Action call: Palestinian-French lawyer Salah Hamouri threatened with renewed administrative detention

25 February 2018

The support campaign for Palestinian-French lawyer Salah Hamouri, imprisoned by the Israeli occupation without charge or trial under administrative detention, has warned that he is threatened with continued detention. The Shin Bet has reportedly requested that far-right racist Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman renew Hamouri’s detention for an additional six months.

Thousands of fellow French citizens, including 1600 elected officials, and dozens of city councils and municipalities have adopted resolutions demanding the immediate release of Hamouri, a Palestinian Jerusalemite who works as a field researcher for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. He passed the Palestinian bar examination to practice as a lawyer only three days before he was seized by occupation forces on 23 August 2017 and ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. After extensive pressure and advocacy from the support campaign led by Salah’s wife, Elsa Lefort, French president Emmanuel Macron requested the release of Hamouri on 10 December at his meeting with Israeli occupation prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamouri is a former Palestinian political prisoner whose case was widely known throughout France as a symbol of injustice and false allegations until his release in 2011 in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, only a few months before his sentence was to end. He has spoken throughout France and internationally at events like the World Social Forum on Palestinian prisoners and the struggle for freedom. After this time, he studied law; during his studies, he was banned from the West Bank, preventing him from attending classes at his university. When he traveled back to Palestine from a visit to France with his French wife, Lefort was denied entry despite a valid visa while pregnant and slapped with a 10-year entry ban, forcing her to give birth to her son in France rather than with his father in Palestine.

The support campaign for Salah Hamouri has emphasized that the next days are critical as Lieberman is expected to issue the order on or before 28 February. They demanded that the French government take serious action to protect their citizen and demand Israel immediately release Hamouri.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates our total support for the immediate liberation of Salah Hamouri, a dedicated struggler for the freedom of Palestine and the Palestinian prisoners. The French government’s overwhelming inaction on the case of Salah Hamouri despite the mobilization of thousands of citizens and elected officials indicates their extreme disregard for the rights of Palestinians, including those who are French citizens. The French state’s prosecutions of BDS activists and imprisonment of Lebanese struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah for over 33 years are echoed in the silence and complicity in the ongoing imprisonment of Salah Hamouri. The French government has a clear responsibility to make it clear that Salah Hamouri must be freed and that his ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention is absolutely unacceptable. Free Salah Hamouri! Free Palestine!

Take Action:

1. Sign the appeal to support Salah Hamouri at http://libertepoursalah.fr

2. Organize an action, event or activity to demand an end to Salah Hamouri’s detention and his immediate freedom. Raise his case at events and actions for Palestine.

3. Like and share the Facebook page for Salah Hamouri, which will be regularly updated with news and actions to demand Salah’s freedom: https://www.facebook.com/freesalahhamouri/

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association reproduced an interview with Salah Hamouri conducted by L’Humanite from the Negev desert prison. We reprint the interview here for broad distribution; his words are an inspiration to all who struggle for Palestinian freedom.

How do you feel?

It has been a long time since I last felt like this, this is actually a really difficult question for me to answer. This is the fourth time I have been detained, with this time coming after five years and a half of freedom. In those past five years, I’ve built a life for myself, and started a family which have lived apart from me since 2016, and now they’re even further away than before. In those years I went back to school as well. I actually became a lawyer three days before I got arrested.

So I guess I’m good. There’s good solidarity between prisoners in here, and sometimes I recieve news from outside through the lawyers.

One of the most difficult thing I encounter here is seeing children, 14 and 15-year-old imprisoned. They are in this brown uniform, handcuffed and dragged by prison guards from one place to the other.

