Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses our deepest condolences to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and to the entire movement of the people of the Philippines struggling for justice and liberation, upon the passing of Fidel V. Agcaoili, NDFP Negotiating Panel chairperson.
We honor the longtime commitment of Ka Fidel to the liberation of the people of the Philippines and his struggle inside the Philippines and in exile, including his commitment to the liberation of political prisoners. His committed internationalism embraced the struggle for justice from the Philippines to Palestine and beyond, and he is remembered by all around the world who stand with liberation movements and confront imperialism, capitalism and exploitation.
As a former political prisoner himself, the longest-held political prisoner during the years of the Marcos dictatorship, he stands as an example of the leadership of political prisoners under detention and after liberation. He was later the founding secretary of SELDA, itself an organization of, by and for political prisoners and detainees.
With this message, we also express the condolences of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement inside Israeli occupation prisons upon the loss of Ka Fidel. He will always be remembered with love and honor as an internationalist comrade, a struggler breaking down prison bars, and a leader in the movement of the people of the Philippines.
His spirit and work live on in the struggle for liberation, from Palestine to the Philippines!
Update of 23 July: Rania Elias and Suhail Khoury have been released; Daoud Ghoul remains detained. Freedom for Daoud al-Ghoul!
On Wednesday, 22 July, Israeli occupation forces attacked the Yabous Cultural Center in Jerusalem, an active center for cultural and performing arts, ransacking files and seizing property belonging to the center; they abducted the director of the Yabous Cultural Center, Rania Elias, from her home along with her husband, Suhail Khoury, the director of the National Music Institute. Occupation forces also attacked the home of the Jerusalem Arts Network, Shafaq, and seized its director Daoud al-Ghoul.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network notes that these arrests are part and parcel of an ongoing Israeli campaign to shut down Palestinian institutions and attempt to eradicate Palestinian culture and existence in Jerusalem. They come hand in hand with the pursuit of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Jerusalem through home demolitions, land confiscation, extrajudicial killings and residency revocations in an attempt to erase the Palestinian and Arab character of the city.
The arrests of Rania Elias, Suhail Khoury and Daoud al-Ghoul make clear that Israel is once more escalating its attacks on Palestinian cultural institutions and Palestinian culture itself in the city. We urge all artists of conscience to speak out and join the call for their immediate release.
The Yabous Cultural Center is a Palestinian cultural institution in occupied Jerusalem that organizes film screenings, theater performances, storytelling festivals and other cultural events to celebrate the deep Palestinian heritage of Jerusalem. Recently, Suhail Khoury composed this song performed remotely by the Jerusalem Girls’ Band, filmed on mobile phones amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in commemoration of the Nakba:
These arrests of prominent Palestinian cultural figures in Jerusalem also comes amid an ongoing attack on Palestinian civil and social institutions by the Israeli occupation that has included arrests and forced closure of organizations as well as an international campaign of defamation that attempts to cut off resources, funding and even moral and political support for independent Palestinian organizations. The Israeli “Ministry of Strategic Affairs,” also known as the “anti-BDS ministry,” has targeted Palestinian human rights defenders and Palestine solidarity organizations in an attempt to cut off the economic support for work defending Palestinian rights, culture and people from Israeli colonization.
The European Union has been complicit in these attacks, altering its funding guidelines and contracts to impose conditional political standards on Palestinian organizations that aim to prevent them, essentially, from working with anyone who is part of a Palestinian political party. This not only serves the aim of the Israeli occupation to besiege Palestinian human rights defenders but also, in the words of Lubnah Shomali of Badil, “Palestinians are being required to follow an agenda designed to please our oppressors – the State of Israel.”
The Yabous Cultural Center and the Shafaq Jerusalem Arts Network have both expressed their support for the Palestinian National Campaign Against Conditional Funding. The Campaign issued a statement about the arrests, noting that these arrests and attacks on Palestinian institutions are a “form of intellectual and cultural terrorism practiced by the occupying power against Palestinian existence and identity in Jerualem.”
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Rania Elias, Suhail Khoury and Daoud al-Ghoul. Further, we urge international action and solidarity to secure the release of Palestinian artists and writers and to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people.
To that end, we urge:
1. Statements, solidarity photos and performances from performing arts groups and musicians around the world. Show your solidarity with these three detainees – Rania Elias, Suhail Khoury and Daoud al-Ghoul – and all Palestinian artists who continue to perform and create music, theatre and cultural expression despite occupation, colonization, siege and exile.
2. Adopting and implementing the cultural boycott of Israel. International performers and artists must not travel to Israel or participate in programs funded by the Israeli embassy and other Israeli institutions while those same institutions are directly complicit in the violent silencing, arrest, imprisonment and assault of Palestinian artists and cultural institutions.
We urge artists of conscience to join the call to free imprisoned Palestinian artists – and for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea!
