Palestinian women prisoners under harsh attack in Damon prison

29 June 2017

Palestinian women prisoners in Damon prison are being subject to harsh sanctions, deprived of family visits and thrown in solitary confinement, reported prisoners and advocates. They are also being denied access to the “canteen” (prison store) and subjected to financial fines.

Taghreed Jahshan, lawyer with the Women’s Organization for Political Prisoners, visited the women prisoners and reported that they have been subject to sanctions for one week, since 22 June, amid a media blackout.

One of the most prominent prisoners held under solitary confinement is Shireen Issawi, 39, a Palestinian lawyer serving a prison term of four years, accused of helping her client’s families support them financially in prison. She is also the sister of long-term hunger striker and re-arrested Palestinian releasee, Samer Issawi, and was the public spokesperson for his campaign during his strike. Dalal Abu Hawa, 39, serving a 1-year prison sentence, is also being held in solitary confinement. Both were transferred from Damon prison to the Jalameh/Ketziot interrogation center, reportedly due to the lack of isolation rooms in Damon prison.

In addition, Haifa Abu Sbeih, former prisoner, reported that Sabah Faraoun, whose administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – was just extended for another four months, is also being held in solitary confinement. Abu Sbeih told Wattan TV that the prisoners were acing a number of sanctions, including fines and denial of family visits. Some prisoners were fined 700, 500 and 200 shekels while others had electronic items confiscated. She noted that Ansam Shawahneh, 20, has been denied all family visits for over four months and will now face even longer periods of time.

Shawahneh faced a military court on 20 June; she is accused of attempting to stab an Israeli occupation soldier. On 20 June, she was told in court that she would be sentenced to four to five years in prison, pending approval by the soldier in question. Her family members, speaking to Asra Media, raised extreme objection to the terms of the sentencing and the individual role of soldiers in determining the sentence of Palestinian political prisoners.

Ataya Abu Aisha, 29, is the representative of the women prisoners in Damon after Abu Sbeih was released. She is one of the prisoners subjected to the harsh sanctions inside the prison. The repression has targeted the Palestinian women prisoners following prisoners’ protests over denials of their rights within the prison.

There are 23 women prisoners in Damon prison out of 56 women Palestinian prisoners; most are held in either Damon or HaSharon prisons.

Zeinab Ankoush, the mother of Adel Ankoush, 19, who was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem along with Bara’a Saleh Atta and Osama Atta after they carried out a stabbing attack targeting armed occupation forces, has been imprisoned for one week since she was seized from the family home in Deir Abu Mashaal near Ramallah. She will be brought before the Ofer military court today, 29 June, where she is accused of “incitement” for speaking about the death of her child. Meanwhile, her husband – Adel’s father, Hassan Ankoush, was seized by Israeli occupation forces in a series of pre-dawn raids on Thursday, 29 June, as the forces also invaded Osama Atta’s family home, ransacking its contents.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its full solidarity with the women prisoners and demands the immediate release of all Palestinian women prisoners and all Palestinians jailed by the Israeli occupation.

Muhammad Allan on hunger strike for over 20 days; Anas Shadid ordered once more to administrative detention

29 June 2017

Palestinian lawyer Muhammad Allan is on his 21st day of hunger strike, demanding his immediate release from Israeli prison. Allan, 33, previously engaged in a 65-day hunger strike to win his freedom from administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, winning his release in 2015.

Allan was seized once more by Israeli occupation forces on 8 June who invaded his home in the village of Einabus near Nablus, and he once again launched a hunger strike to demand his release. He was held in the Jalameh/Ketziot interrogation center before being transferred to the isolation cells in Megiddo prison after news of his hunger strike spread.

Prior to his hunger strike, he spent three years in Israeli prison, accused of affiliation with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. He was again arrested in 2014 and ordered to imprisonment without charge or trial; in 2015, he conducted his hunger strike to win his release in November 2015.

Meanwhile, fellow former long-term hunger striker Anas Shadid, 21, from the village of Dura near al-Khalil, was once again ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Shadid conducted a 90-day hunger strike alongside Anas Abu Fara to win his release from imprisonment without charge or trial and was released on 24 May 2017.

