11 September, NYC: Protest to free Salah Hamouri and stop HP

6 September 2017

Monday, 11 September
4:30 pm
Best Buy Union Square
52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2036797963206978/

French-Palestinian human rights defender Salah Hamouri‘s six-month administrative detention order was replaced by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 5 September. Unfortunately, rather than being released, Hamouri was instead sentenced to three months’ imprisonment – the remainder of his former sentence when he was released in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. (He was scheduled for release on 13 March 2012 and was released early on 18 December 2011.)

While in this specific case, the total amount of his sentence is half of the administrative detention order, it also highlights yet another unjust and unaccountable mechanism for sentencing former Palestinian prisoners – the arbitrary reimposition of former prison sentences on dubious grounds or no grounds at all, in many cases by a secret military committee. For example, Nael Barghouthi – and dozens of others – have seen former life sentences or other large sentences reimposed by a secret military committee.

Mahmoud Hassan of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Hamouri’s lawyer, noted that “this decision will not prevent Hamouri from being placed under administrative detention again even after he serves the rest of his previous sentence.” Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable.

Stand with Salah to demand that Israel release him, 449 other “administrative detainees” and all 6,128 Palestinian political prisoners, and that Hewlett Packard companies end their contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces, and checkpoints and settlements.

Help build a growing international campaign to 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.

Imprisoned women and girls: Updates from Israeli prisons

6 September 2017

As administrative detainee Ihsan Dababseh was once against ordered imprisoned without charge or trial – one of five Palestinian women held under administrative detention orders – the youngest Palestinian female prisoner was denied access to family visits.

The parents of Malak al-Ghaliz, 14, from al-Jalazoun refugee camp near Ramallah, were turned back by Israeli occupation forces at a checkpoint west of Ramallah on Monday, 4 September, as they went to visit their daughter. Malak, who has sent messages to her mother about her desire to return to school, has been jailed since 20 May when she was seized by occupation soldiers at Qalandiya checkpoint. She has been accused of attempting to stab occupation soldiers, despite a clear lack of evidence and no injuries on the part of the occupation forces at the checkpoint.

On Tuesday, 5 September, Sahar al-Natsheh, 48, turned herself into Israeli occupation officials at the Ramle prison to serve a three-month sentence. Natsheh, 48, a Palestinian Jerusalemite from Beit Hanina, was sentenced to three months in prison last month by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, for posting on Facebook about the situation in Jerusalem and the Israeli occupation and settlers’ attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque. Al-Natsheh had been seized on 21 March 2016 and held in solitary confinement for 11 days before being released to house imprisonment; after extended home confinement, she was then ordered to three months in Israeli prison. Married with seven children, Natsheh is a prominent activist in defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On Wednesday, 6 September, an Israeli occupation military court will hold a hearing in the case of Ahlam al-Mahluk, 19, from the village of Qarawat Bani Zeid in the Ramallah area. Al-Mahluk has been imprisoned since 16 June on allegations of “incitement” for posting on Facebook. She is one of hundreds of Palestinians targeted for arrest and imprisonment for sharing their opinions about politics on social media by Israeli occupation forces. Her wedding – scheduled for August – has been postponed due to her prolonged imprisonment.

In addition, Ibtisam Musa, 59, from Khan Younis in Gaza, will face a military court hearing on Thursday, 7 September. She was seized by occupation forces in April 2017 as she attempted to cross the Erez/Beit Hanoun crossing, for which she had received a permit; she was accompanying her sister, a cancer patient, for treatment. Musa was accused of attempting to bring explosives into Israel, but the substance she carried – nitroglycerin – is more widely available in 1948 occupied Palestine, is only a precursor to explosives, and is also a heart medication.

*Sabreen Abu Sharar, photo via Asra Media Office*

Meanwhile, the case of Sabreen Abu Sharar, 28, a Palestinian doctor from the town of Dura who was arrested and re-imprisoned when she sought permission to leave Palestine and accompany her fiance in the United States, where he is already working as a doctor as well, was continued until 19 September 2017. She was previously detained for 18 months before being released in December 2016; she had served as the representative of the women held in Damon prison.

Palestinian student Sujoud Daraweesh, 22, was ordered to one month imprisonment and a fine of 3000 NIS ($850 USD) on 5 September, after she was seized from her family home on 30 August in a 2:00 am raid. She had previously been arrested and released on the condition of displacement from her home city of al-Khalil, delaying her graduation from Hebron University.

