Sabah Faraoun’s administrative detention extended for four more months

21 February 2017

Israeli occupation authorities renewed the administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – of Palestinian prisoner Sabah Mohammed Faraoun of Bethany in Jerusalem for the fourth time in a row for a four-month period.

Faraoun, 34, was seized by occupation forces on 19 June 2016 after they invaded her home; her detention had been extended three times before and was scheduled to end on 25 February 2017 before the new detention order was issued yesterday. Faraoun is a seamstress and tailor, married and the mother of four children, Abdel-Razaq (15), Alaa (14), Tala (10) and Leen (5). She is one of 11 Palestinian women prisoners held in Damon prison.

In addition, the detention of Rawan Shyoukhi, the sister of Ali Shyoukhi, a former prisoner killed by Israeli occupation forces, was extended until Wednesday 22 February.

Wounded Palestinian prisoner Jihan Hashima, held in the Ramle prison clinic, is suffering particularly difficult conditions in health and detention, reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society. Hashima, 37, from the town of Issawiya in Jerusalem, was seized on 30 December 2016 and was shot in the left leg by Israeli occupation soldiers. A metal rod was inserted into her leg in an operation performed in Hadassah hospital. She was then transferred to the Ramle prison clinic, and she is currently using a wheelchair in order to move. She also has hypothyroidism and vision and hearing difficulties, said her lawyer.

Hashima was denied medical treatment for an hour and a half after she was shot by occupation soldiers at the Qalandiya checkpoint, and Palestinians at the checkpoint who attempted to videotape and take pictures with their phones were forced away with gas canisters thrown in their direction.

Palestinian child with epilepsy and leukemia sentenced to 90 days in Israeli prison

21 February 2017

Palestinian boy Ahmad Kaddour, 15, was sentenced on Monday, 20 February to 91 days in prison and a fine of 3000 NIS (approximately $810 USD), accused of throwing stones at Israeli occupation soldiers.

Ahmad suffers from epilepsy and is undergoing continued treatment for leukemia, with frequent need for medication and close monitoring of his medical condition. His family and Palestinian rights groups have urged his immediate release, noting that his health has severely deteriorated inside Ofer prison, where he is being held.

Ahmad has been imprisoned since 2 January, when he was seized by occupation soldiers and beaten with rifle butts near the Ofer military checkpoint; he is from the town of Beitunia.

He is one of over 300 Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons, and his case has highlighted both the imprisonment of Palestinian children and the medical neglect of Palestinian political prisoners. Nearly all imprisoned Palestinian children are subject to torture and ill-treatment, including beating, hitting, kicking, psychological abuse, threats, solitary confinement and interrogation without a parent or lawyer present.

Five Palestinian fishers seized by Israeli occupation forces

21 February 2017

Five Palestinian fishermen were attacked and seized by Israeli occupation forces off the coast of Gaza on the morning of Tuesday, 21 February. As they sailed off the coast of northern Gaza near Beit Lahiya, Israeli occupation naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen and seized five.

Omran Saber Bakr, Mahmoud Saber Bakr, Abdullah Saber Bakr, Thabet Abdel-Razaq Bakr and Omar Mohammed Bakr were seized by occupation forces and taken to the port of Ashdod.

This is the latest in a series of attacks and arrests of Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza, an element of the Israeli siege of Gaza that has strangled Palestinian economy, in particular the fishing industry. In 2016, 125 fishermen were arrested by Israeli forces and dozens of boats confiscated. While the vast majority of fishers were shortly released, they were frequently subject to physical injury and the confiscation, damage to or loss of their valuable fishing boats, at a time when fishers in Palestine have been economically devastated due to the Israeli occupation forces’ restriction of their fishing area.

21 February, NYC: Solidarity Rally for Student Freedom of Speech

21 February 2017

Tuesday, 21 February
5:00 pm
Fordham University Lincoln Center
NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1503514766355829/

Fordham University has issued a disciplinary charge against an SJP member for violating the school’s “Demonstration Policy” by organizing a January 23rd rally protesting Fordham’s decision to ban SJP from the school.

