Join the Twitter Storm to free Georges Abdallah on Friday, 10 April! 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern/6 pm Europe/7 pm Palestine and Lebanon.
Use the hashtag #FreeGeorgesAbdallah and tag @NBelloubet @EmmanuelMacron and @General_Aoun
Express your solidarity with Georges Abdallah, Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine, imprisoned in France for 35 years and call for his immediate release to Lebanon. This demand is especially urgent now as Georges, like other prisoners, faces a severe threat to his life and health due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This Twitter Storm was organized by campaign groups and George’s family in Lebanon, and Samidoun encourages all supporters of justice and liberation to participate.
Read the call to action:
All that is prevents the release of freedom fighter George Abdallah is the signature of the French Interior Minister on the order to deport him to Lebanon.
However, for more than twenty years, the French authorities have refused to release him, in particular under pressure from the US administration. The most recent example is the statement by Victoria Nuland, who opposed two judicial decisions taken in favour of George Abdallah’s release in 2013. This statement was preceded by a letter from Hillary Clinton asking the French authorities to overturn the decision of the judiciary for his release.
The French authorities should stop this policy of state vengeance and implement their claimed commitment to a fair judicial system and separation of powers.
The Lebanese state must also exercise its sovereign role towards one of its citizens, whose right to freedom is known to the whole world, and hold the French state responsible for preventing his return to Lebanon.
French call:
Il ne manque à la libération du combattant de la liberté, George Abdallah, que la signature du ministre français de l’Intérieur sur l’arrêté d’expulsion vers le Liban.
Cependant, depuis plus de vingt ans, les autorités françaises refusent de le libérer notamment sous la pression de l’administration états-unienne. La plus récente est la déclaration de Victoria Nuland qui s’est opposée à deux décisions judiciaires prises en faveur de la libération de George Abdallah en 2013. Cette déclaration a été précédée par une lettre d’Hillary Clinton demandant aux autorités françaises de casser leur décision juridique.
Les autorités françaises devraient cesser la vengeance d’État et mettre en œuvre leurs allégations de séparation des pouvoirs.
L’État libanais doit également exercer son rôle souverain envers un de ses citoyens, dont le monde entier connait son droit à la liberté, et tenir l’État français pour responsable de l’empêchement de son retour au Liban.
As we are encouraged to self-isolate, we are reminded of our interconnectedness with one another. We are reminded of the importance of community, solidarity, and internationalism. And as we think of one another, Palestine is on our minds and in our hearts. We are facing the same pandemic, but under different conditions. In these times, we turn to Palestine to hear about the realities of dealing with a global pandemic while under occupation and blockade. We see the urgency for bold social transformation. Join us in a Webinar with those on the ground as we discuss the occupation, COVID-19, and ways to come together to fight for justice and peace.
Panelists:
Dr. Rand Askalan – Takween Center (Ramallah)
Hadeel Shatara – Samidoun Prisoner Solidarity Network (Palestine)
Raed Shakshak – We Are Not Numbers (Gaza)
Zoughbi and Tarek Alzoughbi – Wi’am (Bethlehem)
(And three hours later, join Samidoun for another webinar on the case of Georges Abdallah, prisoner for Palestine in France. Register online here: http://bit.ly/freegeorges )
Organizers and activists around the world are joining the video campaign to call for the immediate release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association along with many activists in Palestine launched a call for people around the world to record themselves in short videos and post them using the hashtag #FreeOurPrisoners. The appeal has found a strong response around the world, especially amid the threat that the global COVID-19 pandemic presents to Palestinian prisoners suffering in unsafe, unsanitary conditions amid institutional Israeli medical negligence.