Only 20 days later, Israeli occupation forces raided his family home in a pre-dawn raid on 15 June after he had earlier been summoned to interrogation by Israeli occupation forces. Now, Shadid has once again been ordered to six months of imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges action and solidarity to free Muhammad Allan, Anas Shadid and end the arbitrary detention of Palestinians without charge or trial under administrative detention. International protest is critical to demand the freedom of nearly 500 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial and all 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

Twelve members of Palestinian Legislative Council imprisoned by Israeli occupation

29 June 2017

Israeli occupation forces stormed the home of Mohammed Badr on Wednesday morning, 28 June, in a violent pre-dawn raid in al-Khalil. Badr, 61, is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council representing the Change and Reform Bloc. His famiy home was ransacked and personal belongings confiscated before he was taken away by occupation forces.

He has previously been arrested on multiple occasions and spent approximately 11 years in Israeli prison, with much of that time in administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Most recently, he was arrested in October 2013 and spent a year and a half imprisoned without charge or trial. He has also served as a lecturer at al-Khalil University for 20 years in Islamic law.

The number of imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarians had risen to 13 earlier in the year; recently, Mohammed Abu Teir of Jerusalem was released after serving a 17-month sentence in Israeli prison, and Samira Halaiqa was released after two months of imprisonment.

Nine of the detained parliamentarians are imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention; the longest-held, Hassan Yousef of Ramallah, has been detained since October 2015 and his detention has been extended five times. The other parliamentarians, all from the Change and Reform bloc, held in administrative detention without charge or trial are: Mohammed al-Tal; Khaled Tafesh; Anwar Zboun; Ahmed Mubarak; Azzam Salhab; Mohammed Jamal Natsheh; Ahmad Attoun; and Ibrahim Dahbour.

In addition, Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been imprisoned since 2006 by Israeli occupation forces since they invaded the Jericho prison where he was held by the Palestinian Authority under U.S. and British guard, is serving a 30-year sentence in Israeli prison. Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi was sentenced to five life sentences after his seizure by occupation forces in 2002.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of all of the imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarians. Their imprisonment reflects an Israeli drive to criminalize and confiscate Palestinian leaders while denying any true political expression to people under occupation.

One month of imprisonment: Solidarity with Harun Turgan!

25 June 2017

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates our solidarity and call for the immediate release of Harun Turgan, co-founder of BDS Turkey and a longtime struggler for Palestinian freedom. Shortly before his arrest, he participated in demonstrations in solidarity with 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike organized by Samidoun and BDS Turkey. Today, he has been imprisoned for over one month and his lawyers have been told not to expect a trial before October. We reiterate our call to release Harun Turgan and all of the political prisoners detained and jailed in Turkish prisons!

Below, we circulate the new statement from BDS Turkey and join the call for people to send letters and messages of solidarity to Harun Turgan directly and to demand his immediate release:

BDS TURKEY: WE WİLL NOT ABANDON THE CASE OF ARRESTED VOLUNTEER HARUN TURGAN

Harun Turgan, who is an active participant in the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, one of the founding members and volunteers of BDS Turkey, and the editor of Intifada Publications, was arrested by Turkish police during a commemoration of the life of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya on 21st May 2017. He was detained 3 days later; now, his lawyers have been told that his trial will not take place before October.

Harun Turgan is a member of the Palestine solidarity movement and a friend of the Arab peoples. His unlawful and violent detention for participation in a peaceful political gathering reminds us of the Israeli crimes which Palestinians know all too well.

On behalf of BDS Turkey, we call upon all friends of Palestine around the world to show their solidarity to Harun, who has now been imprisoned for one months. We urge you to write to Harun and send letters and postcards, as well as to advocate for the immediate end of his unjust detention.