On Thursday, 16 July, Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi was once again seized by Israeli occupation forces when he was stopped at a checkpoint in occupied Anata. The repeated arrests and targeting of Barghouthi, a scientist with a strong international reputation, has sparked outrage by international academics and researchers. He is expected to be brought before an Israeli military court on Thursday, 23 July. Samidoun demands the immediate release of Imad Barghouthi and all detained Palestinian scientists, academics, researchers and students!
A professor of physics at Al-Quds University, Barghouthi is a former NASA employee (who earned his Ph.D. at Utah State University) who has been targeted for multiple occasions for imprisonment. Palestinian students, researchers and academics continue to face harsh repression from the Israeli occupation, including researchers like Ubai Aboudi and the hundreds of Palestinian students currently jailed by Israel.
In many cases, detained academics and researchers are jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention orders, which are indefinitely renewable – Palestinians spend years at a time jailed without ever being charged or tried. If they are instead brought before an Israeli military court, they face a 99.74% conviction rate, “evidence” obtained through torturous interrogations and bogus charges for things like posting on Facebook or attending public events organized by student organizations.
The detention of Imad Barghouthi and his fellow Palestinian scholars and students reflects the ongoing and fundamental denials of of Palestinian rights to education and academic freedom, underlining the necessity of the international academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Such institutions are deeply complicit in the structures of occupation that deny Palestinian human rights at all levels.
We urge supporters of justice in Palestine and the right to science everywhere to stand with Imad Barghouthi and join the call for his freedom.
A violation of the right to science anywhere is an attack to scientists everywhere.
On Thursday, July 16th 2020, renowned Palestinian scientist Imad Barghouthi was detained by Israeli military forces during a routine stop at a military checkpoint outside of Anata. A military court hearing is scheduled for Thursday July 23rd to discuss the case of professor Barghouthi, an astrophysicist at the university of Al-Quds in East Jerusalem. No charges have been brought against him and his lawyer fears that he will be put under administrative detention, an illegal measure commonly used by the Israeli military forces to put Palestinians in arbitrary detention without any charges or trials.
Scientists for Palestine condemns the continuous and arbitrary harassment of Professor Barghouthi in the strongest possible terms and calls on all members of the International Scientific community to demand the immediate release of our colleague. The right to science is protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 27), as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (article 15). The violation of the right to science anywhere is an attack to scientists everywhere.
**
Resources on Imad Barghouthi and international support (from 2014 and 2016 cases)
In today’s international political climate, we are witnessing the rising threat of state terror being perpetrated against activists, land defenders, and community organizers around the world. As people’s resistance grows in their ongoing struggles for liberation, we also see intensifying backlash by settler-colonial, and imperialist nations against these movements. The US-Duterte regime’s draconian anti-terror law, Israel’s illegal annexations plan, and on-going state-violence and police brutality against Indigenous and Black communities here in so-called Canada – are all manifestations of the oppressor’s desperate attempts to maintain power in the face of the peoples’ righteous demands for justice.
Join CPSHR and guest speakers as we draw linkages between these global struggles and discuss how we can take action for local and international solidarity. Now more than ever it is important to join the people in our collective fight against state sponsored fascism!
Featuring:
– Dr. Karla Tait, Unist’ot’en Camp
– Charlotte Kates, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
The Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies program and Al-Adab Journal co-host “Black Lives, Black Freedom and the Indivisibility of Justice” on July 21, 2020, 10 am – 12 noon PST (1-3pm EST, 8-10pm Lebanon and Palestine).
Roundtable Participants:
Dr. Angela Davis
Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Dr. Dayo Gore
Dr. Gerald Horne
Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley
With Moderator: Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
This roundtable will be simultaneously streamed live on the AMED Studies and Al-Adab Facebook Pages.
Black Lives, Black Liberation and the Indivisibility of Justice came about in the process of Al-Adab developing its most recent file on “The US in Depth,” with its urgent emphasis on making the current historical moment, focusing on Black liberation and Black freedom struggle. Black liberation and indeed anti-colonial, anti-racist and anti-imperialist US struggles have been understood and embraced by Arab readers/publics in a comparative and historically contextualized theoretical and activist perspectives. This roundtable seeks to address some of these issues and more.
The roundtable will focus on the following questions/issues:
1) Defining the moment in context of the US and various systems of oppression
2) Placing the moment in international context (historically and contemporarily)
3) Bringing up international movements and solidarities
4) Linking Palestine and Arab/Third World anti-colonial and anti-authoritarian movements
5) What does solidarity mean and how do we enact it?
Co-Sponsoring Organizations:
Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Graduate SJP at UCLA
JVP-NYC
Labor for Palestine
Palestinian Community in Boston
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
WESPAC
Workers World Party
The following report is republished from the French, originally published at Collectif Palestine Vaincra. Based in Toulouse, France, Collectif Palestine Vaincra is a member organization of the Samidoun network.