Dean Keith Eldredge, who denied the SJP club status in December and filed the complaint about the protest against his decision, will be allowed to conduct the closed-door hearing on February 22nd despite the obvious conflict of interest. He will alone determine the student’s guilt and punishment. Eldredge has denied the student any representation or a witness during this hearing.

This is only one instance of Fordham’s suppression of student free speech, student organizing and activism. The university routinely shuts down conversations with student activists, provides roadblocks for students to create meaningful changes, and uses scare tactics such as targeting individual students for speaking against policies that do not accord with the wants and needs of its student body.

Come out to the Outdoor Plaza on Tuesday 2/21 at 5pm to support not only this individual student, but freedom of speech, student power and our right to organize. We demand that Fordham University drop charges against the student in question, instate Fordham SJP as an official student organization (as approved by the USG in December 2016) and commit to free speech protection.

Sponsored by Fordham Law Coalition of Concerned Students & Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine

24 February, NYC: Protest to free Nael Barghouthi and stop HP

21 February 2017

Friday, 24 February
5:30 pm
Best Buy Union Square
52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1638948506400709/

The Israeli military court at Ofer will issue a decision on the case of Nael Barghouthi, the longest-held Palestinian prisoner on Wednesday, 22 February, reported Barghouthi’s wife Iman Nafie in Asra Voice. This decision will come in response to the appeal by the Israeli occupation military prosecution of Barghouthi’s imprisonment for 30 months – a sentence that expired on 17 December 2016.

Barghouthi, 59, has spent 36 years in Israeli prison. Originally serving a life sentence, he was released in 2011 with over 1,000 fellow Palestinian prisoners as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. In 2014, he was swept up by occupation forces with dozens of fellow former prisoners in an attempt to pressure Palestinian resistance organizations. Under Israeli military order 1651 and in violation of the release agreement, re-arrested former prisoners can have their original sentences reinstated by a military committee on the basis of secret evidence, to which both the Palestinian prisoner and their lawyers are denied access.

While dozens of former prisoners had their full sentences reimposed by this military committee, Barghouthi was sentenced to 30 months in Israeli prison. However, in 2015, his sentence was appealed by the Israeli military prosecution, which seeks to reimpose his life sentence. Since his 30-month sentence expired on 17 December 2016, he and his family have been struggling for his release; instead, however, he has been transferred between prisons on multiple occasions and denied release while the occupation prosecution’s appeal is pending.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network are joining in this urgent call for action to pressure Israel to release Nael Barghouthi, being held as a political hostage by the Israeli government.

Stand with Barghouti to demand that Israel release him and all 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners immediately, and that Hewlett Packard companies end their contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces, and checkpoints and settlements now.

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.

23 and 26 February, Sofia: Memorial for Omar Nayef Zayed

21 February 2017

Thursday, 23 February
Gathering in front of the Palestinian Embassy and Candle Vigil
2:00 pm
22, James Bourcher boulevard
1164 Sofia, Bulgaria

Sunday, 26 February
Gather at 10:30 and leave at 11:00 from the Lyulin Mosque
Going to the gravesite of Omar Nayef Zayed at 11:30 am
6:00 pm – Memorial Gathering at the Bulgarian European Cultural Center
17, Street Stamboleski
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/433303500338057/

The family and Palestinian community members in Sofia, Bulgaria will hold memorial events marking the one-year anniversary of the killing of former Palesinian prisoner Omar Nayef Zayed in the Palestinian Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria on 26 February 2016. Nayef Zayed had sought refuge in the embassy from an Israeli extradition attempt; he had escaped Israeli prisons 25 years prior and lived in Bulgaria for over two decades. He was shockingly found dead outside the Embassy and despite a year passing after his death, there has been no justice or accountability for Omar Nayef Zayed.