Harun Turgan prison mailing address:

Harun Turgan, Silivri, 5 nolu L tipi kapalı ceza infaz kurumu, C 19. Turkey

BDS Turkey

24 June 2017

إننا ندعوا كل المحبين للقضية الفلسطينية لمساندة هارون اللذي أمضى شهره الأول في الاعتقال بإرسالهم رسائل وبطاقات التضامن له في السجن، وإننا ندعوا لإطلاق سراحه الفوري وإنهاء اعتقاله غير العادل

لقد تم احتجاز الناشط المؤسس في حركة المقاطعة في تركيا والمحرر العام ل”دار الانتفاضة للنشر” هارون تورغان يوم 21 من أيار لمدة ثلاثة أيام أثناء مشاركته في وقفة استذكارية للمفكر التركي “إبراهيم كايبك كايا”، ومن بعدها تم اعتقاله. وقد أعلن محاموا هارون تورغان أنه تأكد لهم بأن هارون سيبقى معتقلا حتى شهر تشرين الأول من العام الجاري، حيث ستبدأ أولى جلسات المحكمة له

إن هارون تورغان ناشط ومناضل من أجل حق الشعوب بالحرية وهو جزء من حركة التضامن مع فلسطين وهو صديق عزيز للشعوب العربية. إن احتجاز هارون بدون حق، وتعرضه للاعتداء الجسدي واعتقاله لمجرد مشاركته في وقفة سلمية يشبه كثيرا ما يعيشه الشعب الفلسطيني من ممارسات دولة الاحتلال الإسرائيلي

عنوان هارون في السجن
Silivri, 5 nolu L tipi kapalı ceza infaz kurumu, C 19. Turkey

حركة المقاطعة – تركيا (بي دي أس).

2017/06/24

NYPD illegally arrests Samidoun organizer at Al-Quds Day rally in Times Square

24 June 2017

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network activist Nick Maniace was unjustly arrested by the NYPD on Friday, 23 June as he participated in the International Al-Quds Day rally in Times Square in Manhattan. In an illegitimate and illegal arrest, Nick was seized by police for holding a bullhorn at a fully permitted rally with an outdoor sound permit for the use of amplified sound. Indeed, cops came through the barricades/pens that they had erected around the protesters to constrain the rally, invading the space to seize Nick, handcuff him and arrest him for approximately three hours.

Nick will appear in court on 28 August at 9:30 am at Midtown Community Court on bogus allegations of “illegal use of sound.” Samidoun and a number of Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizations in New York City will be mobilizing to defend Nick and the right of activists to speak, chant and mobilize for Palestine.

The arrest and attack appears to represent an ongoing practice of attempted intimidation of Palestine activism throughout the city. Meanwhile, as the rally went on, a group of pro-apartheid and white supremacist counter-demonstrators from racist, violent organizations like the Jewish Defense League hurled abuse at the hundreds of Al-Quds Day rally participants from across the street. Various counter-protesters from this group would repeatedly walk across the street to the Al-Quds Day rally in an attempt to create disruption.

Of course, this is only the latest incident of police repression at the hands of the New York Police Department. In April, the NYPD attacked a demonstration against the U.S. bombing of Syria, arresting nine Palestine activists from a number of groups, including Samidoun organizers, and violently assaulting NYC Students for Justice in Palestine organizer Nerdeen Kiswani, slamming her into the concrete and grabbing her by her hijab, ripping it from her head.

The arrest at the Al-Quds Day rally came as numerous protesters filled the area, demanding justice for Palestine. Speakers included Kiswani of NYC SJP, Joe Catron of Samidoun, Sara Flounders of the International Action center, Bernadette Ellorin and Mike Legaspi of BAYAN USA, longtime activist Esperanza Martel, Richard Kossally of Peoples’ Power Assembly, Mike Bento of NYC Shut it Down, Syed Istafa Naqvi of the Islamic Association of North America, Shahid Comrade of the Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Larry Holmes of the Workers World Party and Lawrence Hamm of the Peoples Organization for Progress, reflecting an alliance of social justice movements. The New York City rally came as part of the international Al-Quds Day rallies organized in cities around the world, marking the last Friday of Ramadan.

Nick’s arrest took place midway through Joe Catron’s speech for the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. In his talk, Catron emphasized al-Quds Day as a celebration of Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and international resistance to Zionism, and the importance of resistance in establishing Israeli prisons, key points of Israeli repression, as sites of Palestinian mobilization and struggle. The crowd chanted loudly for Palestine with slogans like “1, 2, 3, 4; open up the prison door. 5, 6, 7, 8; smash the settler Zionist state” and “There is only one solution: Intifada, revolution.”

