Shaher al-Rai, other prominent Palestinians, issued administrative detention renewals; son launches strike to reunite with father

26 January 2017

A number of Palestinian prisoners have been subject to orders for administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Over 700 Palestinian prisoners – out of 7,000 total Palestinians in Israeli jails – are held without charge or trial on the basis of “secret evidence” in this type of detention. These detention orders are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians can be held for years at a time in administrative detention.

On 23 January, Palestinian community activist and leader Shaher al-Rai, 47, had his administrative detention order renewed by the Israeli military for the fifth time. He was seized alongside fellow prominent Palestinian leftist Jamal Barham on 3 June 2015 in raids on their home by occupation military forces. Al-Rai was interrogated about “membership in an illegal organization,” the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, but he refused to confess; he was shortly thereafter ordered to administrative detention. He has been arrested seven times, including three stints in administrative detention, and imprisoned for over 12 years in total. Al-Rai is currently held in the Negev desert prison.

Al-Rai is married to Palestinian activist Manal al-Rai and they have three children, Jarrah, 24, Wajla, 20, and Kanaan, 5. Manal al-Rai spoke about the impact of her husband’s administrative detention on their young son in this video from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association:

Earlier, Al-Rai was imprisoned by Palestinian Authority security forces for multiple years after he and his cousin were implicated in a false affidavit given by a Palestinian prisoner under Israeli torture. The confession was proven false by incontrovertible evidence and the Palestinian who made the confession under torture released and later compensated by Israeli intelligence, in an unusual case. Nevertheless, al-Rai remained held in PA prison for years after the discrediting of the confession, and released only after a widespread campaign.

Meanwhile, Palestinian administrative detainee Bajis Nakhleh, 50, from the Jalazon refugee camp in Ramallah, has threatened to launch an open hunger strike after he was transferred to solitary confinement. His administrative detention without charge or trial was most recently renewed for the third time since his seizure by occupation forces on 5 March 2016. Nakhleh has spent over 20 years in Israeli prisons and was
one of the Marj al-Zohour deportees, when leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were forcibly deported from Palestine in 1992.

Ahmed Mubarak, 48, became the fourth member of the Palestinian Legislative Council currently held without charge or trial under administrative detention on 23 January, when the Ofer Military Court issued an order for his imprisonment for six months. Mubarak’s home was forcibly raided by Israeli occupation military forces on 16 January. The PLC member has been imprisoned for over five years in repeated arrests and was most recently held without charge or trial under administrative detention in 2014.

Alongside Mubarak, his fellow members of the PLC held in administrative detention are Hassan Yousef, Mohammed Natsheh and Azzam Salhab. PLC members Marwan Barghouthi, Ahmad Sa’adat and Mohammed Abu Teir are also imprisoned in Israeli jails; PFLP General Secretary Sa’adat is serving a 30-year sentence, Barghouthi is serving multiple life sentences and Abu Teir is serving a 17-month sentence.

Palestinian writer Walid Hodali, also seized by occupation forces in a raid on his home in Tira, west of Ramallah, on 16 January, was also ordered to four months in administrative detention without charge or trial on 23 Januaary. Hodali, 57, is a former prisoner who spent over 15 years total in Israeli jails; his wife, Etaf Alayan, also spent over 14 years in Israeli prison and engaged in multiple hunger strikes. Today, Hodali is the director of the Jerusalem Literary Office and a member of the Palestinian Writers’ Union. He has released a number of novels, short stories and articles and has produced two films.

In addition, Palestinian prisoner Faisal Khalifa, 35, from Nour Shams refugee camp east of Tulkarem, was ordered to six more months in administrative detention on 25 January; he has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 10 February 2016. Khalifa previously spent eight years in Israeli prisons until his release in 2013 and was also arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces under security coordination. His brother, Faris Khalifa, is serving a 10-year sentence, while his other brother Fursan Khalifa was released to the Gaza Strip in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange.

Palestinian administrative detainee Islam Saleh Dar Musa, 24, has launched a hunger strike on 25 January to protest his separation from his imprisoned father, Sheikh Saleh Dar Musa, 52. Islam Dar Musa has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 20 August 2016; he was originally ordered to four months in administrative detention, and the order was renewed in December. Saleh Dar Musa is serving 17 life sentences and has been imprisoned since 27 September 2003. Islam applied to transfer to Ramon prison to be with his father, but it was denied; he has not seen his father since he was imprisoned in 2013 and met his father in Hadarim prison before his release in 2015.