9 September, Lyon: Rally to Free Salah Hamouri

6 September 2017

Saturday, 9 September
3:00 pm
Place de la Republique (Lyon 2e)
Lyon, France

Rally to free French-Palestinian human rights defender Salah Hamouri, newly re-imprisoned by Israel without charge or trial, after he was seized in a pre-dawn raid on his home on 23 August. No to three months of imprisonment, no to six months, freedom now!

8 September, Nimes: Free Salah Hamouri!

6 September 2017

Friday, 8 September
6:00 pm
prefecture du Gard
Nimes, France

Rally to free French-Palestinian human rights defender Salah Hamouri, newly re-imprisoned by Israel without charge or trial, after he was seized in a pre-dawn raid on his home on 23 August. No to three months of imprisonment, no to six months, freedom now!

Ihsan Dababseh among 30 more Palestinians ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial

6 September 2017

Israeli occupation military courts issued 30 additional orders for administrative detention – the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial – between 16 August and 30 August. This brings the total number of orders issued in the month to 134.

Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable and based on a “secret file” that is unavailable to and unchallengeable by detainees and their lawyers. There are over 450 Palestinians currently held in administrative detention, among 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners.

Among the Palestinians whose administrative detention was renewed is Ihsan Dababseh, a former political prisoner who has been repeatedly seized by Israeli occupation forces. She was last arrested on 27 February and ordered to six months in administrative detention – her detention has now been renewed for an additional three months.

Her story is featured in “For the Love of Palestine: Stories of Women, Imprisonment and Resistance,” created by members of the Prison, Labor and Academic Delegation to Palestine. Dababseh had been released on 10 July 2016 after 21 months in Israeli prison before being re-arrested in February 2017. She had been imprisoned since 13 October 2014 on charges of membership in a prohibited organization, in her case the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.

Dababseh is one of five Palestinian women held in administrative detention, alongside parliamentarian and national leader Khalida Jarrar, Khitam Saafin, Sabah Faraoun and Afnan Abu Haniyeh.

Also ordered to renewed administrative detention was Palestinian professor Essam al-Ashqar, 57. A lecturer in physics at An-Najah University, al-Ashqar suffers from a difficult medical situation, including high blood pressure and heart disease. He has been held in the Ramle prison clinic repeatedly and is at serious risk of a stroke.

The list of Palestinians ordered to administrative detention, reported by the Palestinian Prisoners Society, is as follows:

1. Yousef Mustafa Kaabneh, Jericho, 4 months, new order
2. Rabie Bassam Maaleh, Ramallah, 2 months, new order
3. Thaer Said Abu Roumos, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
4. Tareq Mahmoud Bilalu, Jenin, 6 months, extension
5. Hashem Abdelkader Hijaz, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
6. Khalil Hassan Hamed, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
7. Jihad Khaled Hamed, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
8. Ayman Naim Hamed, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
9. Majed Fakhri Hamed, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
10. Raed Mohammed Halabiyeh, Jerusalem, 6 months, new order
11. Ibrahim Mohammed Fakh, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
12. Hani Yousef Odetallah, Qalandiya, 4 months, extension
13. Ibrahim Yassin Abu Srour, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
14. Mohammed Taleb Shawara, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
15. Ihsan Hassan Dababseh, al-Khalil, 3 months, extension
16. Noureddine Mohammed Qazi, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
17. Mohammed Hassan Aidi, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
18. Hakam Saud al-Araj, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
19. Nour al-Din Talahmeh, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
20. Mohammed Suleiman Srouji, Tulkarem, 4 months, extension
21. Mohammed Assad Salehi, Bethlehem, 4 months, new order
22. Mohammed Salah Abdel-Mohsen, Abu Dis, 4 months, extension
23. Essam Rashed Ashqar, Nablus, 2 months, extension
24. Wadah Khaled Dweikat, Nablus, 4 months, extension
25. Abbas Abdel-Hadi Abu Alia, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
26. Musab Taha Manasra, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
27. Ibrahim Sami Mutair, Qalandiya, 6 months, extension
28. Mohammed Abdallah Atwan, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
29. Louay Jamil Qashmar, Qalqilya, 6 months, new order
30. Saed Mohammed Abu al-Baha, Ramallah, 4 months, extension

Issa Amro on hunger strike, PA detention extended for 24 hours

6 September 2017

Prominent Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro remains jailed by Palestinian Authority Preventive Security services as a growing international campaign is demanding his release. Amro, of Youth Against Settlements in al-Khalil, is widely known around the world for his advocacy and popular organizing in the city against Israeli occupation and settler attacks. He is simultaneously being prosecuted by an Israeli military court for his role in popular demonstrations against military occupation and illegal settlements.