In the short statement published below, 159 organizations denounce the statements of Franck Touboul, president of the CRIF Midi-Pyrénées, and express their support for the Collectif Palestine Vaincra. [The CRIF, which claims to represent Jewish organizations in France, notes that its “mission is the affirmation of solidarity with Israel.”] The broad condemnation gathers organizations from 21 countries, including South Africa, Germany, England, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Palestine, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States.
Many organizations supporting the Palestinian people in France and internationally joined the collective statement (including AFPS, BDS France, CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Palestinian Youth Movement and BDS Bahrain), as did various trade union, anti-fascist, anti-racist and progressive organizations. The statement was also supported widely by associations of migrant and oppressed nationality communities in Europe, including Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian, Filipino, Turkish and Kurdish associations.
The broad support for the call bears witness to the dual failure of the strategy of the CRIF Midi-Pyrénées. First, it failed in the attempt to isolate the Collectif Palestine Vaincra with false accusations, yet it also actually strengthened the movement with Palestine, which refuses to be intimidated.
The statement and signatories follow [Unless otherwise noted, the organization is based in France]:
“On Wednesday, 1 July, 24 associations, collectives and political parties organised a rally in Toulouse against the Israeli plan to annex the West Bank, which brought together several hundred people. Franck Touboul, president of the CRIF Midi-Pyrénées, reacted strongly by threatening and defaming the organizers, in particular the Collectif Palestine Vaincra.
We denounce these unacceptable practices, which are serious attacks on freedom of expression and the freedom to demonstrate.”
Act Up Sud-Ouest
ACTA
Action Antifasciste Paris-Banlieue
Action Antifasciste Pau
Action contre le Chômage Gironde – AC!
AFD International (Belgium)
AFPS – Association France-Palestine Solidarité
AFPS 59/62
AFPS Paris 14-6
AFPS Paris-Sud
AFPS-BDSF 63
Africa for Palestine (South Africa)
Agir pour le Changement et la Démocratie en Algérie – ACDA
Al-Awda – The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (USA)
Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization (Spain)
Friends of Palestine Against Imperialism and Zionism (Turkey)
Anakbayan Europe
ANC – Association Nationale des Communistes
ANC 13
Anti Imperialist Action Ireland (Ireland)
Argenteuil Solidarité Palestine
Associazione Amicizia Sardegna Palestina (Italy)
Association Culturelle des Travailleurs Immigrés de Turquie
Association Démocratique des Tunisiens en France – ADTF
Association des Marocains en France – AMF
Association des Palestiniens en France
Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins de France – ATMF
ATIK – Confédération des Travailleurs de Turquie en Europe
Attac Toulouse
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights (Palestine)
BDS Bahraïn
BDS Los Angeles (USA)
BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories (Canada)
BDS Zurich (Switzerland)
Campagne BDS France
Campagne BDS France Marseille
Campagne BDS France Montpellier
Campagne BDS France Toulouse
Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel (Lebanon)
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat (International)
International Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah (Lebanon)
Campagne unitaire pour la libération de Georges Abdallah
Canada Palestine Association (Canada)
CAPJPO-Europalestine
Centre de la Communauté Démocratique Kurde de Toulouse – CDK
CGT Educ’action 31
CGT Mecahers
Collectif 65 pour la libération de Georges Ibrahim Adallah
Collectif Algérie Démocratique Toulouse
Collectif de soutien à la résistance palestinienne 59
Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
Collectif Justice pour la Palestine Annecy
Collectif La Fronde (Belgique)
Collectif Ni Guerres ni État de Guerre
Collectif Palestine Vaincra
Collectif pour la Libération de Georges Abdallah 33
Collectif pour la Libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Collectif Solidarité Palestine Ouest Étang de Berre
Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali (Italie)
Collettivo Studenti Federico II (Italie)
Comité 31 du Mouvement de la Paix
Comité d’action et de soutien aux luttes du peuple marocain
Comité de Liberté Pour Musa Aşoğlu
Comité de solidarité pour la libération de Georges Abdallah (Tunisia)
Comité pour le Respect des Libertés et des Droits de l’Homme en Tunisie – CRLDHT
Confédération Européenne des Immigrés Opprimés – Aveg-KON (Europe)
Confédération Nationale du Travail 31 – CNT
Coordinamento Napoli Palestina (Italy)
Couserans-Palestine 09
Cri rouge pour la défense des prisonniers révolutionnaires
Decolonizer (Belgium)
Eunomia
Fédération des Tunisiens pour une Citoyenneté des deux Rives – FTCR
Fondation Frantz Fanon
Forum Palestine Citoyenneté
France Insoumise Pau
Free Palestine Movement (USA)
Front Anti-impérialiste
