear as it could be. The Zionist entity and the United States are continuing their assault on humanity, sovereignty, self-determination in the region and the world, and they view Iran as a primary obstacle in blocking their domination, hegemony, control and completion of the genocide in occupied Palestine.

Now is the time for action and mobilization, immediately and continuously, before and on al-Quds Day and beyond, for Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen, to bring the imperialist-Zionist war to an end, and to impose meaningful popular, direct and legal accountability upon all of those responsible for these ongoing atrocities.

Beirut solidarity stand calls for freedom for Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails

On Thursday, 26 February 2026, Palestinian organizations in Lebanon organized a solidarity stand in support of Palestinian prisoners outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Beirut’s Hamra district, with a strong participation of Palestinian refugees from the southern camps, including Ein el-Helweh and Mieh-Mieh.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated in the event, and international coordinator Charlotte Kates delivered a short speech calling for the freedom of all Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in the occupation jails, as well as the Palestinians in exile and prisoners for Palestine jailed in imperialist prisons in the U.S. and Europe. She emphasized the suffering of the prisoners during the month of Ramadan, when they are subjected to deliberate starvation, the threat to their lives posed by the ongoing “execution law” as well as the martyrdom of 100 prisoners during the past several years, and the experiences of the women, children, students, elders and leaders of the cause jailed, including Marwan Barghouti, Abdullah Barghouti, Ahmad Sa’adat, Ibrahim Hamed, Hassan Salameh, Jamal Abu al-Heija and Anas Jaradat. She urged international action for their freedom, noting that the imperialist powers are fully complicit in the crimes against the Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.

Speakers at the event included former Lebanese prisoner Anwar Yassin and Sami Hammoud, director of the Steadfast for the Right to Return organization. At the conclusion of the gathering, the organizers delivered a message to the ICRC calling for action to protect the lives and rights of Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails. The event closed as women elders attending the event led chants calling for freedom and victory for Palestine.

The event was organized during the holy month of Ramadan, despite the heavy restrictions imposed upon the Palestinian people in the refugee camps in Lebanon, including the escalating economic and social crisis. The wide participation of residents of the camps underscores their commitment to the cause of the prisoners and their return to Palestine, and the unifying role of the prisoners in the struggle for Palestine that rises above the crisis.

Mohammed Khatib speaks out upon his release from Greek detention, calls for action and mobilization

In the late afternoon hours of Wednesday, 11 February 2026, Mohammed Khatib — coordinator of Samidoun in Europe — was finally released from detention in Heraklion, Crete, after an order was issued by the Administrative Court of the First Instance. He had been detained since his arrest on Saturday, 7 February, when he arrived in Heraklion to speak at an event being organized by the Assembly of Solidarity to the Palestinian People on the Palestinian prisoners, together with liberated prisoner Abdel-Nasser Issa.

His release came after wide-scale support in Greece and across Europe from the movement for justice in Palestine, with statements in France and Catalonia signed by dozens of organizations, protests in Athens and Brussels, visits from local activists and parliamentarians, and the mobilization of progressive and radical lawyers to engage with his case. Mohammed remains banned from Greece and was ordered to “self-deport” to Belgium — where he is also facing serious repression, including an order to withdraw his asylum status, currently under appeal; he was ordered banned from the country on 24 December 2025, only two days after the Greek and Cypriot tripartite summit with the Zionist entity on military, security and economic cooperation.

During his time in detention, he was held in dangerous and unsafe conditions, rife with bedbugs and infectious diseases such as scabies (also common among Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails denied hygiene supplies and medical care, particularly after Al-Aqsa Flood and during the ongoing escalated genocide). His release came only one day after police had indicated their intention to continue to arbitrarily detain him.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes all of the efforts undertaken by people in Crete, throughout Greece, and internationally to win the release of comrade Mohammed Khatib. It is highly likely that without this attention and mobilization he would still be in detention now. We urge all supporters of Palestine to escalate attention, activity and organizing to free all Palestinian prisoners and prisoners for Palestine in imperialist prisons, including those held in Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Britain and the United States — as well as, centrally, the over 9,300 suffering, struggling and resisting inside the Zionist dungeons, facing torture, medical abuse, enforced disappearance, and the “execution” plan of Ben-Gvir and the Zionist regime. The liberation of the prisoners is an essential part of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

Mohammed Khatib’s statement, issued upon his release, is below: 

I am free, after 5 days of imprisonment in what they call “detention centres” but in reality are laboratories of torture and humiliation, where dozens of minors, youth, elders, refugees, migrants and poor Greek people are all facing the same inhumane conditions. I am thankful for all your solidarity and grateful for all your support. We must also remember those who are forgotten behind bars without any rights or justice. The systemic abuse and torture in Greece reminds us of the same methods used by the Zionist entity against the Palestinian people, and these are the same methods used by the colonialist and imperialist powers in this world. I call on everyone to stand in unconditional solidarity with the migrants and refugees in Greece and elsewhere and to intensify the struggle against prisons and detention centres throughout the imperial core.