Sara Flounders of the International Action Center led dealings with the police over the arrest, demanding Nick’s immediate release. A small team of demonstrators engaged in jail support arrived with Nick to the Al-Quds Day Iftar organized by NYC Students for Justice in Palestine after the demonstration, meeting with cheers and strong solidarity and support.

This comes in a long series of arrests targeting participants in Palestine rallies, from the “Palestine Nine” – nine Arab and Palestinian American youth targeted for arrest after leaving a demonstration – to the case of Michael Williams. More critically, these arrests reflect an underlying policy of surveillance and police repression that included massive religious and racial profiling of Muslim and Arab communities throughout New York City. The NYPD had a “Demographics Unit” that singled out Muslim and Arab community leaders, student groups, community organizations and even restaurants for continuous surveillance and intimidation for years on end.

The NYPD’s repression and surveillance program reached far outside New York City, targeting mosques, student groups and community spaces in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. In 2012, the NYPD made its “counter-terror” collaboration with the Israeli occupation state official as it opened an office inside the police department of Kfar Saba in occupied Palestine. NYPD reportedly also participated in interrogations in CIA black sites and US detention centers in Egypt, Yemen, Pakistan and Guantanamo.

An NYPD officer using the name “Ilter Ayturk” infiltrated numerous community organizations, including Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organization Al-Awda New York, befriending community members and activists and even traveling to the U.S. Social Forum as a Palestine campaigner. The same NYPD infiltrator later targeted vulnerable, isolated community members suffering from mental illness, like Ahmed Ferhani, for a bogus “terrorism case” created by “Ayturk” and fellow police.

This police repression targeting Palestinian, Arab and Muslim was certainly built on the deeply rooted foundation of the NYPD’s long-time history and present of violent repression and targeting of the Black community and other oppressed communities in the city. The recent police killings of Eric Garner, Kimani Grey, Ramarley Graham and Akai Gurley represent only a few recent examples of the ongoing assault on Black communities, including the notorious “stop-and-frisk” policy and the framework of “broken windows” policing characterized by intense repression of communities of color and working class communities, especially Black and Latinx communities.

Black Lives Matter and other Black community movements and organizations have been consistently targeted for surveillance, infiltration and repression, including the use of undercover NYPD officers as infiltrators. “Cop Watch” organizers highlighting the level of repression faced by targeted communities have also been repeatedly targeted for arrest and surveillance.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the unjust and illegitimate arrest by the NYPD of Nick Maniace. Such attacks are in no way surprising from a police department engaged in daily terror against Black people and other oppressed communities. This incident reflects ongoing NYPD support for Zionism and racism and the framework of repression and surveillance targeting the Palestine movement and Arab and Muslim organizing and community existence. We urge full support for Nick Maniace at his scheduled court date on 28 August and, most importantly, continued and intensified organizing, protest and action against racism, Zionism, imperialism and colonialism, from NYPD repression on the streets of New York to Zionist settler colonialism in occupied Palestine.

All supporters of Palestine are encouraged to join Samidoun for our next New York City protest for Palestinian political prisoners, at 5:30 pm on Friday, 30 June, outside the Best Buy in Union Square.

Mother of son killed by Israeli occupation forces detained; Lena Jarbouni summoned for interrogation

23 June 2017

Zeinab Ankoush, 46, the mother of Adel Ankoush, one of the three young Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem after carrying out a stabbing targeting Israeli military forces, remains detained by occupation forces. The Ofer military court extended her detention for one week on Thursday evening, 22 June.

She was seized by Israeli occupation forces who raided her home in the Ramallah-area village of Deir Abu Mashaal on Wednesday morning, 21 June, in a pre-dawn raid. Her village, home to the three young men, her son Adel Ankoush and Bara’a Saleh Atta and Osama Atta, was under an intensive siege by occupation military forces for one week. She was seized by occupation forces under the pretext of “incitement,” for her public comments after the death of her son.