Samidoun’s U.S. coordinator, Joe Catron, recorded a video urging the prisoners’ release:
Le Collectif Palestine Vaincra s'associe à l'appel d'@Addameer afin d'exiger la libération de tou·te·s les prisonniers palestiniens qui font face à la gestion raciste et répressive de l'épidémie de COVID-19 par l'occupation israélienne !#FreeOurPrisoners#COVID_19pic.twitter.com/cFoJaT8ctx
— Collectif Palestine Vaincra (@CollectifPV) April 2, 2020
In the United States, organizations like the Palestinian Youth Movement and Students for Justice in Palestine in Chicago joined the call for the prisoners’ freedom:
We demand the IMMEDIATE FREEDOM of all Palestinian prisoners in Zionist prisons being subjected to harsh conditions & medical neglect that is only exacerbated by COVID-19! We call on all allies, friends & comrades to join us in an urgent campaign to free all Palestinian prisoners pic.twitter.com/r22dptynTe
— SJP Chicago- طلاب لأجل العدالة في فلسطين (@sjpchi) April 5, 2020
Mario Martone of Scientists for Palestine spoke about the campaign, discussing the threat of the spread of COVID-19 in Ofer prison and throughout the system and the imprisonment of Palestinian-American researcher Ubai Aboudi:
From Mario Martone, release Palestinian prisoners and save them from the corona-virus. Take a short of video of yourself, less than one minute, and post it on your social media accounts.#FreeOurPrisoners#COVID_19pic.twitter.com/pAxLKaf9ao
Aboudi’s family also joined the campaign, with Khaled, Ubai’s son, sending a message for freedom via video:
Khalid sending a message about his father who is a Palestinian prisoners. "My name is Khalid, I’m the son of Palestinian Prisoners Ubai Aboudi, meaning that I haven’t seen him for a long him, it also means that I’m scared for him from corona, release my dad."#FreeOurPrisonerspic.twitter.com/SoqhuAlDWw
The Partido Comunista de los Pueblos de España (@webpcpe) and its general secretary, Carmelo Suarez, join the campaign to #FreeOurPrisoners – expressing solidarity and calling for the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.@Addameerpic.twitter.com/aHR3smDLcW
The International Union of Pensioners and Retirees – Pensionistas y Jubilistas, affilated to the World Federation of Trade Unions also urged freedom for imprisoned Palestinians:
And Juan Manuel Hernández Legazcue of the Ezkerretik Foroa called on the Red Cross to take action for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners amid the COVID-19 pandemic:
Many more activists joined the campaign, including members of the Jeunes communistes (Young Communists) in France, activists from El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Costa Rica, and many others around the world:
From #France The Mouvement Jeunes communistes de France (JC): we demand the Israeli occupation authorities to release Palestinian political prisoners to ensure their protection fron #Covid19#FreeOurPrisonerspic.twitter.com/kgb1DpXFNm
From #CostaRica "I'm Tatiana, I want to demand the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners, especially those most vulnerable women, children, elderly and ill prisoners I demand the release of those under administrative detention without charges and trial" #FreeOurPrisonerspic.twitter.com/Z4tNz5qwhW
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network encourages activists, organizations and people of conscience around the world to continue the campaign and share their videos and images in support of Palestinian political prisoners fighting for their lives, their freedom and their people during the COVID-19 pandemic under the hashtag #FreeOurPrisoners. Feel free to tag us on Twitter (@SamidounPP) in addition to @Addameer or send us a link on our Facebook page!
Meeting ID to be provided to registered participants 2 days before the seminar
When: 15:00-17:00 GMT; 17:00-19:00 EEST; 10:00-12:00 EST
Background:
There are currently 5000 Palestinians languishing in Israeli Prison Service (IPS) facilities; 43 are women, 180 are children, and 430 are administrative detainees held without any form of due process.
Since 1967, a total of 222 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody; 67 of the 222 due to medical negligence. Current estimates note that there are 700 prisoners in urgent need of medical treatment, with 60% of all prisoners having a history of chronic diseases.
In January last year Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan announced plans to ‘worsen’ the condition for prisoners, and to set ‘clear limits’ on a number of areas including water consumption and the capacity for prisoners to shower. Over the last month, and with the onset of the coronavirus, these measures have been accelerated and prisoners are now prohibited from accessing vital sanitation and hygiene products, from receiving family visits and visits from legal representatives, and key food supplies such as bread and water are being severely restricted. These developments, as well as many more aggressive measures enacted by the Israeli prisons’ administration, are not new – they represent a continuation of a policy of medical neglect and health care denial commonplace within the prison system since 1967 and the onset of Israel’s military occupation.