Palestinian journalist Omar Nazzal released after 10 months, urges mobilization for prisoners

20 February 2017

*Omar Nazzal on his release, 20 February. Photo: Sally Allawy*

Palestinian journalist Omar Nazzal was released from Israeli prison on Monday, 20 February after 10 months in Israeli administrative detention, imprisoned without charge or trial. Nazzal was seized by occupation forces on 23 April as he attempted to cross to Jordan from Palestine’s West Bank, traveling to Sarajevo to attend the conference of the European Federation of Journalists. Nazzal, 55, is a member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.

He was ordered to four months in administrative detention without charge or trial, extended twice more for two three-month periods. He had previously been held in administrative detention in 1985 and 1988 and was jailed for a year in 1977. He had also been subjected to repeated travel bans preventing him from leaving Palestine.

Upon his release, he urged broad attention to the struggle of Palestinian prisoners, emphasizing that the situation within Israeli prisons is escalating and that the prisoners’ movement is moving toward a general open hunger strike for the prisoners’ demands.

He also noted that he was leaving behind 23 Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons; he particularly noted the case of fellow administrative detainee and journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq, on hunger strike for 16 days in protest of his administrative detention without charge or trial. Al-Qeeq secured his release previously in May 2016 with a 94-day hunger strike, before he was re-arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 15 January as he returned from a protest in Bethlehem demanding the return of the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces.

Nazzal also emphasized the case of the five imprisoned Palestinian journalists of Sanabel radio, Ahmad Daraweesh, Mohammed Sous, Nidal Amro, Montasser Nassar and Hamed Nammoura, imprisoned since 31 August 2016 when Israeli occupation forces invaded the station, ransacked the building and shut down broadcasting, imprisoning the five staff members and accusing them of “incitement.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Omar Nazzal on the occasion of his release and urges intensified efforts to free imprisoned Palestinian journalists and all Palestinian prisoners, especially as Mohammed al-Qeeq continues his hunger strike for freedom.

26 February, Brussels: Day of Solidarity for Gaza

20 February 2017

Sunday, 26 February
1 pm to 6 pm
Ten Weyngaert
rue des Allies 54
1190 Forest
Brussels, Belgium

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/187032911779611/

Organized by Inaya ASBL/VZW

Gala of Solidarity for Gaza
Featuring, Nabila Kilani, Director of the Educational Center of Beit Lahiya in Gaza

Program includes:
Presentation by Nabila Kilani
Musical performance by Diwan Ennass
Musical performance with Sael
Palestinian dabkeh performance with Raj’een Group

Mustafa Awad of Raj’een Group and Samidoun will also speak about Palestinian prisoners, refugees and the struggle for return and liberation.

Food available at the event
Contact Rachida: 0495 63 44 76
Tickets in advance: 15 EUR adults, 7 EUR children
At the door: 20 EUR adults, 10 EUR children

New York City protesters demand end to persecution of activists in Palestine ’48, urge boycott of HP

19 February 2017

New Yorkers protested on Friday, 17 February outside the Best Buy in Union Square to demand freedom for Palestinian prisoners and stop the persecution of Palestinian activists and political leaders in occupied Palestine ’48. Demonstrators highlighted the case of the persecution of Basel Ghattas, a Palestinian member of the Knesset accused of smuggling mobile phones to Palestinian political prisoners. The protest also emphasized the growing international campaign for the boycott of Hewlett-Packard (HP) corporations, demanding HP end its services to Israeli prisons, detention centers and other infrastructure of colonization and occupation.

The protest, organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, highlighted the persecution of Ghattas as part of the systematic suppression of Palestinian political activity and expression through nearly 70 years of occupation. They demanded the ongoing investigation and accusations against Ghattas be dropped, alongside the persecution of As’ad Daqqa in the same case and the isolation of long-serving Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa. Walid Daqqa, 55, has been held in Israeli prison since 1986; a leader in the prisoners’ movement, he has been held in solitary confinement until 25 January and his isolation was extended until 8 March.

Protesters handed out leaflets and flyers on the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners, as well as information about HP’s profiteering from contracts for occupation identity card systems used at checkpoints, as well as database systems used by the Israel Prison Service. There is a growing international campaign to boycott HP and demand the corporation end its contracts with Israeli occupation infrastructure.