At the same time that Amro’s detention was extended, Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Qawasmeh of Manbar al-Hurriyeh radio, was released by the PA security services after three days of detention. Qawasmeh was seized after criticizing PA officials, including PA president Mahmoud Abbas, after his radio station was invaded and its contents damaged and confiscated by Israeli occupation forces, forcibly shutting down the station’s broadcast. Amro was originally seized by PA forces after denouncing the arrest of Qawasmeh, also of al-Khalil.

Amro’s detention was extended for 24 hours even as he announced an open hunger strike for his freedom. Youth Against Settlements has organized an online petition for his release: http://www.yashebron.org/free_issa_from_pa_arrest

Palestinian and international organizations, including the Freedoms Committee, Amnesty International, and the Palestinian NGO Network, have called for Amro’s release.

The cases of Qawasmeh and Amro are only the latest cases in a series of repressive arrests carried out by PA forces under the new “Electronic Crimes Law.” The “Electronic Crimes Law” has been widely condemned by political parties and organizations throughout occupied Palestine.

The PA law, which attempts to criminalize Palestinian political expression on Facebook and in the media, comes alongside systematic Israeli attacks on Palestinian expression, including the persecution of hundreds of Palestinians for their posts on social media and the jailing of teens, journalists and elders in Israeli occupation prisons. It also comes in the framework of ongoing PA “security coordination” with Israel at the expense of Palestinian freedom fighters and organizers.

Amnesty International has joined the denunciation of the law created by decree of PA president Mahmoud Abbas, due to its use against journalists and writers. Zaher al-Shammali and Nassar Jaradat were subject to detention for Facebook posts critical of PA officials, and Palestinian-American activist Mashal Alkouk was detained for several days last week, also in the context of the law, as was youth activist Ahmed Abdel-Aziz. A number of journalists have been interrogated and detained for publishing critical material about the PA as well.

The “Electronic Crimes Law” goes so far as to threaten sentences of hard labor against people convicted of committing “offenses” with the “purpose of disturbing public order…or harming national unity.” Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has published a lengthy analysis of the dangers posed by the law.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins Youth Against Settlements, Amnesty International and numerous others in demanding the immediate release of Issa Amro. We also call for the immediate release of all PA political detainees and an end to the “Electronic Crimes Law” and the ongoing attacks on Palestinian websites, journalists and activists. This law is particularly chilling in light of the ongoing Israeli targeting of Palestinian journalists, writers and organizers for expressing their opinion on social media and the context of PA security coordination with the Israeli occupation.

We also join our voices with Palestinian organizations and activists demanding an end to Palestinian Authority security coordination with the Israeli occupation.

Sign the petition to support Issa Amro’s release: http://www.yashebron.org/free_issa_from_pa_arrest

Sheikh Raed Salah ordered detained until end of trial

6 September 2017

The Israeli Magistrate’s Court in Haifa ordered Sheikh Raed Salah, prominent activist on Al-Aqsa Mosque and leader of the Islamic Movement, imprisoned until the end of proceedings in his case on Wednesday, 6 September. Salah is charged with “incitement” for his public speeches about Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Inside the courtroom, Salah denounced his conditions of detention, saying that he was being held in an extremely small room that he described as a “toilet.”

Sheikh Salah is one of the most prominent leaders of the Palestinian movement in occupied Palestine ’48; he is now being charged for public speeches given about Al-Aqsa Mosque and at the funerals of three young men from Umm al-Fahm who carried out an armed operation targeting occupation forces.

He has been imprisoned since 17 August and has been subject to a systematic official campaign of incitement, note his lawyers, including a threat by minister Yisroel Katz to deport him.

Despite the highly public and political nature of the case, the judge banned filming in the court in Salah’s case, stating that “the case does not concern the public.” Salah has been arrested on multiple occasions and was released in January 2017 after being imprisoned for nine months on charges relating to a sermon he delivered in Jerusalem in 2007; he spent most of his imprisonment held in solitary confinement and was threatened with extended sentencing before release. Israeli occupation officials have also been involved in attempts, including in the United Kingdom, to deny Salah an international platform for advocacy. He has been subjected to repeated travel bans by the Israeli state. He has also been repeatedly barred from entering Jerusalem itself.

