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Dozens of Palestinians ordered imprisoned without charge or trial

Israeli occupation authorities issued 24 administrative detention orders against Palestinian prisoners since the beginning of November, reported Palestinian lawyer Mahmoud al-Halabi on 16 November 2017.

Administrative detention orders are used to imprison Palestinians without charge or trial. Issued for one to six months at a time, these orders are indefinitely renewable. Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed under administrative detention. There are over 450 Palestinians out of a total of over 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Among the Palestinians against whom orders for imprisonment without charge or trial were issued is Bushra al-Tawil, a Palestinian journalist and prisoners’ advocate from al-Bireh, ordered jailed without trail for six months. She is one of six Palestinian women held without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Another order was issued against Palestinian Legislative Council Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Mubarak, ordering him imprisoned without charge or trial for an additional four months; he is one of 12 elected Palestinian parliamentarians jailed by Israel, and he has been held since 16 January 2017 under repeated administrative detention orders.

10 of the administrative detention orders were new orders, while 14 were renewals of existing orders. The orders were issued against the following prisoners:

1. Fahmi Hassan Zuhour, El-Bireh, 6 months, extension
2. Fayez Salah Najib Halabi, Salfit, 4 months, extension
3. Murad Mohammed al-Zaghari, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
4. Saad Hassan al-Amour, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
5. Nadim Ibrahim Sabarneh, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
6. Nader Mustafa Sawafta, Tubas, 6 months, extension
7. Ahmed Salim Soufan, Ramallah, 3 months, extension
8. Wahid Hamdi Abu Maria, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
9. Mohammed Sami Ghoneim, Jenin, 4 months, extension
10. Mehdi Jamil Aroq, Jenin, 4 months, extension
11. Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Mubarak, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
12. Omar Mohammed Hamed, Ramallah, 3 months, new order
13. Basil Osama al-Issa, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
14. Mohammed Suleiman Harithat, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
15. Ayed Mohammed Dudin, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
16. Ahmed Adnan Salman, Nablus, 4 months, extension
17. Jamal Mohammed Abdel-Kamil, Bethlehem, 3 months, extension
18. Ismail Khalil Alayan, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
19. Bushra Jamal al-Tawil, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
20. Qassem Majd Barghouthi, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
21. Shadi Mohammed al-Hareimi, al-Khalil, 3 months, new order
22. Raafat Naim Abu Aker, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
23. Eyad Hosni Bazigh, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
24. Ribhi Said Shqair, Ramallah, 6 months, new order

Palestinian prisoners subjected to raids and repressive attacks in Israeli prisons

Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Ofer prison have been subjected to systematic repression and violence at the hands of guards and repressive forces for several days, reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies on 18 November.

Several special units stormed sections in Ofer prison last week and carried out large-scale searches, ransacking prisoners’ belongings, breaking apart walls in the rooms of the prisons, while beating prisoners and cursing at them. Section 12 and 18 were stormed by Israeli units in the early pre-dawn hours alongside dogs and armed police, and many prisoners were forced outside in the cold with tied or shackled hands for four hours. Palestinian political prisoners reported that they were returned to their rooms after the search raid and found that their walls had holes in them and their belongings were ransacked.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies said that the purpose of such raids is not security for the occupation, but intentional sabotage and humiliation of prisoners, destruction of their living environments, cooking utensils and other items in order to impose further restrictions on their lives. The center warned that an atmosphere of tension is rising in the prison and that the prisoners have returned meals in protest as well as planning further escalation of protest if these repressive attacks continue.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, 16 November, the Dror repressive units stormed room 5 in section 3 of Ashkelon prison, ransacking prisoners’ belongings as prisoners were forced into the yards in their sleeping clothes.

Palestinian prisoners in Megiddo prison also spoke about overcrowding in the prison sections. Izzedine Mohammed Attar, 34, from Tulkarem, told the Prisoners’ Affairs Committee that 136 prisoners are held in Section 6 and 16 prisoners sleep on the ground without beds. He also reported ongoing searches and ransacking of prisoners’ belongings on an almost daily basis in the early morning hours.

Former hunger striker, Egyptian prisoner Ahmad Sawarka to be brought before military court

The family of Ahmad Suleiman al-Sawarka, 33, from northern Sinai, said that the Israeli occupation was convening a military court hearing for Sawarka in Nafha prison on 19 November. Sawarka carried out a 10-day hunger strike to demand his release, as he has already been imprisoned for over a year after his sentence ended in September 2016.