I was transported to al Ramleh recently. During the transportation, I couldn’t handle the scene of six prisoners in one small cage that no human being should be put in. In there, I saw one prisoner I knew and actually lived with for five years in the past. His name is Walid Daqqa. He looked different, and had more gray hair than the last time I saw him. He also had more wrinkles on his face. When he saw me he yelled, “French guy! What are you doing in here? Why did they detain you?” In those moments, the map of Palestine was drawn in my head, and I was thinking of how much Palestinians suffer. The continuous arrests are just one mechanism that the Israeli occupation uses to pressure us to leave our land. It’s also a mechanism used to break and destroy our social life. All the relationships we build inside the prisons are a tool to resist this occupation, which obviously aims to empty Palestine of its people, especially Jerusalem.

What are your detention conditions and how are you treated?

I’m now in al-Naqab prison where there are 2400 prisoners. Many of them have been here for the past ten years, and there are 300 administrative detainees as well. We have a right to receive clothes and books but only four times a year, which isn’t enough. We don’t receive any Arabic newspapers and we have access to only one TV channel of news which is in Hebrew, the rest of the channels are for entertainment.

The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) are using soft torture against us; psychological torture to break our will and force us to leave Palestine. This kind of torture is much harder than any physical torture. We have enough food and we are allowed to leave our prison cells every day, but this isn’t what we want. We want all of this torture to end. They just want to break us, and convince us that there’s no use to resisting them. This is why we’re not allowed to get enough books or to have access to Arabic news.

For you to get one visit a month for 45 minutes is also a tool of torture, especially when this visit is from behind glass. We aren’t allowed to hug our families; many parents suffer as a result of our detainment. Primarily, they miss us. Also, this prison is really far away from Jerusalem, so it’s a struggle for families to get here. Never mind those prisoners who aren’t allowed to receive any visits what so ever.

How do you contact the French Consulate?

The French Consul and his deputy visited me when I was at al-Mascobiyya, and a representative from the Consulate comes to every court session I have. Additionally, the French Consul visited me here at al-Naqab with his visit application being denied a few days ago. I learnt later that a French group were denied a visit to me as well. In my previous arrests I used to get visits from the French Consul and French diplomats all the time. It’s shameful that the Israeli occupation is treating French diplomats like this, denying them a visit despite the fact that they have been quite mild. The diplomats haven’t asked for the occupation to allow me visits, or hasn’t demanded my release.

What is your opinion on the French Government and their silent position?

We saw how this silence was broken in my previous arrest as a result of the solidarity from French people. The reality behind this silence is Israeli lobbying and pressure on the French government, which prevents the French President from speaking on the issue. France has to be brave and break this silence, to defend me and defend itself from this kind of censorship. France should also defend all people who are oppressed, and live under occupation and imperialist power. I should be treated just as any other French citizen; France should strongly defend my rights. Israel is violating my basic rights by placing me under administrative detention. France should take one strong clear position and defend me, as it should with all French people in the world.

Do you thing the French solidarity campaign to support you is important?

This campaign is really important, it affects me and also other prisoners with me. We all send our gratitude to all those supporters. When I learnt that I would not be released and would be placed under administrative detention, I knew and was assured that a solidarity campaign would start. I know that in 2011, I was released from the prison because of the strong solidarity campaign in France. Now, I’ve been detained here for the past 100 days and I receive news about the solidarity campaign from my lawyers, and it’s even bigger and stronger than the previous one.

Our struggle will take time, and you should not give up even it takes a long time; I assure you that will win. Your solidarity is increasing one day after day, and your influence is extending not only in France but also in other European countries. Your solidarity is the only way to make people around the world see us and pay attention to our issue and suffering.

Is there a message you would like to send?

You are the hope for every single Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails. It is important to show the world the crimes the Israeli occupation authority is committing against Palestinians, especially children. There are many children who experienced detention and this is a systematic Israeli policy that is undertaken with the aim of destroying Palestinian childhood.

You are our voice in Europe and around the world, know that prison will not be the place where the occupier buries our dreams and hopes! We are getting stronger every day and we are convinced that resistance is a right, and a duty for all of us. Only through resistance will we be able to gain our rights, freedom, and independence. Every action you undertake, it sends us sun light, which makes our dark prison cells warmer in this cold winter.