His detention has been repeatedly extended since he was seized by Israeli forces on 15 August who invaded his home in Umm al-Fahm. “The judicial grounds for this case are trivial. In reality, this trial is only about Sheikh Raed’s defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the slogan, Al-Aqsa is in danger,” said his lawyer Khaled Zabarqa.

Salah is the leader of the Islamic Movement in Palestine ’48; in 2015, the Israeli state banned the Islamic Movement in an action condemned by Palestinian organizations across the political spectrum as an attack on all Palestinians in ’48 Palestine, who hold Israeli citizenship.

Letter from Ahmad Sa’adat to Georges Abdallah: “You remain a symbol and a model for us”

6 September 2017

Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Palestinian national leader, issued the following public letter to Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned in French jails for 34 years.

The letter comes shortly after a photo of Georges Abdallah in Lannemezan prison was released by Coup Pour Coup 31 and the campaign to free Georges Abdallah, wearing a T-shirt in solidarity with Sa’adat and demanding his freedom. It also comes as organizers are gearing up for the large national demonstration on 21 October outside the Lannemezan prison to demand Abdallah’s release.

The following video was released by the Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah to urge participation in the demonstration:

The text of Sa’adat’s letter follows:

Public Letter from Ahmad Sa’adat to Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

Dear comrade,

I send my warm greetings to you, with the most beautiful words and sincere declarations of pride, respect and appreciation, in my name and in the name of my comrades in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine prison organization. These sincere words reflect our unity of thought and common suffering in the face of the tools of oppression and our common struggle for a better world in which the people regain their stolen humanity.

Dear comrade,

I feel pain when you feel pain, and you are always a source of great pride and respect. From your principled steadfastness through decades in prison, we build our determination, our will and our intellectual conviction; from your head held high, always accelerating our steps to become nearer to the sun of truth and liberation, with you, by you, and with all of the forces of freedom in the world. Together, our strength is multiplied dozens of times, renewed in our hope and confidence in the inevitability of victory, the victory of daybreak over the night, the truth over lies and hypocrisy. You are a living witness to the falsity of the claims about the “free world,” “democracy,” “separation of powers” and “independence of the judiciary” of which the ruling class brags in media forums and lecture halls. We are chained by the common injustices manufactured in the United States of America, which are the same ones used in Palestine, and I do not doubt that there are many examples in all of the strongholds of imperialism.

You and those who unite with you in support and solidarity, the true comrades in France, Lebanon, Palestine and all over the world, are the natural extension of those who once carried hammers, stormed the Bastille and broke into the prison walls…the extension of those who turned the cells of the Zionist occupation into revolutionary schools from which successive generations learn the meaning of will, determination and commitment…the extension of all of the forces and movements for liberation in the world who resist for true democracy and a world free of exploitation, tyranny and subjugation, where the values of social justice, liberation and dignity prevail.

Until we meet one day in the world of freedom, you remain a symbol and a model for us to follow.

Your comrade
Ahmad Sa’adat “Abu Ghassan”
Ramon Prison
5 September 2017

New York City protest demands freedom for Palestinian child prisoner Hassan Abu Rish, boycott of HP

5 September 2017

Protesters gathered in New York City on Monday, 4 September to protest the imprisonment of Palestinian teen Hassan Abu Rish and his fellow Palestinian child prisoners held in Israeli jails. The protest, organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, took place outside the Union Square Best Buy electronics store, which sells Hewlett-Packard products. HP is subject to a global boycott campaign for its profiteering from Israeli occupation, oppression and apartheid through contracting with the Israeli prison system, military forces and system of checkpoints and ID cards.

The protest focused on Hassan Abu Rish, 16, a Palestinian teen organizer with the Nabed (Pulse) youth forum in his Jerusalem-area village of Ezzariyeh. Nabed is a group for Palestinian youth looking towards social change, justice and liberation from occupation, apartheid and colonization. There are over 300 Palestinian children under 18 imprisoned in Israeli jails. Hassan himself was very interested in organizing to raise awareness about the imprisonment of Palestinian youth; his brother has been jailed three times by Israeli occupation forces.

