Nidal Abu Aker upon his release from Israeli prison in 2015; he was re-arrested eight months later.
Palestinian journalist and organizer Nidal Abu Aker, 52, was ordered to an additional six months imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention at the Ofer military court on 25 January. This marks the fourth consecutive six-month order against Abu Aker, a leader of the Palestinian left in Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem.
The order against Abu Aker made reference to the so-called “secret file,” alleged evidence denied to both the detainee and his lawyer by occupation forces. The military prosecutor noted that Abu Aker is a “threat to the security” of the area as a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Abu Aker is married with three children, one of whom, Mohammed, was recently released from Israeli prison himself. He has spent 16 years in Israeli prison, including 10 years in different periods of administrative detention. His first arrest was in 1982 and he was arrested again in 1987 with the beginning of the first intifada. After a 2002 arrest, he spent five consecutive years in administrative detention. In 2015, he conducted a hunger strike for 42 days with his comrades against his imprisonment without charge or trial. After eight months of release, he was seized once again by occupation forces and remains jailed without trial today.
Nidal Abu Aker is also a journalist and the host of a program on prison issues, “In Their Cells,” on Wihda (Unity) Radio, the only radio station beamed directly from Dheisheh refugee camp.
Nidal’s family consists of his wife, Mrs. Manal Shaheen, who works at a nursery, his son Mohammad, and two daughters Dalia and Karmel, who are students.
Maya Rosenfield writes in 2008 about Nidal’s repeated imprisonment: “I was thinking of Malika and Naim Abu Aker, better known as Umm and Abu Nidal, both in their mid sixties, from the Dheisheh refugee camp, just to the south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Naim was a toddler and Malika a baby when, in the course of the 1948 war, their families were uprooted from their village of Ras Abu-Ammar, on the western slopes of the Judean mountains. Together with thousands of other villagers, they fled to the Bethlehem area, where they eventually settled as refugees. Malika and Naim grew up, came of age, married and brought up six children in the Dheisheh camp, which fell under Israeli military occupation in the aftermath of the 1967 war. In 1988, at the height of the first Intifada (the Palestinian popular uprising), Mohammad, the couple’s third son, then a school boy in the tenth grade, was fatally shot by an IDF soldier while taking part in a demonstration just across the street from home. Complicated surgical operations and endless help and support from his family and friends enabled Mohammad to survive for more than two years, a sort of miracle that earned him the title of “the living martyr.” He succumbed to his injury in 1990, at the age of 18. Malika and Naim’s eldest sons are twin brothers, now in their early forties. The two were first detained by the Israeli military at the age of 13 on grounds of their activism in the outlawed Palestinian national movement. Each of them has since then spent dozen of terms in Israeli prisons. In fact, at the time you were giving your speech, one of the twins, Nidal (the literal meaning of the name is “struggle”), by then a university graduate, a longtime community and political activist, and a father of three, was being held as an administrative detainee for the seventh successive or nearly successive time. Whenever he and his mates had access to a smuggled cell phone he would call me and talk about the inhumanity of being detained without trial, wondering whether the public in Israel was aware of this injustice. At some stage, Nidal’s Israeli lawyer, a veteran and highly acclaimed human-rights attorney, appealed in his name to the Israeli High Court of Justice, but to no avail. The court accepted the request of the GSS (General Security Service) to extend Nidal’s detention.”
Palestinian prisoner Ayoub al-Asa is currently on his 19th day of hunger strike in protest of the extension of his administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – by the Israeli occupation military for an additional six months.
On Saturday, 27 January, he was transferred from isolation in Ofer prison to isolation in the Negev desert prison. He was isolated in retaliation for his hunger strike and the use of transfers, which are exhausting, is a frequent tactic of Israeli prison officials in an attempt to break Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strikes.
Al-Asa is one of approximately 500 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention orders, which are indefinitely renewable. There are approximately 6,150 total Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails today. Administrative detention was introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate and continues to be imposed as a primary means of repression against active Palestinians. Al-Asa, 33, has been imprisoned since 21 June; he is married with three children and previously spent five years in Israeli jails.