Palestinian mother and daughter Rusaila and Sara Shamasneh to be released today

25 February 2018

Palestinian mother and daughter Rusaila Shamasneh, 48, and Sara Shamasneh, 14, will be released on Sunday, 25 February from Israeli occupation prisons. The Shamasneh women are the mother and sister, respectively of Mohammed Shamasneh, 23, who was killed by Israeli occupation forces in 2016. They were seized from their home in Qatana in occupied Jerusalem by occupation forces who raided their home on 31 January.

During their detention, Rusaila Shamasneh conducted a hunger strike for 17 days against her forcible separation from her young daughter until she and Sara were sentenced to 40 days in prison on Monday, 20 February. Both Shamasneh and Sara were accused of “incitement” for their statements at the funeral of their son and brother over two years ago; Rusaila was also accused of firing a gun into the air. Mohammed participated in an armed resistance operation in which he seized a gun of an Israeli occupation soldier. Sara was only 12 years old at the time.

Nevertheless, over two years later, occupation forces invaded their home and seized mother and daughter. Rusaila Shamasneh’s hunger strike served as a strong mechanism of pressure on the Israeli occupation, continuing until their sentencing. Their lawyer then appealed for their early release, which is being implemented today.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the resistance and steadfastness of Rusaila and Sara Shamasneh and their fellow Palestinian prisoners, and we demand the release of every Palestinian prisoner held behind Israeli bars – and the freedom of Palestine and its people.

Detained Palestinian Yassin al-Saradih beaten, shot dead by occupation forces

25 February 2018

Detained Palestinian Yassin al-Saradih was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces in Jericho on 22 February 2018, only minutes after his arrest, in the latest example of Israeli extrajudicial killing and murder in the form of an “arrest raid.” Al-Saradih, 33, was seized in a pre-dawn invasion of Jericho in which he was harshly beaten by occupation forces before being seized.

“His death came about due to the unreasonable use of force. Despite this being evident, the occupation authority communicated to Palestinian officials that he died as a result of cramps and choking from gas used by the soldiers,” said Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the Palestinian Prisoners Club in a statement. Video footage depicted the occupation soldiers clearly kicking and striking Saradih after shooting him and dragging him away; nevertheless, occupation forces originally attempted to claim that they were the victims of an “attack” by Saradih, who Israeli media also labeled a “terrorist.” Later, they claimed that he accidentally died due to tear gas exposure after the released video failed to back up their claims that Saradih attempted to “steal a soldier’s gun.”

The occupation forces killed Saradih as he was among dozens of Palestinians protesting the occupation forces’ armed invasion of Jericho. Saradih’s murder is only the latest in a series of extrajudicial executions carried out by occupation forces.

Saradih’s family, in Haaretz, noted that he was a laborer who worked in construction and agriculture as well as playing soccer at the Alhalhel football center in Jericho.

The killing of Saradih echoes multiple previous killings of Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces during “arrest raids,” including Raed al-Salhi, Basil al-Araj, Ahmad Jarrar, Moataz Washaha and others, as well as multiple cases of extrajudicial executions by occupying forces against Palestinians, especially youth, shot down in the streets, including the case of Nadeem Nuwara, Mohammed Odeh, Mahmoud Badran and many others.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces this latest Israeli crime against Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people. It reflects the institutionally violent nature of the entire system of colonial imprisonment, repression and occupation imposed upon the Palestinian people. The widespread international silence and acceptance of such Israeli crimes also underlines the role of the United States and other imperialist powers in protecting the Israeli occupation state from any form of accountability for over 70 years of crimes against the Palestinian people. This brutal killing must inspire all of us to escalate our advocacy and organizing for Palestinian liberation, challenging all of those forces that seek to keep the Palestinian people oppressed, suppressed and vulnerable to the type of crimes that took Yassin al-Saradih from his home, community, family and people.