Imprisoned journalist al-Qeeq threatened with administrative detention as his wife Fayha Shalash is summoned to interrogation

26 January 2017

Imprisoned Palestinian journalist and former long-term hunger striker Mohammed al-Qeeq will be brought before the Ofer military court today, 26 January, and may be ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. Fayha Shalash, fellow journalist and al-Qeeq’s wife, said that the Israeli military court ordered his arrest extended for 72 hours on Monday, 23 January.

Shalash said to Wattan TV that occupation authorities have not garnered any confessions or charges against al-Qeeq since they seized him on 15 January as he returned from a protest in Bethlehem demanding the release of the detained bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. She emphasized that he will begin a hunger strike if he is ordered again to administrative detention.

Shalash herself was ordered to interrogation by Israeli intelligence on Wednesday, 25 January after al-Qeeq’s family home in al-Khalil and their apartment in Ramallah were raided by occupation forces in a pre-dawn attacks ransacking the home and subjecting Shalash to a strip search. Al-Qeeq was transferred yesterday to the Petah Tikva interrogation center.

Al-Qeeq previously engaged in a 94-day hunger strike against his imprisonment without charge or trial, winning his release in May 2016 and drawing international attention to the persecution of Palestinian journalists and the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Osama Zeidat, 15, released on high bail as injured and ill Palestinian children remain imprisoned

26 January 2017

Injured Palestinian child prisoner Osama Zeidat, 15, has been released on bail following his second surgery for his severely injured foot, said Palestinian lawyer Akram Samara of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

Samara said that the Ofer military appeals court issued an order to release Osama on 25,000 NIS ($6,000 USD) bail paid by his family. He was shot by Israeli occupation forces in his back and foot on 23 September and seized by them, accused of attempting to attack soldiers or settlers, despite the fact that the only person injured was the boy. He underwent a surgery and was held in Shaare Tzedek hospital for three weeks and was transferred to the Ramle prison clinic before his healing had finished. He has continued to be in severe pain, and he was transferred to military court on a hospital bed; at other times, his hearings were cancelled or postponed because of the lack of an ambulance.

His mother, Lina Mar’i, noted that their joy is incomplete due to the massive bail imposed upon Osama, as well as a condition that his father must bring him to the Israeli occupation military court on demand. She noted that he will continue his treatment in a Palestinian hospital in Ramallah.

Following multiple complaints by his family and Palestinian lawyers, Osama received another surgery on his foot on Sunday, 22 January in Assaf Harofeh hospital.

Meanwhile, injured Palestinian child prisoner Ahmed Issa, 17, was ordered by the Salem military court to remain detained until next Monday, 30 January. Ahmed, from Jenin, is held shackled to his hospital bed in Afula hospital. He was run over by an Israeli military jeep on 3 January. Ahmed’s fellow child prisoner, Sharif Khanfar, 16, was injured by the same jeep; he is detained in Assaf Harofeh hospital and his leg was amputated.

In addition, child prisoner Ahmed Kaddour, 16, remains imprisoned despite his multiple illnesses and poor health condition. Ahmed was arrested on 2 January near the Ofer military checkpoint west of Ramallah and accused of throwing stones at occupation soldiers. Ahmed is quite ill and suffers from leukemia and epilepsy as well as injuries to his right hand and leg. His family is demanding his immediate release.

These boys are among over 300 Palestinian children currently jailed by the Israeli occupation.

Nael Barghouthi injured in “bosta” transfer as New Yorkers plan protest for freedom

26 January 2017

Palestinian prisoner Nael Barghouthi – the longest-held Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails – was injured in a fall inside the “Bosta” vehicle as he was taken from Ramon prison, reported Asra Voice, as New Yorkers plan to protest for his release on Friday, 27 January.

Barghouthi, 59, is currently imprisoned while a secret Israeli military commission decides whether or not to impose his original life sentence; he was freed in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange after nearly 34 years in Israeli prison. In 2014, he was among dozens of former prisoners rounded up en masse in an attempt to pressure Palestinian resistance organizations; on the basis of secret evidence and dubious allegations of “connections with” members of “prohibited organizations,” including every major Palestinian political party. Barghouthi did not have his sentence reimposed; instead, he was ordered to 30 more months of imprisonment, which ended on 17 December 2016. The military prosecution appealed this sentence and is calling for the reimposition of his original sentence; this appeal has been sitting before the secretive commission since 2015.