Palestinian activist and community leader in Jerusalem, Nasser Abu Khdeir, was sentenced by the Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem to 16 months in prison on Thursday, 25 January.
From Shuafat, Abu Khdeir is a prominent leader in Jerusalem and has spent 15 years in Israeli prison. Most recently, he served five and a half years in Israeli prison for membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He is married to fellow activist and former prisoner Abeer Abu Khdeir and has five children.
Abu Khdeir is a member of the General Secretariat of the National People’s Congress and a lecturer at Al-Quds University.
He was imprisoned from:
17 October 1977 – 18 April 1978
1 April 1981 – 10 March 1986
16 October 1994 – 24 May 1995
21 February 2001 – 17 June 2002
14 December 2003 – 9 June 2004
7 June 2005 – 16 March 2006
15 April 2011 – 13 October 2016
Abu Khdeir has also extended his time and support to international activists in solidarity with Palestine, discussing the situation of Jerusalem, Palestinian politics and history and the current situation with many internationals traveling to Palestine.
French academics and writers published a collective letter in Le Monde on 23 January, focusing on the case of Ahed Tamimi and the plight of the approximately 360 Palestinian child prisoners in Israeli prisons. The letter also highlights the case of Salah Hamouri, the French-Palestinian lawyer jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Public officials and municipalities across the country have adopted declarations demanding Hamouri’s release and even the French government has acceded to the popular call to demand his freedom.
The statement follows below:
We call for the support and intervention of the President to stop the detention of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons. We especially wish to draw attention to the case of Ahed Tamimi, pursued by the Israeli government. Last 15 December, Mohammed Tamimi, 15, was hit in the head by a rubber-coated metal bullet fired at close range by soldiers of the Israeli occupation army. The boy was in critical condition and his cousin Ahed Tamimi, age 16, was visibly upset by the announcement of his condition and the severity of his injuries.
This same unit of soldiers approached the family home an hour later, and Ahed screamed at them and slapped a soldier. This time, the encounter was filmed by her mother and posted on social media, and it shows the courage of an unarmed teenager confronting two heavily armed soldiers.
On 19 December 2017, Ahed Tamimi was abducted from her home in the night by the army and brought before a military court. The twelve counts of indictment brought against her could carry a sentence of 12 years in prison. Israeli military courts deal exclusively with Palestinian prisoners, with a conviction rate of 99.74 percent. Thus, the future of Ahed Tamimi appears dark without intervention.
Some as young as 12
We call on the President to provide urgent support for the immediate release of Ahed Tamimi and the dismissal of all charges against her. However, Ahed Tamimi’s case is not isolated. According to Defense for Children International – Palestine, Israel brings 500 to 700 Palestinian children before military courts each year, some as young as 12. It imprisons an average of 200 children in any given period.
According to the reports of international agencies, including UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Amnesty International and Defense for Children International – Palestine, three out of every four children arrested experience violence during arrest or interrogation. They are frequently arrested in night raids on their home; 85 percent of arrested Palestinian children were blindfolded and 95 percent were handcuffed.
They are deprived of access to lawyers, denied the presence of their parents during interrogation and forced to sign confessions. They are also subject to “administrative detention,” imprisonment without charge or trial. They are often detained in detention centers located outside the territories occupied by Israel, making visits from their families difficult. The use of isolation cells for the interrogation of children is a practice that has been likened to torture under international law.
Salah Hamouri victim of the same procedure
The UNICEF report of 2013, “Children in Israeli military detention,” concludes: “The abuse of children in contact with the military detention system appears to be widespread, systemic and institutionalized throughout the process, from the time of arrest through the prosecution of the child, their potential conviction and the application of a penalty.”