However, as the deadly covid-19 virus evidently threatens to exacerbate the situation in prisons to levels hitherto unseen, it is vital that awareness is raised as a matter of urgency.
It is in this context that EuroPal Forum brings you this online seminar, which seeks to raise awareness about the plight of Palestinian prisoners and the specific challenges they are facing during this global pandemic. To foster this seminar, EuroPal is bringing together those at the forefront of discourse and understanding on the condition of Palestinian prisoners for a 2-hour discussion on the dynamics of the situation in Israeli jails.
Speakers:
Charlotte Kates – Charlotte is the international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the coordinator of the International Committee of the National Lawyers Guild. She is also a member of the Organizing Collective of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
Lana Ramadan – Lana is the international advocacy officer at Addameer. Lana previously worked with Badil Refugee Resource Centre where she worked as a researcher, specifically focusing on forced displacement and the creation of coercive environments by Israeli policies. In December 2017, she began at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association as the International Advocacy Officer.
Motasem A Dalloul – Motasem Dalloul is a journalist based in Gaza and a specialist on Middle Eastern affairs. He is Middle East Monitor’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip. He holds an MA in international journalism from the University of Westminster.
Akram Satari – Akram is a news reporter and a translator for a number of international NGOs and cooperation agencies. He was shot by the Israeli occupation forces at the age of 13 and arrested at the age of 16.
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As this is an online webinar, please register to ensure that the meeting ID will be sent to your email 2 days prior to the start of the event.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is sharing this important alert from our colleagues at Samidoun Gothenburg in Sweden. Palestinian refugees in Sweden are facing exclusion, denial of residency and threats to their most fundamental rights. For more details on the campaign, please visit Palestinian Refugees Rights in Sweden on Facebook.
We urge you to take action below:
Since 8 January 2020, a group of Palestinians have been on a sit-down strike in a public tent in Gothenburg, Sweden. They are all refugees, many of them stateless, and have had their applications for a renewed residency permit denied. Because of their status, they cannot receive help from the national or municipal governments or support for housing, employment or healthcare. This is a major concern in ordinary times, but amid the current pandemic, may well be fatal. This is why it is particularly important to act now to contact the Swedish government and the political parties and demand that they take responsibility for this situation and let the Palestinian refugees stay!
Please send the email below, which you can use directly, or write your own, using this text as information. The Swedish text is provided along with an English translation. Don’t forget to add your name and location to the email before you send it off!
Sample letter: send it on!
Subject: Let the Palestinian refugees stay!
Dear Swedish officials and political parties,
At present, there are a large number of Palestinian refugees in Sweden who have had their asylum applications denied and lack residence permits, but who, in practice, cannot be deported either to the occupied Palestinian territories or any other country, despite the Migration Agency’s contrary opinion. This state of legal limbo has the consequence that they do not have access to secure jobs, safe housing and safe schooling. If this situation was not already worthy of political action, it cannot have escaped the notice of anyone reading this that Sweden has been hit hard by an infectious and deadly pandemic, against which the best defense is clean and spacious housing to be able to self-isolate themselves if necessary, and a steady livelihood in order to take care of their own needs and those of the community.
It may not have been Swedish policies that forced the Palestinian refugees to flee and then made it impossible for them to return home, but if you choose to act, Swedish policies can help give the Palestinian refugees a more dignified existence.
In order to make this happen, it is critical that:
Statelessness is recognized as a basis for asylum.
Refugee status is recognized as a basis for asylum.
People with refugee status, stateless people and those without a residence permit are classified as a vulnerable group in the actions against the pandemic and that their access to the necessary resources (housing, livelihood and healthcare) is secured.
Thank you for your support! Please share this campaign in social media and call on your contacts to email and call. Together, we are strong!
Swedish text of the letter:
Ämne: Låt de palestinska flyktingarna stanna!