Palestinian administrative detainees continue boycott of Israeli military courts

25 February 2018

Over 450 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention orders by the Israeli occupation are continuing their boycott of the occupation courts for the 11th day as of Sunday, 25 February, as part of their ongoing protest to demand an end to imprisonment without charge or trial. The administrative detainees launched their collective boycott on 15 February, noting that the military courts of the occupation are a sham and a facade that serves only to implement the orders of the occupation and automatically approve administrative detention orders.

The prisoners’ statement urged Palestinian officials to provide all forms of political and legal support for the battle against administrative detention, including bringing the case to the International Criminal Court.

Many Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed under administrative detention with repeated renewals. The policy was first imposed in Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then continued by Zionist colonizers. Over the past two and one-half years, the Israeli occupation has issued over 3,500 administrative detention orders, including several dozen against children under the age of 18.

Numerous hunger strikes on an individual and collective level have been launched against the policy of administrative detention, which systematically targets leading activists, community organizers and other influential Palestinians in the freedom struggle. The 450 administrative detainees are among 6,200 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network unreservedly supports the administrative detainees’ strike and urges international actions, protests and events in solidarity with the prisoners’ cause. Their struggle is helping to highlight and expose the policy of administrative detention and colonial imprisonment used as an arm of Zionist occupation and colonization in Palestine.

27 February, Amsterdam: Anti-Imperialism with Rasmea Odeh

23 February 2018

Tuesday, 27 February
7:00 pm
Location TBA – Registration Required at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBU8DpAuo4BybkMJNzJX8aVjWP202gCcf4HknNllsZopHRog/viewform
Amsterdam
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/147306645960614/

Revolutionaire Eenheid and Anakbayan-Europe are pleased to invite you to join us in conversation with Rasmea Odeh, champion of fighting for justice for Palestinians and oppressed peoples. (Full bio below)

The evening will focus on the anti-imperialism; the revolutionary women leading this struggle in their communities outside their home country and police targeting of activists in this line of work.

The clutch of the imperialist states in the West extends beyond countries currently or formerly colonized. From Palestine to the Philippines, imperialism is a deadly force that exerts economic, political and social control. It ties our struggles together and unites all oppressed peoples. The fight from inside the oppressor’s countries is crucial to the wider resistance. And governments are cracking down on activists, particularly organisers around Palestine. We see it happening increasingly with our work in the Netherlands, and Rasmea’s case has set the status quo of how the US views Palestinian organisers.

Bio:

Rasmea Odeh is a leading member of Chicago’s Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities, and her decade of service in Chicago has changed the lives of thousands of people, particularly disenfranchised Arab women and their families. She has been with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) since 2004, and is responsible for the management of day-to-day operations and the coordination of its Arab Women’s Committee, which has a membership of nearly 600 and leads the organization’s work in the areas of defending civil liberties and immigrants’ rights. She is a mentor to hundreds of immigrant women, as well as many members of the AAAN’s staff and board, and is a well-known and respected organizer throughout Chicagoland, the U.S. and the world.

In 2013, Rasmea received the Outstanding Community Leader Award from the Chicago Cultural Alliance, which described her as a woman who has “dedicated over 40 years of her life to the empowerment of Arab women, first in her homes of Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon, where she was an activist and practicing attorney, and then the past 10 years in Chicago.”

As a college student, Rasmea was arrested in 1969 by the Israeli police, along with as many as 500 others, and accused of involvement in two bombings. She was horrifically tortured for 25 days (including electric shocks and sexual assault), as was her father in her presence; and then tried before a kangaroo Israeli military court. This tribunal has military officers, and not civilians, as prosecutors and judges, and convicts over 99% of its Palestinian prisoners. She was found guilty based on a confession coerced through torture, and then given a life sentence. In 1979, she was freed with other Palestinians in a prisoner exchange.

After living in the US for over 20 years, Rasmea was charged in 2013 with an immigration violation that was always just a pretext for a broader attempt to criminalize the Palestine liberation movement. She spent the last few years leading a powerful battle to resist this attack, joined by hundreds of supporters for every court appearance, and thousands of supporters across the country and the world. The possibility of a fair trail never flowered. Facing judges with direct financial links to Israel; prohibited from submitting information about her PTSD (due to Israeli torture) and denied reading out her full court statement. Rasmea accepted a plea agreement with no prison time. Her citizenship was revoked and she was forced to leave the country.