In the past 20 months, 22 Palestinian teens have been imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention orders, including Nour Issa, 16. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable and Palestinians have been jailed for years at a time with no charge and no trial under the pretext of a “secret file.” There are over 450 total Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention and nearly 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

Activists from a number of organizations joined Samidoun in the protest, including a group from Students and Youth for a New America (SYNA), expressing solidarity with Palestinian youth imprisoned in Israeli jails.

Protesters distributed information about the situation of Palestinian prisoners as well as the involvement of HP in Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, from the naval siege of Gaza to the imprisonment of thousands of political prisoners.

While the HP corporation has divided into several entities, they share resources and a common identity, and a growing number of churches, labor unions and other organizations are vowing to be “HP-free zones” until the corporation ends its involvement in and profiteering from Israeli apartheid and colonization.

Journalist Caleb Maupin also attended the protest and interviewed Joe Catron and John Fletcher of Samidoun about the ongoing protests and solidarity actions to support Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for freedom.

Samidoun will gather again next week in New York on Monday, 11 September at 4:30 pm, outside the Best Buy in Union Square. All supporters of justice for Palestine are invited to attend and join in the protest to free imprisoned French-Palestinian human rights defender Salah Hamouri.

Hamouri, a French-Palestinian dual citizen, field researcher for Addameer and recently graduated lawyer who just passed the Palestinian bar exam on 20 August, has just been ordered to three months in prison – the remain period of his earlier sentence before his release in 2011 in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. Meanwhile, the Israeli prosecution is arguing instead for the imposition of a six-month administrative detention order, for imprisonment without charge or trial. People across France are organizing in solidarity with Salah, and Samidoun in New York will join them on 11 September.

Salah Hamouri’s former sentence reimposed, ordered to three months imprisonment

5 September 2017

*Protest to free Salah Hamouri, Paris, 4 September*

French-Palestinian human rights defender Salah Hamouri‘s six-month administrative detention order was replaced by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 5 September. Unfortunately, rather than being released, Hamouri was instead sentenced to three months’ imprisonment – the remainder of his former sentence when he was released in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. (He was scheduled for release on 13 March 2012 and was released early on 18 December 2011.)

While in this specific case, the total amount of his sentence is half of the administrative detention order, it also highlights yet another unjust and unaccountable mechanism for sentencing former Palestinian prisoners – the arbitrary reimposition of former prison sentences on dubious grounds or no grounds at all, in many cases by a secret military committee. For example, Nael Barghouthi – and dozens of others – have seen former life sentences or other large sentences reimposed by a secret military committee.

Mahmoud Hassan of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Hamouri’s lawyer, noted that “this decision will not prevent Hamouri from being placed under administrative detention again even after he serves the rest of his previous sentence.” Administrative detetnion orders are indefinitely renewable.

Hassan also said that the Israeli prosecution and intelligence agency were opposed to the decision and had said they were filing an appeal – because they are seeking the longer administrative detention period without charge or trial for Hamouri. Addameer, where Hamouri is a field researcher, noted that they see this decision as a form of response to the international pressure calling for Hamouri’s release as an attempt to “legitimize” the sentence. In fact, it represents a continuing form of groundless, arbitrary detention of a human rights defender with no charge and no trial.

**

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates its urgent demand for the immediate release of Salah Hamouri and all Palestinian prisoners and call for the French state to defend the rights of their citizen and take action for Salah Hamouri’s freedom. It is no less critical now; it must be made clear that it is unacceptable to imprison Hamouri – or any other Palestinian – without charge or trial. This is clearly an attempt on the part of the Israeli state to target an effective, local and international human rights defender working for Palestinian freedom.

The French state must take real action to demand freedom for Salah Hamouri, the Palestinian human rights defender. From the jails and the courts of the occupation to the cities and campuses of the world, he is a consistent and clear voice against oppression and for liberation. Free Salah Hamouri! Libérez Salah Hamouri!

TAKE ACTION

1. SIGN this petition to French president Emanuel Macron and European officials. Demand that they act now to free Hamouri: https://www.change.org/p/emmanuel-macron-demand-the-immediate-release-of-human-rights-defender-salah-hamouri

2. SIGN this French-language petition to the French government to demand they act for Hamouri’s freedom: http://liberezsalahhamouri.wesign.it/fr

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/

4. ORGANIZE protests and actions to demand Salah’s release and that of his fellow Palestinian prisoners. Events are scheduled in Toulouse, Avignon, New York, Paris, Villerupt, Longwy, Saint-Etienne and more.

Public Letter from Ahmad Sa’adat to Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

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