Kära politiker,
I dagsläget befinner det sig ett stort antal palestinska flyktingar i Sverige som har nekats och saknar uppehållstillstånd men som i praktiken inte heller kan utvisas, vare sig till ockuperade palestinska områden eller något annat land, trots Migrationsverkets motsatta omdöme. Detta tillstånd av rättsligt limbo får följden att de inte har tillgång till trygga jobb, trygga boenden och trygga skolgångar. Om inte denna situation redan var värd politiska åtgärder så kan det inte ha undgått den som läser detta att Sverige har nåtts av en smittsam och dödlig pandemi mot vilket det bästa försvaret är rena och rymliga bostäder att kunna isolera sig i vid behov och en stadig försörjning att kunna se till sina egna och sin omgivnings behov.
Det må ha varit annat än svensk politik som tvingat de palestinska flyktingarna på flykt och sedan gjort det omöjligt för dem att återvända hem, men om du väljer att agera kan svensk politik bidra till att de palestinska flyktingarna får en mer värdig tillvaro.
Vad du kan verka för:
Att statslöshet införs som grund för asyl.
Att flyktingstatus införs som grund för asyl.
Att människor med flyktingstatus, i statslöshet och utan uppehållstillstånd betecknas som en riskgrupp i arbetet mot pandemin och att deras tillgång till de därav nödvändiga resurserna (bostad, försörjning och vård) tryggas.
The following fundraising campaign is being organized by the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Please note, the fundraising page is in French, but you can donate from anywhere around the world. The site works well with Google Translate! If you are donating from the United States and don’t see your country, it is listed alphabetically as États-Unis. Donate here: https://www.helloasso.com/associations/asicp/collectes/solidarite-avec-l-hopital-al-awda-de-gaza-1
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a severe threat to the Gaza Strip. Under an Israeli blockade supported by Egypt since 2007, the besieged Palestinian area with over 2 million inhabitants faces a chronic lack of necessary equipment: there are only 56 respirators and 40 intensive care beds.
Founded in 1985, the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC) is a leading Palestinian health organization. Around 300,000 people benefit from its services in the Gaza Strip every year. Located in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Al-Awda hospital is administered by the UHWC and provides medical services to thousands of Palestinians. Today, more than ever, Al-Awda hospital needs our support!
This secure platform allows you to make an online donation.
Al-Awda Hospital calls for solidarity
On 22 March 2020, Dr Ahmad Muhanna, chair of the Union of Health Work Committees in Gaza, urged international solidarity in a video message:
How will the funds be used?
Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza needs support more than ever to buy equipment and develop its structures. In partnership with Collectif Palestine Vaincra, the UHWC will provide regular reports on the use of donations, which will be available on palestinevaincra.com.
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is a Lebanese Arab communist and a lifelong struggler for Palestine. He has been imprisoned in French prisons for 35 years for his role in the resistance, despite being eligible for release since 1999. The French state has aligned with the United States and Israel in keeping him imprisoned. He remains politically active inside prison and even joins Palestinian political prisoners on their hunger strikes by returning his own meals.
Learn more about the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah by joining our online webinar over ZOOM, featuring a representative of Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of Samidoun and dedicated campaigners to free Georges Abdallah. Collective members have visited Georges many times behind bars.
Helin Bölek, revolutionary musician in Turkey and Grup Yorum band member, was martyred during the morning of Friday 3 April 2020 after 288 days of being on hunger strike. She was on hunger strike together with fellow Grup Yorum member Ibrahim Gökçek, who is continuing his strike now for 291 days.
Grup Yorum, established by students in 1985, is a revolutionary music band composed of Turkish and Kurdish members. Their songs are about the struggle for freedom, the daily struggles and international solidarity. Grup Yorum is one of the most popular bands in Turkey, with concerts being attended by hundreds of thousands of people. The band has been a target of Turkish state repression for a long time. Their offices and cultural centres have been raided multiple times and dozens of members have been arrested and tortured.
Three weeks ago, on 11 March, the house where Helin Bölek and Ibrahim Gökçek were on hunger strike was raided by Turkish forces. Helin and Ibrahim were taken to Ümraniye Training and Research Hospital to be force fed. Both refused all force feeding and insisted on their right to resist through their hunger strike. After six days of torture in the hospital, including stress positions and prohibition of sanitary facilities, Helin and Ibrahim returned to their Resistance House in the neighborhood Küçük Amurtlu in Istanbul.