We urge President Emmanuel Macron to take action urgently to contact the Israeli authorities to finally end their detention practices that violate children’s rights, human rights and international law. We also remind him that, to date, our compatriot Salah Hamouri also remains in Israeli jails, a victim of the same unfair framework of “administrative detention.” France must ask so that Ahed Tamimi and other Palestinian child prisoners come home as soon as possible. We cannot look away while children and one of our compatriots are illegally detained far from their families.
Signatories: Etienne Balibar, emeritus professor of philosophy, université de Paris- Ouest ; Pierre Barbancey, journalist ; Michel Benassayag, psychoanalyst and philosopher ; Rony Brauman, physician and essayist ; Alain Brossat, professor of philosophy ; Marie Buisson, FERC CGT ; Cybèle David, organizer of the SUD Education Federation ; Alain Gresh, editor of the online journal OrientXXI.info ; Bernadette Groison, general secretary of the FSU ; Nacira Guénif, sociologist, université Paris-8 ; Kaddour Hadadi, artist (HK) ; Geneviève Jacques, president of Cimade ; Nicole Lapierre, social anthropologist ; Jean Etienne de Linarès, CEO of ACAT ; Gilles Manceron, historian ; Malik Salembour, president of the LDH ; Sylvie Tissot, sociologist ; Dominique Vidal, collaborator of Le Monde diplomatique.
French original:
Il faut « exiger la fin des pratiques de détentions qui constituent une violation des droits des enfants » en Israël
Tribune. Nous sollicitons le soutien du président de la République et son intervention pour l’arrêt de la détention d’enfants palestiniens dans les prisons israéliennes. Nous voulons en particulier attirer son attention sur le cas de Ahed Tamimi poursuivie par le gouvernement israélien : le 15 décembre dernier Mohamed Tamimi 15 ans est atteint à la tête par une balle de métal recouverte de caoutchouc tirée à courte de distance par des soldats de l’armée d’occupation israélienne. Le jeune garçon était dans un état critique et sa cousine Ahed Tamimi, âgée de 16 ans, était visiblement bouleversée par l’annonce de son état et la gravité de ses blessures.
Ces mêmes soldats ont approché une heure plus tard la maison familiale, et Ahed les a frappés en leur criant de partir. Ce moment filmé par sa mère et diffusé sur les réseaux sociaux montre le courage d’une adolescente affrontant à mains nues deux soldats lourdement armés.
Le 19 décembre 2017, Ahed Tamimi est enlevée chez elle en pleine nuit par l’armée puis traduite devant un tribunal militaire. Les douze motifs d’inculpation retenus contre elle lui font courir le risque de 12 ans de prison. Les tribunaux militaires israéliens ne traitent que des cas de prisonniers palestiniens avec un taux de condamnation de 99,74 %. Ainsi, l’avenir de Ahed Tamimi paraît sombre sans notre intervention.
Certains âgés de 12 ans
Nous lui demandons d’apporter urgemment son soutien à la libération immédiate de Ahed Tamimi et à la levée de toutes les charges retenues contre elle.
Le cas de Ahed Tamimi n’est pas isolé. Selon l’association Defense of Children International-Palestine, Israël poursuit chaque année de 500 à 700 enfants devant des tribunaux militaires, certains âgés de 12 ans, et détient en prison une moyenne de 200 enfants en toute période.
Selon les enquêtes des agences des Nations unies, dont l’Unicef, Human Right Watch, B’tselem, Amnesty International, and Defense for Children International – Palestine, trois enfants arrêtés sur quatre subissent des violences lors de leur arrestation ou des interrogatoires. Ils sont fréquemment arrêtés lors de descentes nocturnes dans leur foyer ; 85 % des enfants palestiniens arrêtés ont les yeux bandés et 95 % sont menottés.
Ils sont privés d’accès à un avocat, de visite de leurs parents durant les interrogatoires et sont forcés de signer des aveux. Ils sont souvent placés en « détention administrative », pouvant ainsi être détenus plusieurs mois sans inculpation ni procès. Leurs centres de détention souvent situés hors des territoires occupés en Israël, rendent les visites de leurs familles difficiles. L’usage des cellules d’isolement pour les interrogatoires d’enfant est une pratique assimilée à la torture par la loi internationale.