Ankoush is one of 55 Palestinian women held by the Israeli occupation, including 14 mothers and 10 minor girls under the age of 18. Another of the imprisoned mothers is Sabah Faraoun from the Jerusalem village of Bethany. She is held without charge or trial under administrative detention; she was scheduled for release on 22 June, but her administrative detention order was extended for an additional three months. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable; Palestinians can be imprisoned for years at a time under such orders.

Palestinian lawyer Hanan al-Khatib emphasized the suffering of families, especially those of the child prisoners and the imprisoned mothers, as the Eid al-Fitr holiday approaches. She noted that Faraoun will be deprived of celebrating the holiday with her four children.

Meanwhile, released prisoner Lena Jarbouni, the longest-serving female Palestinian prisoner until her release after 15 years in April 2017, was summoned by the Shin Bet intelligence agency for interrogation on Wednesday, 21 June. Her brother, Saber Jarbouni, said that she was interrogated for two and one-half hours about her activities since her release from Israeli occupation prisons, including speaking out for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners, especially child prisoners. He noted that this interrogation was “an attempt by the Shin Bet intelligence agency to say that we are always watching you” in an attempt to intimidate Jarbouni.

Palestinian Authority political detainees Jaradat and Shammali released

23 June 2017

Palestinian student and youth activist Nassar Jaradat and journalist Zaher al-Shammali were released by the Palestinian Authority on 22 June after 15 days of detention, since 7 June 2017, reported Palestinian lawyer Muhannad Karajah of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

Both have spoken publicly against the statements and actions of prominent Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub, in an interview with Israeli Channel 2 where he announced his support for Israeli sovereignty over al-Buraq Wall in Jerusalem, a site of significant cultural, religious, historical and political importance to Palestinians and which Palestinians have continually defended from Zionist occupation since before 1948.

Shammali wrote a critical article about Rajoub – following other critical articles about PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other PA figures – while Jaradat commented on Facebook regarding the article and Rajoub’s remarks. Now, the two Palestinian youths are facing a trial in September, accused of “insults” to holy sites and “incitement of sectarianism,” although there is no “sectarian” content to their writings on Rajoub’s political concessions to the Israeli occupation. Both Shammali and Jaradat are Palestinian progressives.

The two are scheduled to go on trial in September and have been released on a bail of 1,000 Jordanian Dinars each. Previously, PA courts in Ramallah have refused to release them on four separate occasions, claiming that the investigation was not complete.

The Democratic Journalists’ Assembly denounced the ongoing political arrests of journalists and others, warning against further repression particularly of Palestinians already suffering the severe repression of occupation.

Many people around the world participated in Samidoun’s call to action, urging Palestinian embassies around the world to release the political detainees and end political detention and security coordination. The Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations in Europe also denounced the detention of the young Palestinians and joined in the call to end security coordination with the Israeli occupation.

The imprisonment of Jaradat and Shammali comes as over 20 websites, including popular news sites like Quds News Network and the Palestine Information Center, have been blocked by the Palestinian Authority; Palestinian readers are denied access to these news sites. This action has been widely denounced by the Palestinian NGO Network, press organizations and a wide range of Palestinian political organizations.

The PNGO Network emphasized that this “dangerous step” is particularly threatening to Palestinian rights that are already under severe and sustained assaults by the Israeli occupation. The blocking was done with no court order on the basis of an order by the Attorney General and was apparently done purely in an attempt to silence and deny Palestinians access to the writing of political opponents of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

May 2017 Report: 525 Palestinians seized by occupation forces

23 June 2017

*Photo for illustration purposes: Activestills.org*

Palestinian institutions working on prisoners’ affairs and human rights – the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society – released their report on Israeli occupation arrests of Palestinians for May 2017.

The institutions reported that 525 Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza were seized by Israeli occupation forces in May, including 139 children and 7 women. Among them were 190 Jerusalemites, 70 from al-Khalil, 60 from Nablus, 48 from Bethlehem, 39 from Qalqilya, 35 from Ramallah and el-Bireh, 28 from Tulkarem, 20 from Jenin, 12 from Jericho, eight from Salfit, five from Tubas and 10 from the Gaza Strip.

There are around 6,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 300 children and 54 women; 10 of the women prisoners are minor girls. As of May 2017, there were 486 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention orders.