The hunger strike of Helin Bölek and Ibrahim Gökçek aimed for more than their own freedom. Rather, they formulated five clear demands:
End the police raids against İdil Cultural Center were Grup Yorum organizes.
Remove all Grup Yorum members from the wanted lists.
Remove the ban on the concerts of Grup Yorum.
Drop the lawsuits filed against Grup Yorum members.
Release all arrested Grup Yorum members, seven in total.
Even after Helin Bölek was released from Turkish prison in November 2019, and Ibrahim Gökçek three months later, both continued their hunger strike for these five demands. They made clear that their hunger strike was a death strike: they would continue until their five demands were met.
The death of Helin Bölek in the liberation struggle shows the deadly nature of the Turkish state, which continues to imprison tens of thousands political activists, lawyers, politicians, journalists and musicians. It is exactly against this system of mass imprisonment and repression that Helin Bölek was struggling.
In a statement, the People’s Front of Turkey said, “While the AKP has continued all this exploitation and persecution, it has attacked all sectors other than itself in order to silence the people in the face of all their injustices. To silence the people, to make them swear allegiance to its system, it has to silence the revolutionaries first. It has directed its greatest attacks upon the revolutionaries and tried to silence them with its policies of detention, imprisonment and massacres.”
When Samidoun participated in the Anti-Imperialist Symposium in February this year, we heard from Helin Bölek and people close to her. While it was clear her health condition was deteriorating, her spirit was extremely high. It was clear that she and her fellow hunger striker Ibrahim Gökçek would continue until their demands were met. With the martyrdom of Helin, it is our duty to continue her struggle and support Ibrahim and the Grup Yorum prisoners.
Helin stands with Palestine.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the life and legacy of Helin Bölek, who struggled her whole life for people’s liberation in Turkey and Kurdistan. Her music, organizing and hunger strike has inspired thousands of people to stand up against Turkish state repression. We join all those who are continuing the struggle of Helin Bölek and we demand the immediate release of all Grup Yorum members and an end to their repression.
We end with the lyrics of Grup Yorum’s song “Zafere Kadar” (Until Victory), which was released in support of the second Intifada:
Every house is a castle Our home is a school “Revolution to Victory” in our language
A resistance in every home A fedayeen (militant) in every home “Revolution to Victory” in our language
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network hosted the second in its webinar series on Thursday, 2 April 2020. Samidoun’s Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib spoke about Palestinian refugees, the refugee camps and the struggle for the right to return.
Join the next Samidoun webinar on Thursday, 9 April 2020, on the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, prisoner for Palestine in French jails.
Representatives of Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun network and active campaigners for Georges Abdallah’s freedom, will speak about the case and actions needed. Register online for the meeting at: http://bit.ly/freegeorges
Palestinians in Gaza demand coronavirus protection for Palestinian prisoners, 19 March. Photo: QudsNews
Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s Ofer prison have announced an escalation of protests and the closing of their sections after a Palestinian detainee held there was diagnosed with coronavirus upon his release.
Nour al-Din Sarsour, 19, who was released from Ofer on 31 March 220, tested positive for COVID-19 after going to the hospital following his liberation. He was arrested on 18 March and was held at the Benjamin interrogation center before being transferred to Ofer.
Fellow Palestinian political prisoners celebrated his release with him, as neither he nor his fellow detainees were aware of his condition. Because there is no systematic testing for COVID-19 in Israeli prisons – even for prisoners known to be exposed to Israeli jailers with coronavirus – Sarsour and his fellow prisoners were never tested.
This situation persists despite the repeated entry of multiple Israeli jailers, guards, military court judges and interrogators into the prisons and the rooms and sections of the prisoners; some of these have later been diagnosed with coronavirus. Palestinian political prisoners and the organizations defending their human rights have called for their immediate release and even basic health protections, yet the Israeli apartheid regime has continued to intensify its repressive tactics against the prisoners while denying them access to cleaning supplies, proper health care and sanitation.
Sources inside Ofer prison confirmed to Samidoun that they have decided to close their sections to express their outrage at the lack of protections for the prisoners. There is very serious concern and even panic inside Ofer prison, especially following the news that Sarsour was held in section 14, a section for new detainees, along with 36 fellow prisoners. He was held there for the 12 days before his release. Nevertheless, the Israeli administration has announced no plans to release or even test the prisoners held there.