During my five days of detention, I received strength and power from my people, the Palestinian people, from Mahmoud Farajallah, who passed away as a martyr in the detention centre at Brussels airport several months ago, from the long history of struggle of the Palestinian political prisoners’ movement in the occupation prisons, from our people in Gaza fighting for life and humanity against the genocidal occupier

Once again, the Greek right wing government has shown its real face and its position as a tool for Israel and the so-called United States of America, not only against us as refugees and migrants, but also against the popular masses and working class and poor Greek people who stand in solidarity with Palestine.

It is no coincidence to face this repression on the island of Crete, that is hosting one of the biggest NATO military bases and another Israeli Zionist base, it is not spontaneous to be arrested in a country led by a right-wing government that is selling its land and resources to private Zionist companies that are exploiting the Greek masses who are losing their rights, land, and sovereignty. As the Zionist regime sees the current Greek government as its strategic alliance, we also, as Palestinians and revolutionary forces, should rebuild and connect with all the progressive forces in Greece and our historical and strategic alliance for liberation, justice and sovereignty.

Regardless of my treatment, the injustice and the inhuman conditions of detention, I am honestly very grateful for the experience of being with those who are forgotten and marginalized, and to experience a very little of what they face for months or years. I know that the experience in Greece is not isolated, but that there are Palestinian prisoners and prisoners for Palestine not only in the Zionist dungeons but in the jails of Germany, Italy, Britain and the U.S. and in Belgium’s detention centers, that need all of our support and solidarity.

My final words to those criminals in “Israel” or elsewhere, you can detain us, torture us, assassinate us, but you will never ever manage to stop us from talking, acting and struggling for Free Palestine, for Free Sudan, for Free Congo; against the imperialist assaults on Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran; for the liberation of all oppressed people in the world.

Free all political prisoners!
Free Palestine from the River to the Sea!

Photographs of Mohammed taken after his detention and 5 days of medical mistreatment and neglect, including deliberately being held in a room with bed bugs and denied medication provided by comrades visiting:

Breaking news: Mohammed Khatib ordered released by Administrative Court; ban from Greece remains in place

On the morning of 11 February 2026, the Administrative Court of the First Instance in Heraklion, Crete, ordered Mohammed Khatib, Europe coordinator of Samidoun, released from detention and to “self-deport” to Belgium in the coming days. This is an important achievement for him, his lawyers and the many groups supporting him, as it was clear that there was pressure to keep him detained indefinitely in Greece. As we write, comrades from Palestine solidarity organizations and progressive lawyers are currently awaiting his release from detention in Heraklion. He has been held since Saturday, 7 February in dangerous and unhealthy conditions.

Mohammed’s ban from Greece — seemingly issued at the request of the Zionist entity — remains in place, and he plans to fight the ban legally and politically. We will provide updates as soon as possible, including when his actual release is confirmed, and we urge all to continue their efforts of solidarity and support for not only Mohammed Khatib, but for all Palestinian prisoners in European and U.S. imperialist jails and in Zionist prisons, and for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. This is especially true as he faces a similar attack in Belgium, his country of residence, where the right-wing government is attempting to strip his asylum status.

Statement of Mohammed Khatib from the detention center in Heraklion, Crete

Mohammed Khatib, the European coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, remains detained in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, denied proper medical care and medication, suffering from bed bug bites and dangerous, unhealthy conditions of confinement. He was arrested in the Heraklion airport on Saturday, 7 February after arriving to speak at an event on Palestinian prisoners, alongside liberated prisoner Abdel-Nasser Issa (who spoke virtually). Greek police claim that he was banned from Greece on 24 December 2025 — only two days after the Greece-Cyprus-“Israel” tripartite summit on economic, military and security cooperation — under a mysterious “national security” order.

However, he was not stopped from entering the country, but now remains detained indefinitely, awaiting deportation, in Crete. Despite the active work of his lawyers, Greek activists for Palestine, and the support of parliamentarians and political parties, he remains in dangerous, unsafe conditions and suffering from severe medical neglect. Protests are already taking place tomorrow, Wednesday 11 February, in Brussels and Athens in solidarity with Mohammed and demanding his immediate release. He issued a statement from detention today, and we urge all to spread it widely alongside demands for his immediate release:

Mohammed Khatib’s statement from the detention center in Heraklion, Crete

I thank everyone for their solidarity. My detention is not about me but for the Palestinian people. What I am going through cannot be compared to what the Palestinian people are going through. I am not the only one detained inside here, there are people from Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt. Some of them have been detained for more than three months in bad conditions and the bed bugs are “eating” them.