Demonstrators had lively discussions about the situation of Palestinian prisoners with passers-by, including one prison abolition activist in New York, who works with the Friends of Island Academy, an organization that works to support incarcerated youth in New York City jails. He discussed the involvement of corporations like G4S and HP in both U.S. and Israeli prisons, as well as the ongoing flow of strategies and expertise between the U.S. and Israeli governments to build repressive systems of policing, imprisonment and colonization.

The event took place only two days after Samidoun activists joined Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizers from a wide range of New York-based organizations to protest against the Trump-Netanyahu meeting. Hundreds of marchers and protesters gathered for a rally organized by the NY4Palestine coalition and a march organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. “We’ve been against the establishment of Israel since it was created over 70 years ago! People are just now waking up because it’s Trump’s face and not Obama doing the same exact thing. It didn’t start with Trump, but it starts with American imperialism!” said Nerdeen Kiswani of NYC Students for Justice in Palestine.

[fbvideo link=”https://www.facebook.com/ShehabAgency.MainPage/videos/1790350774340668/” width=”800″ height=”” onlyvideo=”1″]

Samidoun in New York City is organizing a series of upcoming events and actions in support of the Palestinian people and Palestinian prisoners, including a protest on Tuesday, 14 March outside the New York Hilton Midtown against the “Friends of the Israel Defense Forces” annual gala, where fanatical Zionists gather each year alongside Israeli soldiers to raise tens of millions of dollars to support Israel’s political imrisonment and other war crimes against occupied Palestinians. The protest will take place at 5:30 pm outside the hotel and is endorsed by a number of organizations, including Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, the Committee to Stop FBI Reception NYC, International Action Center, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, NY4Palestine and the United National Antiwar Coalition.

Palestinian film highlighting prisoners’ experience wins documentary award at Berlinale

19 February 2017

On 18 February 2017, Palestinian director Raed Andoni and the film “Ghost Hunting” won the first documentary prize bestowed at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. The unique film brings together former Palestinian political prisoners to rebuild their former prison and re-enact their experiences of interrogation and torture.

Andoni was himself detained by Israeli occupation forces during the first Intifada. At Qantara.de, Andoni is quoted: “The story begins with my own ghosts…It was a matter of retrieving suppressed emotions that lay hidden in me and in all those who have endured such experiences.” Former prisoners who participated in the film built the set that represented the prisons in which they were held, especially the Moskobiya, the notorious Jerusalem interrogation center, and then acted out the roles of guards and prisoners based on their own experiences of interrogation. A Palestinian psychologist was on hand on the set to speak with and counsel participants.

The film includes key statistics on Palestinian political prisoners, while emphasizing individual narratives of the prison experience. It most closely follows the story of Mohammed Abu Atta Khattab, who appears as himself in the film’s interviews and is played by actor Ramzi Maqdisi in dramatized segments. “If it has any firm take-home message, it shows us how bottling up trauma can he highly damaging, and also how Palestinian prisoners use art, poetry and music to escape inside themselves during the soul-crushing grind of confinement,” wrote the Hollywood Reporter.

The film is the second major production in recent years to draw attention to the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. Mai Masri’s feature film “3000 Nights” was released in 2015 and was Jordan’s 2016 submission for the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film.

Inspired by the real experiences of Palestinian women political prisoners, the well-reviewed film was met with standing ovations in film festivals and continues to be screened internationally. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the audience award at Valladolid’s festival.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network extends its congratulations to Raed Andoni, Wadee Hanani, Mohammed Abu Atta Khattab and all of the team involved in “Ghost Hunting.” Art and culture have a critical role to play in Palestinian resistance and movement-building on Palestinian, Arab and international levels, and the artistic production of Palestinian prisoners and ex-prisoners is particularly important in this regard. We hope for the widest possible distribution and dissemination of this film and all artistic works that highlight the stories, experiences and lives of Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom.

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