His lawyers have appealed for his release; however, Israeli military courts have kept him imprisoned until the committee issues a decision on his case. During this time, he has been repeatedly transferred from one prison to another, including this transfer on 10 January.

Barghouthi was shackled hand and foot in the all-metal vehicle; in the fall, his right hand was wounded and his left foot was injured. His lawyer said on 22 January that he has not received tests or treatment for his continuing severe pain in his left leg.

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.

Activists in New York City will be protesting on Friday, 27 November at a protest organized by Samidoun, focusing on the call to release Barghouthi and the international movement to boycott Hewlett-Packard products, as HP is engaged in multiple contracts with Israeli occupation forces, including the Israel prison service, profiting from the imprisonment of Palestinians. Protesters will gather at 5:30 pm at the Union Square Best Buy at 52 E. 14th Street; all are welcome to join.

TAKE ACTION:

Sign and share the Change.org petition to urge international officials to take action for Nael Barghouthi’s release: https://www.change.org/p/international-officials-pressure-israel-to-free-nael-barghouthi

Organize a protest, demonstration, speaking event or banner drop in your city, community or campus calling for freedom for Nael Barghouthi and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.

Write to Israeli officials to demand Nael Barghouthi’s release. Write a message and email or fax it to the officials. Details available here: https://samidoun.net/2017/01/take-action-urgent-call-to-free-nael-barghouthi-longest-held-palestinian-prisoner/

Two Palestinian political prisoners receive 5-year sentences in Israeli prison

26 January 2017

Palestinian youth Hakim Musa Daoud Derbas, 18, from the town of Issawiya in Jerusalem, was sentenced to five and a half years in Israeli prison on 24 January on allegations of membership in the leftist Palestinian party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Derbas was arrested on 28 February 2016 when he was a minor and ordered to administrative detention. Several months later, he was returned to interrogation and subject to a lengthy list of allegations centering on his relationship with the PFLP. He is currently held in Ramon prison.

Meanwhile, also on 24 January, the Israeli court in Beersheba sentenced Hani Fathi Asleem, 41, from al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City, to five years in Israeli prison. Asleem was seized on 24 March 2016 as he entered the Beit Hanoun/Erez crossing; he had received a permit to travel to Jerusalem for medical treatment for his right leg. Instead, he was seized by Israeli intelligence and taken to Ashkelon interrogation center and accused him of membership in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. He is currently held in Nafha prison.

Tunisian labor federation honors Palestinian prisoners Sa’adat, Barghouthi

26 January 2017

The 23rd conference of the Tunisian General Labour Union – the major labor organization in Tunisia and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate – expressed its solidarity with imprisoned Palestinian leaders Ahmad Sa’adat and Marwan Barghouthi on Sunday, 23 January.

Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, recently inspired an international week of action demanding his freedom and that of fellow Palestinian prisoners.

Fadwa Barghouthi, the wife of imprisoned prominent Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi, addressed the conference, praising the Tunisian people’s commitment to the Palestinian cause.

Sa’adat and Barghouthi are two of the most prominent Palestinian political leaders serving lengthy sentences in Israeli jails; Sa’adat is serving a 30-year sentence while Barghouthi is serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prison. Both were presented with the Shield of the Union in a ceremony at the massive labor conference.

The conference is electing new leadership for the labor union and focusing on the need to confront neoliberalism and social inequality. Speakers also focused on the need to defend Tunisian workers migrating abroad to organize and protect their rights.

Palestinian popular resistance activists subjected to arrests, raids, persecution

26 January 2017

Palestinian popular resistance activists and human rights defenders continue to come under attack by Israeli occupation forces. In a pre-dawn raid on Thursday, 26 January, Israeli occupation forces raided the home of Abdullah Abu Rahma, the coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Jenin.

In an interview with Wattan TV, Abu Rahma said that 40 soldiers surrounded the village and raided the home, ransacking the house and confiscating the computers and mobile phones of the family. Abu Rahma himself had been released only one day prior; he was held for two days after he was seized by Israeli forces while attending the Ofer military court hearing of six other popular resistance activists. His home was last raided in September 2016, when once again mobile phones and computers were confiscated.

The six Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC) activists were seized by Israeli occupation forces as they erected a protest tent in the name of Bab al-Shams outside the Ma’ale Adumim illegal settlement, protesting Israeli threats to annex it to Jerusalem and defending Palestinian indigenous land. Four – Jamil Barghouthi, Ahmed Odeh, Khaled Quteishat and Lema Nazeeh – were ordered released on Sunday, 22 January under the conditions of paying a 30,000 NIS bail (over $7,000 USD) and three days of house arrest. Mohammed Khatib and Akram Khatib were released on bail on 24 January after two more days of interrogation, following the hearing at which Abu Rahma was arrested.