Salah Hamouri victime de la même procédure
Le rapport de l’Unicef de 2013 « Enfants en détention militaire israélienne » conclut : « la maltraitance des enfants au contact du système militaire de détention semble être généralisée, systémique et institutionnalisée tout au long du processus, depuis le moment de leur arrestation jusqu’à la poursuite en justice de l’enfant, son éventuelle condamnation et l’application de la peine ».
Nous demandons au président Emmanuel Macron de prendre contact d’urgence avec les autorités israéliennes pour exiger que cessent enfin des pratiques de détentions qui constituent une violation des droits des enfants, des droits humains et du droit international.
Nous lui rappelons qu’à ce jour, notre compatriote Salah Hamouri demeure lui aussi dans les geôles israéliennes, victime de la même procédure inique de « détention administrative ».
La France doit agir pour que Ahed Tamimi et tous les autres enfants palestiniens prisonniers retrouvent leur foyer dans les plus brefs délais. On ne saurait regarder ailleurs alors que des enfants et l’un de nos compatriotes sont détenus illégalement loin de leurs familles.
Les signataires : Etienne Balibar, professeur émérite de philosophie, université de Paris- Ouest ; Pierre Barbancey, journaliste ; Michel Benassayag, psychanaliste et philosophe ; Rony Brauman, médecin et essayiste ; Alain Brossat, professeur de philosophie ; Marie Buisson, FERC CGT ; Cybèle David, animatrice de la fédération SUD éducation ; Alain Gresh, directeur du journal en ligne Orient XXI. info ; Bernadette Groison, secrétaire générale de la FSU ; Nacira Guénif, sociologue, université Paris-8 ; Kaddour Hadadi, artiste (HK) ; Geneviève Jacques, présidente de la Cimade ; Nicole Lapierre, socio-anthropologue ; Jean Etienne de Linarès,délégué général de l’ACAT ; Gilles Manceron, historien ; Malik Salembour, président de la LDH ; Sylvie Tissot, sociologue ; Dominique Vidal, collaborateur du Monde diplomatique.
Wednesday, 31 January 4:30-6pm Rally at the Oakland Federal Building (1301 Clay St) 6:15-9pm Celebrate Ahed Tamimi’s resistance on her birthday at Reem’s pop up in West Oakland (1700 Center Street) Oakland, CA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/176604366280137/
On January 20th at women’s marches across the U.S., Ahed’s struggle was lifted as an example for women across the world fighting for dignity and liberation.
On January 31, the struggle continues. Palestinian teen activist Ahed Tamimi will mark her 17th birthday behind bars – as the next Israeli military court hearing is convened against her. Ahed is one of 360 Palestinian children in Israeli prison and nearly 6,200 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. As her birthday approaches, take action to stand with Ahed and demand her freedom and that of her fellow imprisoned Palestinians!
On January 31, join us to wish Ahed Tamimi “Happy Birthday”. She’ll be turning 17 behind bars, as she awaits her trial in an Israeli military court system which convicts 99.8% percent of Palestinians that come before it.
Join us as we celebrate her birthday and ask commuters to call their legislators! We’ll be outside the Ogilvie Transportation Center at 500 W. Madison – the Israeli Consulate to the Midwest is inside this building.
We will call for her immediate release, freedom for all Palestinian chlidren, and for legislators to support the recently-introduced “Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli MIlitary Detention of Palestinian Children Act, H.R. 4391”, which if passed would ensure that U.S. tax dollars aren’t subsidizing the mistreatment of Palestinian children.