It is a psychological and physical torture and it’s not a coincidence. It is systematic oppression and torture against people who confront colonialism and imperialism, racism and Islamophobia. Unfortunately, Greece is being used as a tool of oppression, serving colonialist interests.

I call on everyone to stand in solidarity with all those oppressed in the detention center and all prisons in Greece. As Palestine should be free, all oppressed people should be free, all refugees and migrants should be free.

I emphasize that my detention is the will and desire of Zionism.

Free Palestine! Free all political prisoners everywhere!

11 February, Athens: Solidarity Demonstration to Free Palestinian Detainee Mohammed Khatib

Call for a Solidarity Demonstration for the Palestinian detainee Mohammed Khatib
Tomorrow, Wednesday 11/02 at 18:30 – Syntagma Square (Athens)

We call for a mass popular mobilization demanding the immediate release of the Palestinian activist and European coordinator of the Samidoun Network, Mohammed Khatib, who was arbitrarily arrested on Saturday, February 7, 2026, at Heraklion Airport in Crete. The Greek government, acting on the orders of murderous Zionist and imperialist forces, falsely labeled him a “threat to national security”  in order to pave the way for his deportation and to silence one of the strongest voices of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.

At present, our comrade is being held at the Heraklion Security Directorate in Crete under appalling and humiliating conditions, inside cells that lack even the most basic sanitary standards and are infested with bedbugs. As a result, he has suffered a severe infection and painful skin rashes. Despite official medical reports, the authorities are vindictively denying him access to medical treatment and communication, while there are reports of the theft of his personal money and the continuous mockery of his lawyers by the guards.

This persecution is not an isolated incident, but part of a coordinated international attack aimed at criminalizing the Palestine solidarity movement. From “terrorist lists” in the United States and Canada to bans in Germany and arrests in Italy, the European system seeks to intimidate those who expose the war crimes in Gaza and the struggle of more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in the occupation’s prisons. The Greek state, deeply entangled in Zionist plans through energy agreements and military cooperation, chooses the path of repression against those who resist genocide.

We will not become accustomed to oppression. We will not tolerate enslavement or collaboration with murderers. We stand firmly by the side of Mohammed Khatib and demand the end of all persecution and his immediate release. We will not grow accustomed to death or injustice we will continue to struggle for freedom until victory.

 

All solidarity with Mohammed Khatib.

Freedom for all Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in the occupation’s prisons.

Freedom for Palestinian prisoners everywhere.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

 

Samidoun Network – Greece

Samidoun Belgium participates in collective event to stop Elbit and confront repression in Brussels

On Sunday, 8 February, Samidoun Belgium spoke at an event in support of seven activists going on trial for blocking the site of “OIP Sensor Systems” in Oudenaarde. Acquired in 2003 by “Israel’s” largest private arms contractor, Elbit Systems, OIP Systems produces weapons components and technologies used by the Zionist army. The seven defendants were singled out from a group of one hundred activists who blocked the site on 4 March 2024, and are now facing criminal damages of up to €100,000 for allegedly disrupting the site’s activities and causing “moral damages to employees.”

Rather than being intimidated by OIP–Elbit’s decision to press charges, activists in Belgium have launched a new collective under the name Stop.Elbit, seeking to draw further attention to the company’s role in genocidal violence. In its founding statement, the new collective affirms the need for a “People’s Arms Embargo,” stating that “since the Belgian state continues to refuse an arms embargo on Israel, we decided to take matters into our own hands.”

During the event, Samidoun Belgium expressed its full support for the seven activists on trial, emphasizing that despite the severe financial pressure they now face, they should remain proud and steadfast in their decision to take action in support of the liberation of Palestine.

On the same panel, a member of Samidoun Belgium spoke at length about the different forms of repression faced by the Palestine solidarity movement, and the need to distinguish between repression resulting from direct action and repression targeting Palestinian refugees for calling for the liberation of Palestine. The day before the event, Samidoun’s European Coordinator, Mohammed Khatib, was detained at Heraklion Airport in Crete while traveling to speak at an event with liberated prisoner Abdel-Nassar Issa and the Anti-Imperialist Front. There, he faces deportation back to Belgium, where his refugee status was revoked by former minister Nicole De Moor following pressure from the Zionist Embassy in Belgium.

The detention of Mohammed Khatib reflects a broader pattern in which European governments use Palestinians’ right to asylum as a tool to silence, intimidate, and, in the worst cases, detain and deport those who continue to speak out for Palestine. In Belgium alone, around ten Palestinian refugees have been arrested, detained, and in many cases deported—not for any crimes they have committed, but for their continued mobilization for Palestine, support for the resistance, and opposition to the Belgian authorities’ ongoing backing of the Zionist entity. To this day, two of the ten—Fathi Alhams and Ali Abu Taha—remain in detention.