This is not new to Rasmea, persecuted in 1948 from her village of Lifta, and again exiled in 1967. Rasmea’s life has also been one of resistance and resilience. Her story has touched and inspired individuals, communities and movements globally.

Revolutionaire Eenheid en Anakbayan-Europe nodigen jullie van harte uit om ons te vergezellen in een discussie met Rasmea Odeh, een groot activiste in de strijd voor rechtvaardigheid voor de Palestijnen en alle onderdrukte volkeren.
(Volledige bio volgt)

De avond draait om het thema anti-imperialisme: de revolutionaire vrouwen in de voorhoede van deze strijd in hun gemeenschappen buiten hun geboorteland, en de politierepressie van activisten.

De klauwen van de imperialistische staten in het Westen reiken vaak verder dan de vroeger of tegenwoordig gekoloniseerde landen.
Van Palestina tot aan de Filipijnen is imperialisme een dodelijke macht die zowel economische, politieke als sociale controle uitoefent. Het verbind onze strijd en verenigd alle onderdrukte volkeren. Het gevecht tegen imperialisme van binnenuit de onderdrukker’s landen is cruciaal voor de bredere strijd. En regeringen treden hardhandig op tegen zulke activisten, voornamelijk organisatoren rondom Palestina. We zien het vaker gebeuren in ons werk in Nederland, en Rasmea’s zaak heeft de maatstaaf vastgesteld waarlangs de VS Palestijnse organisatoren legt.

26 February, Manchester: Tales from the Prison Cell | IAW 2018

23 February 2018

Monday, 26 February
6:30 pm
University of Manchester Students Union
Oxford Road, Manchester
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1912746549040728/

As part of our series of talks for Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) 2018, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement at the University of Manchester is excited to present Sahar Francis and Mohammed Othman, two activists who have flown in from Palestine to give a talk for us.

Sahar Francis is the current director at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association; a non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners. As a former political prisoner herself, Sahar’s talk will discuss the important work that Addameer is doing to protect the rights of Palestinian political prisoners that are all too often infringed upon in Israel’s brutal military detention system.

Mohammed Othman is a Palestinian activist and co-founder of SkateQilya; a youth empowerment program that uses skateboarding and art as tools to teach community building and leadership skills to Palestinian girls and boys in the West Bank. Mohammad is a former political prisoner who will draw upon his own experiences of torture and detention is this powerful and moving talk.

As of January 2018, there were 6,119 Palestinian prisoners, 330 of which were children, three quarters of whom will face physical violence that infringe on their human rights during their incarceration. This impassioned talk discusses these experiences as well as the great work done by groups like Addameer in protecting the human rights of prisoners.

Join us in Council Chambers on the top floor of the Students Union for this powerful talk as part of our series of speakers for IAW 2018.
Our other events can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1511375515645913/

25 February, Calgary: Marching for Ahed Tamimi

23 February 2018

Sunday, 25 February
1:00 pm
Calgary City Hall
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/159162224865782/

Calgarians, you are invited to a protest march for Ahed Tamimi on February 25th at 1pm at City Hall…

Ahed Tamimi recently arrested at the age of 16 is currently behind bars in an Israeli prison. She will soon be facing a military court that convicts Palestinians 99.8% of the time and is facing a 10 year prison sentence.

This march is to show our solidarity to Ahed, all other underage prisoners and Palestine as whole. It is a peaceful march to call on our government officials to intervene for the release of Ahed and all Palestinian child prisoners and to finally take a stand against the injustices Israel has brought upon the Palestinian people.

Israel is the only country in the world to regularly arrest children and put them through military court. There are currently over 300 Palestinian children in Israel prisons and another 700 Palestinian children in military detention awaiting trial.

Ahed Tamimi’s Story….