One of those arrested, Lema Nazeeh, is the deputy chair of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee and has been arrested five times in three years for participating in public protests against settlements, land confiscation and the imprisonment of Palestinians. Mohammed Khatib is also a board member of PSCC.

23 January, Brussels: BDS – Fighting Back Against Targeting and Criminalization

22 January 2017

Monday, 23 January
4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
European Parliament
Room PHS 5A033
Brussels, Belgium
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1628509307164244/

NOTE: If you are willing to participate, please send an email with your full name, address, ID number and date of birth to jonsebastian.rodriguezforrest@ep.europa.eu

Welcome to an open meeting about democratic opposition, the Palestinian BDS movement and it’s future.

In December 2016 the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. The resolution acknowledges that no justice and no peace can be achieved as long as Israel continues its violent occupation. Furthermore, Israel systematically tries to silence opponent voices both within the country, for example by the debated NGO law that targets pro-Palestinian NGOs. And globally by, for example, targeting the BDS movement.

BDS is a movement recognised by the UN as a means of resistance, and it has been used as a tool to defend human rights in different situations. The most known BDS movement is probably still the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. Given the current situation of criminalization of BDS in several Member States and the attempts to strip people and institutions of the EU from this right, we would like to invite you to a meeting taking place in the European Parliament on 23rd January 16.00-19.00 at PHS 5A033 to consider these issues.

At this point, how can we make sure to safeguard and strengthen the democratic spaces of opposition?

How can we strengthen the BDS movement? What can we learn from former successes and failures?

If you are willing to participate, please send an email with your full name, address, ID number and date of birth to jonsebastian.rodriguezforrest@ep.europa.eu
Room: PHS 5A033
Programme:
16.00 Opening MEP Neoklis Sylikiotis

16.10 Short individual presentations of people attending

16.30 Presentation Charlotte Kates, coordinator of Samidoun – Palestinian Prisoner Support Network 10 min

16.40 Presentation by Anna Wester, Palestinagrupperna Sweden 10 min

16.50 Skype call with Omar Barghoutti, a co-founder of BDS movement, followed by a Q&A 25 min

Short break

17.20 Roundtable/open discussion: future of BDS in light of increased criminalization
Moderator: MEP Malin Björk

18.45 Outcome and closing remarks MEP Marina Albiol

Former prisoner Randa Shahatit re-arrested; 11 women at Damon prison in harsh conditions

20 January 2017

Palestinian former prisoner Randa Shahatit was re-arrested on Friday night, 20 January, at an Israeli military occupation checkpoint at the entrance to al-Fuwwar refugee camp south of al-Khalil.

Shahtit’s husband, Yousef Abu Sabha, said that occupation soldiers stopped their vehicle at the entrance of the camp at a suddenly-erected flying checkpoint before seizing his wife and taking her away in a military vehicle. She later was able to call her husband to tell him she is being taken to the detention and interrogation center in Kiryat Arba settlement.

Shahatit has been arrested on multiple occasions. On 1 June 2009 she was arrested by Israeli occupation forces and sentenced to 50 months in prison. She was liberated from Israeli prison in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange agreement in October 2011. Since her release from prison, Shahatit, 30, married and had three children, Hamza, Ibrahim and Abrar. Her youngest child is 9 months old, and her older children are 2 and 3 years of age.

On 4 August 2016, she was again seized by occupation forces as she passed through a checkpoint and taken to HaSharon prison, accused of “violating the terms of her release.” She was released 12 days later on bail conditions while the secret Israeli military committee that can re-impose sentencing on former prisoners considered her case; she was forbidden to leave her home town or participate in any events. She was also ordered to report weekly to the police at Kiryat Arba.

On 3 January 2017, Palestinian lawyer Ahmed Safia of the Palestinian Prisoners Society reported that the Ofer military court had decided not to reimpose her sentence, however, that for the next five years, Shahatit must not “breach her release conditions.” Over 50 Palestinian prisoners released in the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange have had their original sentences reimposed by the military committee on the basis of secret evidence. The longest-held Palestinian prisoner, Nael Barghouthi, currently remains imprisoned while this committee is considering reimposing his life sentence in an appeal by the military prosecution.

This evening, only two weeks after that apparent court victory, Shahatit was again arrested and taken from her young children.