As reported by Wattan News, prisoners in the Negev desert prison are also closing their sections in response to the ongoing violations of their rights and the threat to their health posed by the deadly combination of COVID-19, incarceration, occupation and apartheid. There is a great deal of tension inside all Israeli prisons after the report of Sarsour’s diagnosis, especially as there are a number of seriously ill prisoners, elderly prisoners and child prisoners who are even more vulnerable in the close, crowded conditions in which Palestinian political prisoners are jailed.
One of the Palestinian detainees in Ofer who was held in Section 14 with Sarsour was then transferred to another section. When the prisoners asked for him to be quarantined, the administration reportedly refused, forcing the prisoners to develop their own isolation and quarantine system for the potentially infected detainee. Palestinian prisoners are being forced to devise their own methods of self-protection due to their denial by the Israeli occupation, despite the complete responsibility of the latter for the detainees’ lives and health.
In addition, repressive raids on the prisoners’ sections have continued. Guards from repressive units ransack prisoners’ items, exposing them to contact with their hands as well as a stream of additional people who could potentially be exposed to coronavirus. Not only may Palestinian prisoners not “socially distance” – they are held six to eight to a room – but they are constantly threatened with exposure to guards, soldiers and other Israeli occupation forces that regularly interact with the outside world.
Palestinian prisoners are demanding that all prisoners in Ofer be tested for COVID-19, especially the children held in section 13, located next to section 14; that the daily count be conducted via cameras and that window searches be conducted from outside rather than inside the rooms, in order to reduce their exposure to Israeli guards and soldiers who continue to interact with the outside world.
The Israeli regime’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners constitutes at minimum severe negligence to the health and lives of Palestinian political prisoners, in line with its long-standing practice of medical neglect.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network emphasizes that the systematic medical negligence and abuse conducted by the Israeli occupation regime against Palestinian political prisoners not only amounts to a serious threat to their health and lives, but also reflects a political decision to further dehumanize, repress and marginalize Palestinian detainees. The global pandemic of COVID-19 requires that Palestinian political prisoners be immediately released to protect their health from the danger of deadly spread inside the jails, especially child prisoners, elderly prisoners and ill prisoners.
We reiterate our demand for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners, jailed for their resistance to occupation and apartheid. The coronavirus pandemic only further underlines the present urgency of this demand.
As we confront COVID-19, we know that it is important, perhaps now more than ever, to stand with Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people, who are facing apartheid, racism, settler-colonialism and Zionism, a deep threat to public health that has persisted in Palestine for over 70 years. If we seek a future in which we can truly stand together for humanity, we must stand with the Palestinian people to bring that system to an end, as well as the imperialist system that funds, arms and empowers it.
Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners! Freedom for Palestine, from the river to the sea!
We also republish the below call from ill prisoners inside Israeli prisons:
Hurryyat: an urgent call from detainees in the Israeli Occupation prisons to human rights advocates around the world
Save us from the coronavirus so that the Prisons don’t turn into Cemeteries!
The feeling of imminent threat and danger to our lives in Israeli prisons is growing day by day, even hour by hour. The coronavirus is spreading and is threatening the region and entire world. We are always hearing new instructions and regulations by the Israeli government to its population, like all governments in the world, on what to do to stop the spread of the virus. When it comes to our situation, the political prisoners in Israeli jails, we are not hearing or seeing any measures or even answers to our most basic questions; what if the virus spread in prisons? What are the practical and humane steps that will be taken by the prison authorities?
The only thing we are told from the prison administration is that they are taking all precautionary measures. But what are these precautions really? It is, in our opinion, “simple smoke in the eyes”. There are now hundreds of sick prisoners who are suffering many health problems, some of which are serious. Others have respiratory and heart problems not to mention those who are affected by hypertension, diabetes or many other chronic conditions.
We appeal to the whole world and to all those who deal with human rights as human beings. With the disease that threatens us day after day, what rights do we enjoy? No real protective measures have been adopted and we have not seen a minimum sign of common sense and prevention towards us. Medical negligence and delayed care have always haunted Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. Already in the past many prisoners have died precisely because of the lack of medical treatment. Imagine now that the Israeli health authorities have already declared that they are unable to absorb the growing number of patients affected by the virus.