Sawarka was seized by Israeli occupation forces from the Gaza Strip on 16 March 2009 and sentenced to seven and a half years in Israeli prison for participating in the Palestinian resistance and membership in Hamas. His prison sentence expired in September 2016 but he has been held indefinitely since that time. He suspended his hunger strike after the Israel Prison Service declared that he would be deported to Egypt; however, instead of being deported or released to Gaza, he is now facing a military court again.

Two years ago, Sawarka married a Palestinian woman from Gaza while imprisoned.

Palestinian university students seized in Israeli arrest raid

Photo: ActiveStills.org/Oren Ziv. Photo for illustrative purposes.

On Thursday morning, 16 November, Israeli occupation forces seized at least 30 Palestinians, especially targeting active and involved students at An-Najah and other universities. Occupation forces stormed the city of Nablus from several directions, raiding homes; they seized Musa Dweikat from the town of Balata, a student council representative of the Islamic Bloc.

Ahmed Darwish, another student, was seized from his home in the city, and Walid Louay al-Ashqar from his workplace in a cafe, and Hamid Ayyad and Shadi Issa from their homes in Nablus. Bara Nawaf al-Ammar, previously jailed by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority and a student at the College of Law, was seized from his home in Kafr Qalil south of the city as was fellow student Mohammed Abdel-Latif Ramadan.

Meanwhile, in al-Khalil, Abdel-Hakim Nasser Abu Arqoub, a student at the Palestine Polytechnic University, was seized by the Israeli occupation. Student activists are frequently targeted for arrest and persecution by the Israeli occupation forces, including being held without charge or trial under administrative detention.

They also seized Moataz al-Issam, Hamza Nawawrah, Tamer Sobeh, Mohammed Hamideh and Ibrahim Hamideh from Bethlehem area, as well as Hassan Sajidiyeh and Mahmoud al-Lozi from Qalandiya refugee camp and Jihad Sinjawi from Kafr Aqeb.

 

Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Dweikat loses sight after virus, medical neglect in Israeli prison

Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Mazen Amer Dweikat, 30, from Nablus, has been held in Israeli jails since 6 December 2016. He has completely lost his vision after an inflammation in his eyes which damaged his corneas and retinas, and his family says that the Israeli occupation and its prison administration is fully responsible for the loss of his sight.

Dweikat’s mother said in Asra Voice that her son had not suffered any injury or illness in his eyes before his arrest and noted that he has clearly been suffering for some time in prison. The prison administration cancelled his military court hearing on 9 November as well as his family visit; it was only after his family urged human rights institutions to check up on Dweikat after his sudden disappearance that he was revealed to be in Afula hospital, transferred from Gilboa prison, with a total loss of eyesight. His mother said that he looked tired when she was able to visit him on 24 October, before the sudden denials of visits, and his eyes appeared red, and that his treatment had been delayed. His father has been denied family visits with his son since he was first seized by occupation forces. He has had symptoms of disease for a month and was not treated promptly despite symptoms of infection.

He has still been denied family visits to date and his mother is demanding the opportunity to see her son as well as accountability for the loss of his sight caused by a policy of medical neglect inside Israeli prisons.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society noted on Sunday that several more prisoners are also suffering from health conditions that are continually declining, including Mohammed Hisham Alayan, 20, from Ramallah; he has suffered from severe pain yet was denied treatment until he was taken to the hospital two weeks after complaining of pain. One of his testicles was removed, and the doctors told him that his condition was worsened as a result of a treatment delay. Mohammed Jamal Eid, 18, from Nablud, has suffered from bowel problems since his arrest, has been diagnosed in need of surgery, yet still awaits treatment since he was seized by occupation forces since 25 September. Saed Mohammed Salah, 39, from Jenin, has been jailed since 2004; he has lost all of his teeth and needs surgery on his gums.

24 November, Vancouver: Expose and Oppose Corporate Complicity with Israeli War Crimes

Friday, 24 November
7:00 pm
Center for Socialist Education
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1867895323541164/

Join BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories and YCL Vancouver for an evening of discussion and strategizing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation. The program will include updates on the campaigns to boycott and divest from G4$, Hewlett Packard and Air Canada, and discussion on how to build and escalate campaigns targetting corporations profiting from Israeli occupation and war crimes in Palestine.

24 November, Manchester: Charges Dropped! Celebration/Protest at Elbit Arms Factory

Friday, 24 November
9:30 am
UAV Engines, Litchfield
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/484483905267861/

Organizers  have called for a celebration/protest at the Israeli Drone Factory in Shenstone, Staffordshire after the news that the activists who shut if down July 7th have had their charges DROPPED! The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has just decided to drop the case against the remaining two people that were still charged!