“Ghassan Kanafani” Front of Resistance and Solidarity for Palestine (Greece)
Popular Front of Turkey
FUIQP – Front Uni des Immigrations et des Quartiers Populaires
FUIQP 38
GABRIELA Alliance of Filipino Women (Philippines and International)
Gauche Independantiste Bretonne – Breizhistance
Groupe Libertad de la Fédération Anarchiste
Halk Evi – Mala Gel (Belgium)
Hirak, Palestinian Youth Mobilization in Berlin (Germany)
Independent Jewish Voices University of British Columbia (Canada)
International Action Center (USA)
International Jewish AntiZionist Network (International)
International League of Peoples’ Struggle – ILPS (International)
International Solidarity Movement – Northern California (USA)
International Solidarity Movement France
Internationalt Forum/the Middle East Group (Denmark)
Jeune Garde Lyon
Jeunes Communistes 42
Jeunes Communistes 94
Jeunes Révolutionnaires
Jeunes Révolutionnaires Genève (Switzerland)
Jeunesse Solidaire Genève (Switzerland)
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return (USA)
Just Peace Advocates (Canada)
Just Peace Committee – Vancouver (Canada)
Labor for Palestine (USA)
Les Amis du Monde Diplomatique
Maoist Communist Party – Organizing Committee (USA)
Mensa Occupata (Italie)
Montreuil Palestine
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (Philippines)
National Lawyers Guild Palestine Subcommittee (USA)
New-York City Jericho Amnesty Movement (USA)
NPA – Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste
NPA 31
Palestine 13
Palestine Solidarity Collective at York University (Canada)
Palestinian Youth Movement (USA)
Parti Communiste des Ouvriers de France
Parti des Indigènes de la Republique
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine (Belgium)
Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France – PRCF
Pour une Ecologie Politique et Sociale – PEPS
Project South (USA)
Réseau Euro-Maghrébin Citoyenneté et Culture – REMCC
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is republishing the following report below from Inminds Human Rights Group on a London vigil in solidarity with the Humboldt 3 and against anti-Palestinian repression in Germany. Samidoun joined many other groups in co-signing the letter delivered to the German Embassy during the vigil.
The Humboldt 3 – Ronnie Barkan, Majed Abusalama and Stavit Sinai, a Palestinian from Gaza and two Israeli Jewish activists – were charged after they interrupted a Knesset member in 2017 about the massacre of civilians in Gaza during a speech at the Humboldt University of Berlin. The next trial in their case will take place at the Moabit Court in Berlin at 9 am on Monday, 3 August.
Supporters of the Humboldt 3 and defenders of the right to stand for justice in Palestine will gather outside the Moabit court at 8 am on 3 August.Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network supports this mobilization and encourages all to join in Berlin as well as to organize actions like this one in Paris, by delivering letters and holding protests outside German embassies and consulates around the world.
The trial of the Humboldt 3, like the political ban and exclusion imposed on Khaled Barakat, the anti-BDS resolution passed by the Bundestag that seeks to classify opposition to Israel, Zionism and even Israeli policy as “anti-Semitic,” the closure of bank accounts for organizations like Jewish Voices for a Just Peace, the deportation and silencing of Rasmea Odeh and the exclusion of international artists for their support for Palestinian rights, highlights the level of anti-Palestinian repression taking place in Germany.
**
On 17th July 2020, Inminds Human Rights Group held a vigil outside the German Embassy in London, in solidarity with three BDS activists, the Humboldt 3, that are on trial in Germany.
The three defendants are:
Award winning Palestinian journalist Majed Abusalama, a survivor of Israel’s massacres in Gaza; acclaimed Jewish Israeli human rights defender Ronnie Barkan; and Dr Stavit Sinai, a Jewish Israeli scholar of the sociology of knowledge and postcolonial studies.
They are being accused of interrupting a propaganda speech by Mrs Aliza Lavie, a representative of the Israeli government, at Humboldt University in Berlin on June 20, 2017.
Mrs Aliza Lavie, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Israeli Parliament, directly oversaw the 2014 attack on besieged Gaza that resulted in 2200 Palestinians being slaughtered, including 551 babies and children. She bears a direct responsibility for what Amnesty International has described as war crimes committed in Gaza.
Rather than arrest Lavie as a war criminal, she was given an unchallenged platform by Humboldt University to promote her propaganda, whitewashing Israeli crimes against humanity. When the three activists in the audience challenged her propaganda by quoting from the United Nations ESCWA report which accuses Israel of practicing The Crime of Apartheid, defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as a Crime Against Humanity, they were attacked and thrown out, and later charged.
Inminds chair Abbas Ali said:
“We stand here today in solidariy with our comrades in Germany who are being persecuted by the state for speaking truth to power.