As you know, the only way – and perhaps the only hope – to reduce the contagion and the spread of Coronavirus is to be careful, take the appropriate precautionary and precautionary measures and rigidly apply a series of hygiene-sanitary practices. But the Israeli prison administration does not provide anything: no means for sterilization and no masks. We are faced with formal actions that come closer to real threats rather than health checks or real preventive practices. Our only contact with the outside world is represented by our jailers. They do not hesitate to get in touch with us, without respecting the safety distance, with the risk of infecting us. Prison administration agents have the opportunity to isolate themselves and undergo proper treatment. We obviously don’t!
The responsibility for this situation lies entirely with the prison administration, the Israeli government and all those who claim to be human rights defenders.
We appeal to all free people: do not let us die in our cells, without any protective measure with the contagion that is spreading.
What does the world expect of us? To rebel as some prisoners have in some countries only to be killed by bullets before they were eliminated by the virus?
Ours is a cry addressed to the whole world. We enclose a list of the names of some prisoners affected by various pathologies. Those interested can thus become aware of our poor sanitary conditions inside Israeli prisons. In fact, the list is much longer.
The Palestinian Prison Committee for the Defence of Human Rights
These are some of the ill prisoners:
Mo’tasim Raddad / intestinal cancer and immune suppression
Khaled al-Shawish / disabled, catheterized, hyperlipemia and blood allergy
Mansour Moqadi / disabled, gastric prosthesis and catheterized
Kamal abu Wa’r / laryngeal tumor with respiratory problems
Ahmad Sa’adeh / heart attack
Walid Daqqa / cardiovascular diseases, respiratory problems and chemotherapy treatment
Sa’di al-Gharabli / prostatitis, hypertension, diabetes and geriatric problems
Zamel Shallouf / cardiac arrhythmias with pace maker, breathing problems
Miqdad al-Hih / left hemisphere brain stroke, dyspnoea and gastrointestinal problems
Khalil Msallam Baraq’ah / respiratory and lung problems
‘Ala’ Ibrahim ‘Ali / tuberculosis, respiratory complications and gastrointestinal problems
Ayman Hasan al-Kurd / paraplegic, problems in the nervous system and gastrointestinal problems
Saleh Daoud / epilepsy, breathing problems
Mohammad Jaber al-Hroub / hepatitis due to medical carelessness
Ra’ed al-Hutari / respiratory problems, migraine, gout
Hamza al-Kalouti / gout gastroenteritis, dyspnoea
Ibrahim ‘Isa’ Abdeh / nervous pathology, gout
‘Ezzeddine Karajat / artificial respiration
Mutawakkel Radwan / heart attack and respiratory problems
Usama abu al-‘Asal / respiratory and heart problems
Khalil abu Ni’meh / respiratory problems
Fawwaz Ba’areh / brain cancer with syncope moments / coma
Mahmoud abu Kharabish / respiratory crisis
Fu’ad al-Shobaki / geriatric problems
‘Abd al-Mu’iz al-Ja’abeh / heart attack, hyperlipemia
Nasri ‘Asi / thyroid problems
Mamdouh al-Tanani / diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipemia, kidney problems and other illnesses
Ahmed E’beid / circulatory problems, hypertension, hyperlipemia
Muwaffaq al-‘Erouq / intestinal cancer
Ibrahim abu Mukh / leukemia
Musa Sufan / pneumonia
Israa Ja’abis / full body burn, amputation of some fingers
Yousef Iskaf / heart disease
Nabil Harb / artificial intestine
Yousri al-Masri / glandular inflammation
The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat”
25/03/2020
Meeting ID to be provided to registered participants 2 days before the seminar
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is a Lebanese Arab communist and a lifelong struggler for Palestine. He has been imprisoned in French prisons for 35 years for his role in the resistance, despite being eligible for release since 1999. The French state has aligned with the United States and Israel in keeping him imprisoned. He remains politically active inside prison and even joins Palestinian political prisoners on their hunger strikes by returning his own meals.