BACKGROUND: On December 19, Ahed Tamimi, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, was taken in the dead of night by Israeli soldiers. She was arrested after a video that her mother, Nariman, took went viral, showing her refusal to back down in the face of soldiers who were trying to enter their house. The Tamimis are well-known in their village of Nabih Saleh for their weekly protests against Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Ahed has been in the custody of Israeli Occupation Forces for weeks, and has been charged with assault in an Israeli military court for slapping the armed soldier who attempted to force his way into her home hours after after her 14-year-old cousin was shot in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet by Israeli Occupation Forces.
The charges she faces could carry a sentence of up to ten year, in an Israeli military court system which convicts Palestinians at a rate of 99.8%. Each year, the Israeli military arrests and prosecutes around 700 Palestinian children.
On the eve of Ahed Tamimi’s 17th birthday and beginning of her military court trial, join us to demand her release and freedom for all of Palestine.
In solidarity with Ahed, we’ll be celebrating her with a rally on Tuesday, Jan 30th at 5:00 – 7:30PM, just before her 17th birthday and first day of her trial, outside of the Consulate of Israel in West Los Angeles.
Israel is refusing to release Ahed Tamimi on bail pending trial. “The court said that because she is so dangerous there is no possibility of bail,” said her lawyer, Gaby Lasky. Israel remains the only country in the world that prosecutes children in military courts, the Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) rights group.
Rather than celebrating with family and friends, eating cake, and having a party, Ahed will spend her birthday in a military courtroom. She will sleep that night in a prison cell.
BACKGROUND: On December 18, 2017, in the middle of the night, the Israeli army burst into the Tamimi family home and arrested 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi. They beat her father, mother, older and younger brothers and confiscated the families laptops, phones and cameras.
Ahed is a high school student preparing for college. She lives in a Palestinian village famous for women leadership in resistance to the occupation. As a young girl, Ahed rose to headlines for her bravery to confront the Israeli soldiers who enter her village on a regular basis. Now she sits in a jail cell, waiting for her release.
Ahed is one of about 360 Palestinian children in Israeli prison and nearly 6,200 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. As her birthday approaches, take action to stand with Ahed and demand her freedom and that of her fellow imprisoned Palestinians!
CO-SPONSORS INCLUDE: LA4Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles, Al-Awda — The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
If your organization would like to be added as a cosponsor, please reach out to Taylor at taylor@codepink.org
On January 31, Palestinian teen activist Ahed Tamimi will mark her 17th birthday behind bars as the next Israeli military court hearing is convened against her. Ahed is one of 360 Palestinian children in Israeli prison and nearly 6,200 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. As her birthday approaches, take action to stand with Ahed and demand her freedom and that of her fellow imprisoned Palestinians!
Gather by the Israeli Consulate (1100 Spring St. N.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30309) in Atlanta on Tuesday January 30th @ 6PM as we demand an end. Israeli military detention is no way to treat a child.
~~~~~ BACKGROUND ~~~~~
Ahed is imprisoned – along with her mother Nariman – in an attempt to suppress Palestinian organizing and resistance to occupation. The Tamimis are leaders in the indigenous anti-colonial land defense and popular resistance in the village of Nabi Saleh, a Palestinian village of 600 people that has been targeted for land theft and even the confiscation of their spring by the illegal Zionist settlement of Halamish.
Ahed and Nariman Tamimi have been imprisoned since December 19 after a video of Ahed slapping an Israeli occupation soldier – who had slapped her while occupying her land and family home while suppressing a village demonstration – went viral on social media. For nearly all of her life, Ahed has been in direct confrontation with occupation forces who have repeatedly invaded her home; arrested and imprisoned her father, brothers, cousins and other relatives; killed her cousin and her uncle; attacked the village with tear gas and other weaponry, including the rubber-coated metal bullet shot into the face of her 15-year-old cousin, Mohammed, shortly before the video was filmed.
There has been a global upsurge of outrage at the ongoing imprisonment of Ahed. Protests, letter-writing campaigns, petitions and actions in cities around the world have demanded her freedom and that of her fellow Palestinian prisoners. Her case has also highlighted the ongoing, systematic imprisonment of Palestinian children. Approximately 700 children are brought before military courts each year, and Palestinian kids seized by Israeli forces are frequently subject to beatings, abuse, and interrogations without parents or lawyers present in violation of the law.