Everything about this trial is Orwellian. A war criminal isn’t arrested, but is given the red carpet platform to spew propaganda and lies, whilst truth speakers are silenced.
War criminals and thugs that attack peaceful activists, punching a woman in the face, go free. Instead the peaceful activists are charged with ‘assault’.. for being beaten up, and charged with ‘trespass’.. for attending a public meeting.
Their only ‘crime’ is to dare expose Israeli Crimes Against Humanity. The German state is so supine to Israeli blackmail over fake accusations of antisemitism that it will bend over backwards to appease the apartheid regime.
It seems Germany has learnt nothing from its own history of the dangers of turning a blind eye to Crimes Against Humanity and where this leads. A truly shameful state of affairs.”
During the vigil a letter addressed to the German Ambassador, condemning the German states prosecution of the Humboldt 3, was delivered to the embassy. A cross-section of civil society organisations, ranging from human rights groups to religious groups – both Muslim and Jewish; to academic and journalism rights groups; along with Palestinian solidarity groups, were signatories to the letter.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is honored to welcome our newest chapter and our second in Sweden, Samidoun Stockholm, which announced its formation on 18 July 2020. Samidoun warmly salutes the new chapter as an important step to build solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian liberation struggle, particularly in Sweden.
We look forward to struggling together to free political prisoners and free Palestine, from the river to the sea!
Samidoun Stockholm issued a brief statement, presented in English translation and then in Swedish. We invite all in Stockholm who want to organize for Palestine and for the prisoners to contact Samidoun Stockholm and get involved!
Who are we and what do we stand for?
Samidoun is a network for action in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. We see the prisoners’ struggle as an important element in the battle against Israeli colonial occupation. It is not a crime to be a freedom fighter, and, therefore we demand that all political prisoners in Israel, the occupied territories, the United States and Canada be released. We also stand in solidarity with the struggles of the Black and Indigenous peoples in the United States, the fight for a free Western Sahara, the Kurdish people’s struggle for self-determination, and the independence of all oppressed peoples from imperialism.
Now that Israel is trying to push through further illegal annexations of Palestinian territory, international solidarity is more important than ever. The only justice is a free, united and socialist Palestine.
Why the prisoners’ struggle?
Israel imprisons Palestinian politicians, civilians, community activists, writers, artists, poets and musicians. Every year, 500-700 Palestinian children are put in military detention where they are regularly interrogated without adult presence, neglected, and abused. Last month, 142 children were held in such conditions, and the number was higher in the previous month. Anyone who doesn’t want their land stolen can be criminalized and repressed. Approximately 95 % of Palestinian prisoners in Israel are subjected to mistreatment and/or torture. Children are not excluded from ′′ exceptional interrogation methods ′′ such as physical violence, sleep deprivation, being bound in positions that can cause lifelong injuries, etc. The prisoners’ struggle stands against this.
′ Why didn’t you bang on the side of the tank? Why didn’t you say anything?”-Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and freedom fighter illegally murdered by Mossad at age 36
We support the Samidoun network’s principles and methods. Read more at Samidoun.net.
Välkomna till Samidoun Stockholm – en grupp för praktisk solidaritet med palestinska fångar. Nedan kommer en introduktion om oss!
Vilka är vi och vad står vi för?
Samidoun är ett nätverk för utövandet av solidaritet med Palestinska fångar. Vi ser fångkampen som ett viktigt moment i kampen mot Israelisk kolonial-ockupation. Det är inte ett brott att vara frihetskämpe och därför kräver vi att alla politiska fångar i Israel, de ockuperade områdena, USA och Kanada släpps fria. Vi står även i solidaritet med de svartas och ursprungsbefolkningens kamper i USA, kampen för ett fritt Västsahara, det Kurdiska folkets kamp för självbestämmande och alla förtryckta folks självständighet från imperialismen.
Nu när Israel försöker driva igenom ytterligare illegala annekteringar av Palestinskt territorium är den internationella solidariteten viktigare än någonsin. Den enda rättvisan är ett fritt, enat och socialistiskt Palestina.
Varför fångkamp?
Israel fängslar palestinska politiker, civila, fredliga aktivister, författare, konstnärer, poeter och musiker. Varje år sätts 500-700 palestinska barn i militärfängelsen där de regelbundet förhörs utan vuxennärvaro, vanvårdas och misshandlas. Förra månaden sattes 142 barn i sådana fängelser, och talet var högre den föregående månaden. Alla som inte vill ha sitt land stulet kan anses vara kriminella. Ungefär 95% av palestinska fångar i Israeliska fängelsen utsätts för vanvård och/eller tortyr. Barn är inte undantagna från ”exceptionella förhörsmetoder” såsom fysiskt våld, bli tvingade att vara vakna, bundna i positioner som kan ge livslånga skador, osv. Fångkamp är att motsätta sig detta.