On the third anniversary of the Israeli attacks in 2014 that killed over 2200 Palestinians including 500 children, The UAV engines factory was closed through a mass mobilisation on Thursday 6th July and shut down again on Friday 7th July after a blockade from activists from Manchester Palestine Action, Birmingham Palestine Action and others from Brighton and Sheffield. Five were arrested for the blockade, and while three had their cases dropped in September, two charges remained and the trial was expected to be this Friday 24th November.

The CPS dropped the case because the Manager of the Drone engine factory was unwilling to take the stand and be questioned about the weapons deals the company has with Israel and other war criminal states. They said “The decision to discontinue these charges has been taken because there is not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction”.

Huda Ammori, one of the activists whose charges were dropped said, “As a British Palestinian, I refuse to sit by and allow these injustices to be carried out on British soil and call on every supporter of Palestine to take similar action in Western countries where there is complicity in Israel’s war crimes. It is a green light for more action on weapons factories that are making billions off the rivers of blood that flow through Gaza and many other areas of the Middle East, devastated by such criminal assaults on entire populations.”

Instead of the trial this Friday 24th November, please come to the new celebration protest organised outside the Elbit arms factory in Shenstone this Friday, same time at 9:30am. The best message we can send to Israel and the Palestinians from the outcome of this trial is that we will we will not let UK based Israeli arms factories get away with aiding and abetting Israel’s mass murder of Palestinians and we will not stop until Palestine is free.

24 November, Charleroi: Focus Palestine – special film screenings

Friday, 24 November
9:30 am – “The Wanted 18”
8:00 pm – “3000 Nights”
Quai10
Quai Arthur Rimbaud 10
Charleroi, Belgium
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/128105107873029/

Two special film screenings organized in collaboration with the Plate-forme Charlero-Palestine.

The Wanted 18, 9:30 am

1987: On a cooperative farm, activists and 18 cows face down the Israeli army. An animated film that humorously tells the story of the Palestinian civil disobedience movement during the first intifada.

Film by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan

3000 Nights, 8:30 pm

In the 1980s, revolt erupts in an Israeli prison where Palestinian prisoners are held. Layal has been sentenced to 8 years for an incident in which she is innocent. She discovers she is pregnant and against all, she vows to keep her child.

Film by Mai Masri.

The films will be introduced and followed by discussions with young people from Charleroi who recently returned from Palestine: Claire, Deborah, Florence, Margaux, Meryem, Pauline, Sophie, Sorayda, Yasmine and Zuheir.

Organized with Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine: http://pourlapalestine.be

21 November, Chicago: Talk with Sahar Francis, Director of Addameer from Palestine

Tuesday, 21 November
7:00 pm
Moraine Valley Community College
9000 W. College Pkwy
Palos Hills, IL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/498655727199828/

The location is Fogelson Theater, Building T of Moraine Valley Community College, 9000 College Pkwy, Palos Hills, IL 60465

US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) in Chicago and the Palestinian American Community Center are proud to host Sahar Francis, General Director of Addameer, directly from Occupied Palestine!

ADDAMEER (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners. The center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international level, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.

Addameer was the leading organization supporting the historic Dignity Strike in Palestine, while USPCN and PACC helped mobilize the Palestinian and Arab diaspora community in Chicago including family of striking prisoners.

The event program will include an introduction to the organizing work of USPCN, followed by a presentation from Sahar Francis, a cultural performance, and ending with a Question & Answer session. This will be in Arabic with English translation. We look forward to seeing you there!

20 November, NYC: Protest to free Palestinian hunger strikers and stop HP

Monday, 20 November
5:00 pm
Best Buy – Union Square
52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/128374414544971/

Two Palestinian prisoners, Hamza Marwan Bouzia, 27, and Salah Khawaja, 50, remain on hunger strike in protest of their administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, on 15 November.

Bouzia, 27, from Kifl Hares in Salfit, has been on hunger strike since 22 October demanding his release from administrative detention without charge or trial, while Khawaja, from Nil’in, is protesting the renewal of his administrative detention only one day before he was to be released. He launched his hunger strike on 13 November.

Bouzia and Khawaja are among over 450 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders. Many Palestinians have spent years at a time jaile under these orders, and ending administrative detention has been a demand of Palestinian hunger strikers continuously for years.

Stand with Bouzia and Khawaja to demand that Israel release them, 460 other administrative detainees and all 6,198 Palestinian political prisoners (addameer.org/statistics), and that Hewlett Packard companies end their contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces, and checkpoints and settlements (investigate.afsc.org/company/hp-incinvestigate.afsc.org/company/hewlett-packard-enterprise,investigate.afsc.org/company/dxc-technology-company).

Help build a growing international campaign to boycott HP (bdsmovement.net/boycott-hp) over the companies’ support for Israeli crimes.

Support the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian Resistance, and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.