During May, Israeli occupation authorities issued 98 administrative detention orders, including 38 new orders and 60 renewal orders.

The institutions reaffirmed their strong condemnation of systematic Israeli violations of international law against Palestinian prisoners. The occupation authorities continue to ignore the legal rights of and safeguards for detainees under international law, especially the standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners and many other relevant declarations and conventions.

They urged the international community to act to uphold its legal and ethical responsibility toward the people of the occupied Palestinian territories to pressure the occupying state to defend their rights. They also urged the activation of local, regional and international solidarity campaigns to pressure the occupying power.

Samidoun: Freedom for labor organizer Kamal Khalil and all Egyptian political prisoners!

22 June 2017

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands in solidarity with and demands the immediate release of long-time Egyptian labor organizer and leftist activist Kamal Khalil, arrested early Thursday morning on allegations of political charges, including “inciting illegal protest, spreading false news and insulting the president.”

Throughout the presidencies of Sadat, Mubarak, Morsi and Sisi, Kamal Khalil has been a consistent and clear voice in the streets defending Egyptian workers and the popular classes against military rule, capitalist exploitation, Zionism and imperialism.

He first became a leader in the Egyptian student movement of the 1970s and the 1977 “Bread Uprising” against Anwar Sadat, mobilizing for social justice. He has been a consistent organizer for Palestine and has been arrested over 15 times, many of those times for organizing protests in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation. In 2003, he was held in solitary confinement for organizing protests against the war on Iraq.

A longtime labor organizer, he has participated in the struggles of iron and steel workers, railway workers, textile workers and transportation workers. He is a founder of the Democratic Workers Party and the Kefaya Movement and directs the Center for Socialist Studies. Most recently, he has been involved in protests against the sale or transfer of the Egyptian islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia. Over 120 people have already been arrested in the context of protesting the attempted transfer of the Egyptian islands, previously blocked by Egyptian courts.

Today, Kamal Khalil is one of thousands of political prisoners and detainees in Egyptian prisons. Samidoun stands in solidarity with Kamal Khalil and demands his immediate release and the release of all political prisoners from Egyptian jails.

Statement of Georges Abdallah on Day of Revolutionary Prisoners + Protests in Paris, Brussels, Tunis, Milan and around the world

20 June 2017

*Photo: Unified Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah*

Protests and events took place around the world marking the International Day of Revolutionary Prisoners. Many of these events, including actions in Paris, Brussels, Milan, Nimes, Beziers, Tunis, Marseille and Bern, focused on the campaign to free imprisoned Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned in France for 33 years.

In Paris, hundreds of demonstrators took the streets under the banner of the Unified Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. Members of organizations including the Unified Campaign, the Party of the Indigenous of the Republic, EuroPalestine, Le Cri Rouge, Secours Rouge, OCML VP and many left political parties and organizations participated in the march. People travelled from a number of cities, including Lille, Bordeaux, Tarbes and Annecy; from Brussels, Secours Rouge was joined by a large delegation, including members of Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine and the Communist Party of Belgium.

Abdallah, sentenced to a life sentence on allegations of complicity with acts of resistance against the Zionist occupation of Lebanon, has been eligible for release since 1999. Despite two orders for release by parole tribunals to return home to Lebanon, his release has been blocked by intervention at the highest political levels, including by former Interior Minister Manuel Valls in response to the requests of then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“The struggle of Georges Abdallah is that of a communist fighter, arrested and detained for his political struggle, which he has never denied. His resistance is fully in keeping with that of all those who today continue to fight the capitalist system and reject its domination over society and peoples. It was for his ideas of emancipation that Georges Abdallah became involved in the struggle. It is for them and his revolutionary struggle that he is still detained today.”

“He is part of our struggles, we are part of his struggle. That is why the Unified Campaign calls on all those who stand side by side with the Palestinian resistance fighting the alliance of the imperialist states, the Zionist entity and the Arab reactionary states to join us in the demand for the liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, and to come in large numbers for our next events: in September at the Fete de l’Humanite and in October in front of the prison of Lannemezan,” said the Unified Campaign in a statement.