”Varför bankade du inte på stridsvagnens sida? Varför sade du inget?” – Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinsk författare och frihetskämpe som illegalt mördades av Mossad vid 36 års ålder.
Vi ställer oss bakom Samidounnätverkets principer och metoder. Läs mer på Samidoun.net.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network strongly supports this urgent and important call from the Coalition for Civil Freedoms. Free Mufid Abdulqader and the Holy Land Five!
ACTION ALERT: WRITE A LETTER TO JUDGE SAM A. LINDSAY URGING THE RELEASE OF HLF PRISONER MUFID ABDULQADER WHO IS BATTLING COVID-19
On July 7, Holy Land Foundation political prisoner Mufid Abdulqader, who is serving an unjust 20-year prison sentence for charitable work, tested positive for COVID-19 at a federal prison in Seagoville, Texas. According to the Bureau of Prisons, FCI Seagoville reported its first COVID-19 related death a few days ago and that more than 74% of inmates there had tested positive for the virus.
Time is of the essence:
Mufid Abdulqader’s attorneys filed for an emergency compassionate release motion on his behalf last week. CCF calls on all people of conscience to advocate on behalf of Abdulqader and take swift action to urge the judge to grant his immediate release. Email your letter on behalf of Abdulqader to CCF by Monday night, July 20th at 8:00 PM EDT.
Take Action:
ADDRESS YOUR LETTER to U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, 1100 Commerce Street, Room 1544 Dallas, Texas 75242-1003
TALKING POINTS:
Urge the judge to grant Mufid Abdulqader immediate compassionate release due to his COVID-19 diagnosis and your concern for his life.
State your concern for the lack of appropriate medical attention in the facility.
If you know Abdulqader personally, attest to his character.
You must emphasize that Abdulqader, who has already served 75% of an unjust prison sentence, was not convicted of any violent crimes and was prosecuted in a politically-motivated case that is considered by many to be a miscarriage of justice.
Remind the judge that by the government’s own admission, every cent the Holy Land Foundation raised and distributed went to providing food, shelter, hospital equipment, and health care to the needy. Refer to the “Background” section below for more information on the case.
EMAIL YOUR LETTER TO CCF! DO NOT MAIL YOUR LETTER DIRECTLY TO THE JUDGE!
Email → legal@civilfreedoms.org by no later than Monday, July 20 at 8:00 PM EDT. CCF will mail the collection of written letters to the courthouse.
SHARE THIS ACTION ALERT across all social media platforms, and with your groups and friends, with the hashtags #FreeMufidNow #FreetheHLF5 #FreeThemAll
Background:
The Holy Land Foundation Five are Palestinian-American prisoners of conscience who ran the largest Muslim charity in the United States, and were convicted in the post-9/11 hysteria on false charges of “providing material support for terrorism.” They were given draconian sentences ranging from 15 to 65 years in prison, and were put in Communication Management Units (CMUs), often dubbed the “Gitmo North” due to the severity and discriminatory nature of their conditions. While all five men were unjustly prosecuted for constitutionally-protected activities such as associations, speech, and charity, the government’s citation of Mufid Abdulqader’s singing with his band at HLF fundraisers as “evidence” of “material support for terrorism” further underscores the absurdity and utter cruelty of the HLF case in particular, and the arbitrariness of material support laws more broadly.
On Friday, 17 June, activists in Paris gathered outside the German embassy in Paris to deliver a statement against the criminal trial of three Palestine justice activists in Berlin, Germany. The Humbolt 3 – Ronnie Barkan, Majed Abusalama and Stavit Sinai, a Palestinian from Gaza and two Israeli Jewish activists – were charged after they interrupted a Knesset member in 2017 about the massacre of civilians in Gaza during a speech at the Humboldt University of Berlin. The next trial in their case will take place at the Moabit Court in Berlin at 9 am on Monday, 3 August.
Supporters of the Humboldt 3 and defenders of the right to stand for justice in Palestine will gather outside the Moabit court at 8 am on 3 August.Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network supports this mobilization and encourages all to join in Berlin as well as to organize actions like this one in Paris, by delivering letters and holding protests outside German embassies and consulates around the world.
The trial of the Humboldt 3, like the political ban and exclusion imposed on Khaled Barakat, the anti-BDS resolution passed by the Bundestag that seeks to classify opposition to Israel, Zionism and even Israeli policy as “anti-Semitic,” the closure of bank accounts for organizations like Jewish Voices for a Just Peace, the deportation and silencing of Rasmea Odeh and the exclusion of international artists for their support for Palestinian rights, highlights the level of anti-Palestinian repression taking place in Germany.
CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, which organized the protest, published the text of the letter and the video of the action at their website. They called upon supporters of Palestine in France to add their names and express their serious opposition to the ongoing criminal proceedings against the Humboldt 3 by emailing the German embassy in France at info@paris.diplo.de
The letter text:
To the attention of Mr. Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, the German Ambassador to France:
We wish to communicate to you, as citizens committed to the respect of human rights and international law, our concern regarding the proceedings launched by the German government against three activists who will appear next August 3 in the Moabit Court of Berlin.
Stavit Sinai, Ronnie Barkan, two Jewish Israelis, and Majed Abusalama, a Palestinian from Gaza, are accused of having interrupted an anti-BDS propaganda speech on June 20, 2017, at Humboldt University in Berlin, given by a representative of the Israeli government, Mrs. Aliza Lavie, then a member of the Knesset and, as a member of its Foreign Affairs Committee, having approved the Israeli massacres of 2014 in Gaza. (Conference organized by the DIG – Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft. (German-Israeli Society )
These three peace activists, who also received the Copenhagen Courage Award from Ms. Ninna Olsen, deputy mayor of Copenhagen, did not commit any violence. They called upon the representative of the Israeli state to inform the participants about her involvement in the Israeli occupation and colonization, with all their bloody consequences.
It is an action of public benefit, an intervention of support to people in danger, in this case the Palestinian people – who are undergoing a terrible ethnic cleansing, including the theft of land and water, the deportation of populations, the regular bombardment of two million men, women and children in an open-air prison in the narrow enclave of Gaza, and deprived of basic needs such as electricity, clean water or medicines, as well as the imprisonment and torture of thousands of Palestinian children.
Germany is well placed to know that these abuses violate numerous UN resolutions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions, as well as the International Convention against Torture, also signed by Germany.
How dare Germany prosecute men and women of conscience who have done their duty by refusing to turn a blind eye to atrocities that they know all too well for being Palestinian and Israelis?
We know the weight of false allegations of anti-Semitism, which essentially consist of amalgamating Judaism and the State of Israel.
But it is blackmail to which it would be odious to give in and which would lead to becoming an accomplice of another slow genocide, that of the Palestinian people.
We allow ourselves to recall the judgment of June 11 of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which fully justifies the political actions of boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) against Israel. (https://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=home&c=fre)
We thank you in advance for conveying to the German authorities our support and our respect for the three prosecuted activists facing the false accusation of “aggression”, while a video of their intervention proves the contrary.
In the meantime, and thanking you in advance for your attention, we ask you to receive, Mr. Ambassador, the assurance of our best regards.
Signatories:
Anne ABBES, Professeur en classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles
Mohamed ABBES, Ingénieur CNRS retraité
Marie-Christine ABOUPHELE, Anthropologue
Abdellah AZIZI, Enseignant
Ludivine BANTIGNY, Historienne
Omar BENDERRA, Économiste
Estelle BLANCHARD, Peintre en décoration
Serge BONAL, Cadre hospitalier
Sohil BOUDJELAL, Avocat
Prof. Haim BRESHEETH, Professorial Research Associate, SOAS University of London
Eitan BRONSTEIN, Israélien, Association De-Colonizer
Maurice BUTTIN, Avocat, Président d’honneur du CVPR PO
David CANNON, Président du Réseau Juif pour la Palestine
Margaret CASSAR, Présidente de L’association Australienne des Amis de la Palestine
Chantal CAMERON, Professeur de langues
Rosario CITRINITI, Vidéaste
Anna CIULLI, Libraire
Martine CHERBUIS, Enseignante
Alain CHERBUIS, Cadre marketing
Ted CLEMENT-EVANS, Géomètre
Acacia CONDES, Agrégée de l’université – Paris 4 Sorbonne
Martine CORNET, Enseignante
Daniel DALLA GUARDIA, Librairie
Chris DEN HOND, Journaliste
Sylvie DEPLUS-PONSIN, Praticien hospitalier- Maître de conférences Paris VII
Les DEVIDOV, Senior Research Fellow, Open University UK
Alain DUPHIL, Ingénieur agronome
Naama FARJOUN, Physiothérapeute à Jérusalem
Jérôme FAYNEL, Responsable logement social
Claire GAILLARD, Chercheur CNRS
Monseigneur Jacques GAILLOT, Evêque de Partenia
Dr. John GARRETT, Maître de conférence à l’université
Angus GEDDES, Économiste