The resistance of the Palestinian people has never been quelled by arrests or repression, and it must be clear that we, around the world, stand alongside the Palestinian people as they defend their entire land and people. This includes standing with Ahed Tamimi and all detained and jailed Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for liberation for themselves, their people, and their occupied homeland.
On the occasion of Ahed Tamimi’s 17th birthday, we will gather to demand the immediate release of Ahed, her mother Nariman and all Palestinian political prisoners.
Israel arrested youth activist Ahed Tamimi on December 19, 2017. A few hours later they arrested her mother. Israel has since levied 12 charges against Ahed, including rock throwing, incitement and assault of a soldier. All of Ahed’s actions were legitimate resistance to Israel’s ongoing military occupation. She faces years in an Israeli prison.
We say that Israel, not the women and girls of Palestine, are the criminals.
Gather by the Amtrak information booth on the upper level, closest to the entrance on 7th Avenue at West 32nd Street.
On January 31, Palestinian teen activist Ahed Tamimi will mark her 17th birthday behind bars as the next Israeli military court hearing is convened against her. Ahed is one of 360 Palestinian children in Israeli prison and nearly 6,200 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. As her birthday approaches, take action to stand with Ahed and demand her freedom and that of her fellow imprisoned Palestinians!
Ahed is imprisoned – along with her mother Nariman – in an attempt to suppress Palestinian organizing and resistance to occupation. The Tamimis are leaders in the indigenous anti-colonial land defense and popular resistance in the village of Nabi Saleh, a Palestinian village of 600 people that has been targeted for land theft and even the confiscation of their spring by the illegal Zionist settlement of Halamish.
Ahed and Nariman Tamimi have been imprisoned since December 19 after a video of Ahed slapping an Israeli occupation soldier – who had slapped her while occupying her land and family home while suppressing a village demonstration – went viral on social media. For nearly all of her life, Ahed has been in direct confrontation with occupation forces who have repeatedly invaded her home; arrested and imprisoned her father, brothers, cousins and other relatives; killed her cousin and her uncle; attacked the village with tear gas and other weaponry, including the rubber-coated metal bullet shot into the face of her 15-year-old cousin, Mohammed, shortly before the video was filmed.
There has been a global upsurge of outrage at the ongoing imprisonment of Ahed. Protests, letter-writing campaigns, petitions and actions in cities around the world have demanded her freedom and that of her fellow Palestinian prisoners. Her case has also highlighted the ongoing, systematic imprisonment of Palestinian children. Approximately 700 are brought before military courts each year, and Palestinian kids seized by Israeli forces are frequently subject to beatings, abuse, and interrogations without parents or lawyers present in violation of the law.
The resistance of the Palestinian people has never been quelled by arrests or repression, and it must be clear that we, around the world, stand alongside the Palestinian people as they defend their entire land and people. This includes standing with Ahed Tamimi and all detained and jailed Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for liberation for themselves, their people, and their occupied homeland.
Palestinian activist and community leader in Jerusalem, 
Abu Khdeir is a member of the General Secretariat of the National People’s Congress and a lecturer at Al-Quds University.
On January 20th at women’s marches across the U.S., Ahed’s struggle was lifted as an example for women across the world fighting for dignity and liberation.
On January 31, join us to wish Ahed Tamimi “Happy Birthday”. She’ll be turning 17 behind bars, as she awaits her trial in an Israeli military court system which convicts 99.8% percent of Palestinians that come before it.
On the eve of Ahed Tamimi’s 17th birthday and beginning of her military court trial, join us to demand her release and freedom for all of Palestine.
On the occasion of Ahed Tamimi’s 17th birthday, we will gather to demand the immediate release of Ahed, her mother Nariman and all Palestinian political prisoners.
Join the days of 