Underlying this intensifying repression is a material and legal expansion of detention and deportation infrastructures across Europe. On the one hand, this includes increased funding for Frontex, Europe’s border agency, and the deployment of technologies and materials developed and tested on Palestinians, such as Palantir systems and so-called “less-lethal” rubber bullet weapons. On the other hand, it involves a new European Union–wide legal framework that further criminalizes the “facilitation” of migration, increases coordination among member states to detain and deport migrants, and expands who can be detained and for how long—changes that, for example, allow member states to detain families with children in closed detention centers for up to two years.

The panel concluded by emphasizing the need for a common front against all forms of repression, recognizing that despite the different ways repression manifests, we are united in the struggle to support the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea—whether through direct action that strikes at the underbelly of the imperial beast, or through political work that centers the steadfastness of Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails.

11 February, Brussels: Hands off Mohammed Khatib – protest at Greek Embassy

Wednesday, 11 February
16:30
Greek embassy in Brussels, Belgium

On Saturday 7th of January, the Greek government gave into the pressure of the Zionist Entity and unlawfully detained Mohammed Khatib, the European coordinator of Samidoun. Mohammed was detained in Heraklion airport on Crete, as he was travelling to speak at an event on the struggle of Palestinian prisoners in Zionist Jails and the liberated prisoners freed by the Resistance as a result of the Al-Aqsa Flood. As of this moment, he remains detained and has been told by the Greek authorities that he is being “deported” to Belgium.

This is not an isolated event, but part of “Israel” and the Zionist European goverments’ continued attack on the Palestinian solidarity movement and anyone who dares to oppose the genocidal, and settler-colonial Zionist Entity. The Greek government, like the Belgian government, uses Mohammed’s refugee status in an attempt to silence his support of the Palestinian resistance and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Join us on Wednesday at 16.30, in front of the Greek embassy in Brussels, to protest the European governments’ continued moral, political and material support of the Zionist Entity, their genocidal warfare, settler-colonialism, and ever-increasing brutality within their jails.

HANDS OFF MOHAMMED KHATIB
LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE
FREE PALESTINE, FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA!

Monday, 9 February: Urgent call to protest for Mohammed Khatib in Heraklion, Crete

Update on the awful detention circumstances of our Palestinian comrade Mohammed Khatib from the Samidoun network, in Heraklion Crete !!!

!! We call on an urgent demonstration today, Monday 9/2 at 6pm outside the General Police Authority of Heraklion, to show our solidarity to our Palestinian comrade and fighter!

The shameless stance of the Greek state, ordered by the zi0nist terrorists, has no end. The lawyers and the solidarity movement denounce the horrible conditions of Mohammed Khatib’s detention, depriving him of his basic rights, the theft of money given to him to cover his basic needs and the deprivation of his access to medication. Moreover, the blocking of lawyers and allies by prison guards in their attempt to communicate with the comrade- accompanied by threats and insults, the delay in the exercise of his means of defense, and the deliberate delay in issuing the necessary decisions that will lead to his release.

During his detention, Mohammed Khatib began to develop severe skin problems and extensive infection, with painful, increased irritation and rashes on his body. And all of this in a cell that can only be described as a hub of infectious bugs.

In this situation, they didn’t allow him to make a phone call and they NEVER gave him the medication that the lawyers and comrades had brought him.

Due to pressure and official written and oral procedures, his lawyers were able to request his immediate examination by a doctor, who confirmed the need for immediate and extensive medical care.

The police director of General Police Authority of Heraklion, Manolis Chrysos, who seems to have signed the decision to detain our comrade, imposing the worst unjustifiable means , bears full responsibility for what is happening to our comrade Mohammed Khatib.
If the guards think they can mess with the resisting comrades and allies, kidnap them and risk their health, they are delusional.

!! We call on an urgent demonstration today, Monday 9/2 at 6pm outside the General Police Authority of Heraklion, to show our solidarity to our Palestinian comrade and fighter!

“People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave” Assata Shakur

Let’s not get used to it! Let’s not tolerate this! Let’s fight for our freedom even as they keep trying to enslave us! We are standing steadfast next to Mohammed Khatib! Let’s insist with our solidarity and struggle to our Palestinian comrade that is held captive by the zi0nists’ collaborators!

 

123...699Page 1 of 699

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Contact us: samidoun@samidoun.net
Facebook Instagram Mail RSS Telegram Twitter Youtube
Unless otherwise stated, all content by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them.