Of a total of approximately 60 Palestinian women imprisoned in Israeli jails, 11 are held in Damon prison. The majority of Palestinian women are held in HaSharon prison, and those held in Damon have repeatedly complained of poor conditions and lengthy “bosta” trips that can take up to three days to travel to and from the military court due to repeated stops and searches, despite close physical proximity.

Palestinian lawyer Hanan al-Khatib of the Prisoners Affairs Commission stated that the 11 women are housed in one section of two rooms and that they continue to experience poor conditions and harassment from jailers.

The women held in Damon are: Ataya Abu Aisha, Haifa Abu Sbeih, Salam Abu Sharar, Shifaa Abdo al-Shelouda, Diana Khuwayled, Hilweh Alayan Hamamreh, Nisrin Hassan Abu Kamil, Amani Al-Hashem, Najwan Odeh, Sabah Faraoun and Hanadi Rashid.

Haifa Abu Sbeih, the representative of the prisoners in Damon, is an elementary school principal and a board member of the Democracy Center in Ramallah. Abu Sbeih noted that the prison administration had agreed to improve conditions but that none of the agreements had been implemented.

Palestinian human rights defender, BDS leader Salah Khawaja continues to be imprisoned on Israeli “secret file”

20 January 2017

Palestinian human rights defender Salah Khawaja is currently being held in prison on the basis of a so-called “secret file” and threatened with administrative detention, reported the Stop the Wall Campaign. Khawaja, 46, is a member of the Secretariat of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee and a leader of the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. He was seized from his Ramallah home on 26 October 2016 in a pre-dawn armed military raid by Israeli occupation forces and subject to heavy, torturous interrogation, ill-treatment, beatings and denial of access to a lawyer.

Several brief military court hearings were held in Khawaja’s case, in which he was accused of contact with an “agent of an enemy state.” This allegation is frequently leveled against Palestinians who travel to other Arab countries and meet Arab and Palestinian civil activists or media figures outside occupied Palestine. “Enemy states” include Lebanon, Syria and Algeria; thus, similar charges are frequently used against Palestinians who participate in public political events and conferences in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon based simply on their presence in public places or press interviews.

In Khawaja’s case, it appears that this charge was even weaker than usual; he was accused of meeting someone of unspecified identity in Jordan. After the charges against Khawaja appeared to be falling apart in a hearing on 28 December, the Israeli military prosecution submitted a “secret file” to supplement the charge sheet and pursue an order of administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence. This secret evidence is denied to both the detainee and their lawyers, making it nearly impossible to disprove or mount a defense.

At the 28 December hearing, the military court judge adjourned the case until a time to be set later. In the three-week period since 28 December, no new hearing has been set in Khawaja’s case and this prominent Palestinian human rights defender remains imprisoned on the basis of a so-called “secret file.”

Stop the Wall notes that dubious and frequently-used charges like those in Khawaja’s case have multiple effects on Palestinians imprisoned by the Israeli occupation. “Firstly, they allow Israel to frame and keep human rights defenders in prison. Secondly, they are part of Israeli propaganda efforts to depict its policies of occupation, apartheid and colonisation as a ‘self-defense’ against a Palestinian ‘threat’, ‘terrorism’ and violence. Finally, they aim to create suspicion and mistrust within Palestinian communities as members of the same community are forced to sign confessions.”

Take Action:

1. Participate in the Front Line Defenders action, urging the Israeli state to immediately release Khawaja and end its persecution of Palestinian human rights defenders. Join in here: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/action/take-action-salah-khawaja

2. Demand your country’s officials speak up and end the silence and complicity in the detention of Salah Khawaja and other Palestinian human rights defenders, and over 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners. Call your foreign affairs officials – and members of parliament – and urge action on this case.

Call during your country’s regular office hours:

Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop: + 61 2 6277 7500
Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion: +1-613-996-5789
European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully: +64 4 439 8000
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson: +44 20 7008 1500
United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111

Tell your government:

Salah Khawaja, a Palestinian human rights defender, has been arbitrarily detained since 26 October and his continued confinement is being justified through “secret evidence”. Salah is one of the primary Palestinian voices against the illegal settlements and wall destroying Palestinian land.
Your government must demand Salah’s immediate release and an end to the persecution of Palestinian human rights defenders by the Israeli state.
The government must do more than express concern, but should also take serious measures to end these violations. Representatives of your government should attend Salah’s hearings and suspend agreements with Israeli institutions involved in the ongoing imprisonment and oppression of Palestinians.

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