Ahed Tamimi lived in a small village called Nabi Saleh near Ramallah in Palestine. This town acts as a great leader for Palestine in peaceful marches resisting their Israeli occupiers and is under constant danger of military raids. Numerous members of Ahed’s family have been arrested or killed solely for their commitment to preserving and protecting their villages land, which is under the constant threat of ongoing illegal Israeli settlement construction, land confiscation, mass arrests and other attacks in their village. All of the Tamimi family is aware that they could be woken up in the middle of any night, and be facing bulldozers demolishing their homes to make way for new Israel settlers and be left with absolutely no where to go.

Ahed was arrested on December 19, 2017 just an hour after her cousin was shot in the face by a rubber coated metal bullet resulting in part of his skull having to be removed, leaving him in a coma for 10 days and with permanent brain damage for the rest of his life. When these soldiers later entered Ahed’s property standing on her front lawn she asked them leave, the soldiers did not leave and one of them pushed Ahed away, pushing from both sides than proceed and an understandably frustrated 16 year old girl slapped these soldiers in the face. Please keep in mind that these soldiers were armed and had full military gear, Ahed had no weapons and even if the soldiers were wearing normal street clothes Ahed would be of no real physical threat to them.

Ahed’s mother (Nariman Tamimi) filmed this event and posted it to the internet, the video than proceeded to go viral and was watched all over the world. The next night the Israeli military raided Ahed’s house and was violently arrested, also the next day her mom was arrested just for filming the event. Ahed is currently in military detention awaiting trial and facing 10 years in military prison.

These events and the great bravery shown by Ahed Tamimi has made her the face of Palestinian resistance. There have been demonstrations all over the planet calling for her release and to show support for Ahed Tamimi along with all of Palestine in their fight for freedom!

https://youtu.be/EjcQYyQXCvw

…….

Please march with us on Sunday February 25th at 1PM in front of Calgary’s City Hall to march for Ahed Tamimi and the release of all children prisoners being held by Israel.

25 February, Antwerp: Activity and film screening: “Save Ahed Tamimi and Palestine”

23 February 2018

Sunday, 25 February
2:00 pm
Gemeentestraat 6
Antwerp, Belgium
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/999572490180683/

This event, organized by RedFox Antwerp, will include a discussion and film screening on the case of Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian girl who is imprisoned for resisting Israeli soldiers. Come to learn more about her and the Palestinian situation today.

25 February, Abu Dis: The captive movement – The prisoners’ struggle in Zionist prisons

23 February 2018

Sunday, 25 February
12:30 pm
Al-Quds University Abu Dis
Faculty of Engineering (Martyr Diaa Talahmeh)
Abu Dis, Palestine
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1984179325181233/

The Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are engaged in a constant battle with the Israeli prison administration. They are united by their steadfastness and confrontation of this oppression. They have sacrificed their lives to achieve freedom for their people and their land. As Palestinians under occupation, we must always raise the issue of the prisoners in all areas.

Accordingly, the Samidoun Network – Palestine, together with the Student Action Front, invite you to attend a cultural symposium on “The Status of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails,” with Dr. Rasim Obeidat, who will discuss the prisoners’ movement in occupation prisons as well as Mina Jaabis, the sister of the prisoner Israa Jaabis, on the situation of women prisoners in Israeli jails.

24 February, NYC: Framed in America – the Making of Political Prisoners

23 February 2018

Saturday, 24 February
4:00 pm
The National Black Theatre: Institute for Action Arts
2031-2033 National Black Theatre Way (Fifth Ave between 125-126 Sts)
NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1533917916707087/

Join The MOVE Organization on Saturday February 24th as we will be in Harlem NYC holding a public rally to advocate for parole for The Move 9 . In 2018 Janet , Janine , Debbie , and Eddie Africa all will be going before The Pennsylvania Parole Board . Your help and support is needed on this historic evening . Chairman Fred Hampton Jr will be our keynote speaker he will be joined by Ramona Africa , Pam Africa , Ralph Poynter, Johanna Fernandez , Roger Wareham , and Betty Davis .

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