Sharen GREEN, Journaliste
Boualem HAMDACHE, Syndicaliste SUD Conseil Départemental de Seine Saint-Denis
Doug HOLTON, Metteur en scène de théâtre
Christian JACQUIAU, Économiste, auteur, journaliste indépendant
Peter JACKSON, Ingénieur acoustique
Sarak KATZ, Participante dur le Al Awda, à la Flotille de la Liberté 2018
Olivier LE COUR GRANDMAISON, Universitaire, écrivain
Marko LOPARIC, Chercheur- mathématicien
Roland MELO, Contrôleur aérien, pilote d’avion, médaillé de l’Aéronautique
Paul MONMAUR, Universitaire, retraité
Dominique NOLY, Ingénieur EDF
Roland NURIER, Réalisateur
Christophe OBERLIN, Professeur de chirurgie
Anne-Marie OUDRER, Praticien hospitalier
Ghislain POISSONNIER, Magistrat
Shlomo SAND, Professeur d’Histoire à l’Université de Tel Aviv
Richard SEAFORD, Professeur à l’Université d’Exeter
Martine SEVEGRAND, Historienne
Nicolas SHAHSHAHANI, Libraire
Yonatan SHAPIRA, Musicien, ancien pilote de l’armée israélienne, dissident
Tzvia SHAPIRA, Biologiste israélienne, dissidente
Adi SHOSBERGER (Israël), Medical Aid Without Borders, YAEL
Shelly STEINBERG, Militante germano-israélienne
Pierre STAMBUL, Fils de résistant déporté à Buchenwald
François STRAUSS, Directeur de recherches au CNRS
Odile TOBNER, Essayiste
Danièle TOUATI, Directeur de recherches au CNRS
Farida TRICHINE, Informaticienne
John TYMON, Journaliste
Luk VERVAET, Auteur, Réseau International des Prisonniers
Einat WEIZMAN, Actrice et réalisatrice israélienne
Olivia ZEMOR, Journaliste retraitée
ZOHAR, Artiste peintre israélienne
French original letter:
A l’attention de Monsieur Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, l’Ambassadeur d’Allemagne
Nous souhaitons vous communiquer, en tant que citoyen(nes) attachés au respect des droits de l’Homme et du droit international, notre préoccupation concernant les poursuites engagées par le gouvernement allemand contre trois militants qui comparaîtront le 3 août prochain devant le Tribunal Moabit de Berlin.
Stavit Sinai, Ronnie Barkan, deux Israéliens (juifs), et Majed Abusalama, Palestinien de Gaza, sont en effet accusés d’avoir interrompu le 20 juin 2017 le discours de propagande anti-BDS, à l’Université Humboldt de Berlin, d’une représentante du gouvernement israélien, Madame Aliza Lavie, alors députée et membre de la commission des affaires étrangères du parlement, ayant approuvé les massacres israéliens de 2014 à Gaza.(Conférence organisée par la DIG – Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft.(Société Germano-Israélienne)
Ces trois militants pacifistes, qui ont par ailleurs reçu le « Copenhagen Courage Award » des mains de Mme Ninna Olsen, adjointe au maire de Copenhague, n’ont pas commis la moindre violence. Ils ont apostrophé la représentante de l’État israélien pour informer les participants sur son implication dans l’occupation et la colonisation israéliennes, avec toutes leurs conséquences sanglantes.
Il s’agit d’une action de salubrité publique, d’une intervention d’assistance à peuple en danger, en l’occurrence le peuple palestinien qui subit un terrible nettoyage ethnique, comprenant le vol de terres et d’eau, la déportation de populations, le bombardement régulier de deux millions d’hommes, de femmes et d’enfants enfermés à double tour dans l’étroite enclave de Gaza, et privés de biens fondamentaux comme l’électricité, l’eau propre ou encore les médicaments, ainsi que l’emprisonnement et la torture de milliers d’enfants palestiniens.
L’Allemagne est bien placée pour savoir que ces exactions violent de nombreuses résolutions de l’ONU, la déclaration universelle des droits de l’Homme, les Conventions de Genève, tout comme la Convention Internationale contre la Torture, également signée par l’Allemagne.
Comment ose-t-elle s’en prendre à des hommes et des femmes de conscience qui n’ont fait que leur devoir, en refusant de fermer les yeux sur des atrocités qu’ils connaissent d’autant mieux qu’ils sont palestinien et israéliens ?
Nous connaissons le poids du chantage à l’antisémitisme, qui consiste essentiellement à faire l’amalgame entre le judaïsme et l’État d’Israël.
Mais c’est un chantage auquel il serait odieux de céder et qui conduirait à se rendre complice d’un autre génocide à petit feu, celui du peuple palestinien.
Nous nous permettons de rappeler le jugement du 11 juin dernier de la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme (CEDH) qui justifie pleinement les actions politiques de boycott, désinvestissement, sanctions (BDS) à l’encontre d’Israel. (https://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=home&c=fre)
Nous vous remercions par avance de transmettre aux autorités allemandes, notre soutien et notre respect pour les trois militants poursuivis en justice, avec qui plus est, l’accusation mensongère d’« agression », alors qu’une vidéo de leur intervention prouve le contraire.
Dans l’attente, et en vous remerciant par avance de votre attention, nous vous prions de recevoir, Monsieur l’ambassadeur, l’assurance de nos meilleurs sentiments.