In Brussels, a smaller demonstration was organized on 17 June outside the French Consulate in support of the Paris mobilization. Participants received strong support from cars passing by as they held banners demanding freedom for Georges Abdallah, freedom for Palestinian political prisoners and waved Palestinian flags.

*Photo: Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network*

Myriam De Ly of Plate-forme Charleroi Palestine spoke at the demonstration, urging the importance of building and escalating the solidarity campaign for Georges Abdallah’s freedom in Belgium. Luk Vervaet emphasized the importance of a collective struggle to confront so-called “anti-terrorism” laws that are used to repress people’s movements. Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, emphasized Georges Abdallah’s struggle as part and parcel of the struggle for the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners and all political prisoners in jails around the world.

*Photo: Tunisian Solidarity Committee for the Release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah*

In Tunis, the Tunisian Solidarity Committee for the Release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah organized a protest on 17 June in front of the French Embassy to demand his freedom. They were met by a massive police presence in an attempt to deter the vigil organized outside the embassy. The Popular Front of Tunisia also participated in the protest vigil to demand Abdallah’s liberation.

In Beziers, a group of activists with EuroPalestine and other groups created a display of information and posters in support of Georges Abdallah’s struggle for freedom on Saturday, 17 June.

They were joined by fellow organizers in Nimes, who set up a table of infomation, banners and Palestinian flags to highlight the case.

In Marseille, protesters displayed banners calling for freedom for Georges Abdallah and remembering Lamin Dieng, killed by French police 10 years earlier in Paris.

The Revolutionäre Jugend Zürich – RJZ (Revolutionary Youth Zurich) participated in the Anti-Racism Cup football tournament in Bern, Switzerland on 17 June, where they displayed banners in solidarity with political prisoners, including one demanding freedom for Georges Abdallah.

Another event took place on Monday, 19 June in Milan, Italy, with a march to the French, Indian and Peruvian consulates. The protest gathered at 5:30 pm at Metro Pasteur in the city to call for the release of Abdallah, Indian intellectual G. N. Saibaba and imprisoned Peruvian communist Chairman Gonzalo (Abimael Guzman.)

Georges Abdallah issued a message from Lannemezan Prison to mark the International Day of Revolutionary Prisoners and greet the Paris and other demonstrations in France and internationally. A translation of the letter follows:

Dear comrades and friends,

On this International Day of Revolutionary Prisoners there are many, very many in the world, those who resist behind the abominable walls. Often in particularly difficult conditions, they manage to stand up, despite many years of captivity. Certainly the situation could be terribly different if they could not count on the solidarity mobilization which supports them to inscribe their resistance on the global dynamics of the struggle.

Dear comrades, dear friends, following your various solidarity initiatives that accompanied the hunger strike of our comrades imprisoned in the Zionist jails, your gathering today brings me a great deal of strength and enthusiasm.

It is clear that the Zionist occupation forces have scarcely agreed to satisfy some basic demands. The imperialists on all sides and their reactionary Arab allies have begun to do everything possible to break the unity achieved during the strike. The leaks released in recent days suggest that there will be an attempt to impose a different and worse treatment on the families of prisoners. These are only reports at the moment. In the meantime, it is our duty, Comrades, to remain vigilant and denounce any policy of discrimination between Palestinian prisoners or mistreatment of their families. No matter what it pretends, the [Palestinian] national Authority will be charged to take on this dirty work.

Let a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish in favor of these imprisoned flowers and lions so that their Zionist jailers understand that they will never be alone!

Let a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish in support of Palestine and its promising intifada!

Solidarity, all solidarity with the resistance fighters in the Zionist jails, and in the isolation cells in Morocco, Turkey, the Philippines and elsewhere in the world!

Solidarity, all solidarity with the revolutionary comrades resisting in the jails in Greece!

Solidarity, all solidarity with the young proletarians of the working-class neighborhoods!

Capitalism is no more than barbarity, honor to all those who stand against it in the diversity of their expressions!

Together, Comrades, and only together will we be victorious!

To all of you, comrades and friends, my warmest revolutionary greetings.

Your comrade Georges Abdallah

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