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Wednesday, November 12, 2025
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Rising revolt against administrative detention: 5 Palestinians on hunger strike, over 1100 jailed without charge or trial

Palestinian prisoners are rising up behind bars in Zionist prisons to confront administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Out of nearly 5,000 total Palestinan political prisoners, approximately 1,132 are held without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders, the largest number of administrative detainees in 20 years.

Five prisoners are on hunger strike to end their administrative detention, while dozens more are launching protest steps against the prison administration. Kayed Fasfous — former long-term striker who previously won his freedom through a hunger strike — has been on hunger strike for five days, joining Saif Qassem Hamdan, Osama Maher Khalil, Qusay Jamal Khader and Salah Rafaat Rabaya, who have been on hunger strike for 9 days.

Saif Hamdan, 27, is from Barqa in Nablus and has been jailed without charge or trial since 4 October 2022, after he was seized at a checkpoint near Barqa. Held in Nafha prison, his detention has been renewed three times already. A construction labourer, he is the father of five children.

Osama Khalil, 23, from al-Faraa refugee camp near Tubas, has been detained since 17 May 2022 and is also held in Nafha. His administrative detention has been repeatedly renewed since that time. He worked in tile workshops and a vegetable store prior to his arrest.

Qusay Khader, 24, from Al-Amari camp near Ramallah, has been detained since 14 December 2022. He is a former prisoner who previously spent 14 months in occupation prisons; he is a labourer in an aluminum factory. His detention has already been renewed three times.

Salah Rabaya, 22, from Maythaloon in Jenin, has been detained since 8 February 2023. He is a student at Khadouri University, majoring in sports and athletics, and works in a furniture store with his family.

Kayed Fasfous, 34, has been detained since 2 May 2023. Fasfous, whose four brothers are also imprisoned under administrative detention, has spent 7 years in the occupation prisons in total, 4 of them in administrative detention, after he was first detained in 2007. He is held in the Naqab desert prison. In late May and the beginning of June, he went on hunger strike for 9 days, which he ended with a promise to set a limit for hi detention. In 2021, Kayed Fasfous conducted a 131-day hunger strike; images of his emaciated body were widely circulated, in sharp contrast to his commitment to fitness and bodybuilding while free. Fasfous is married and a father of a daughter, Joanne. He has been denied family visits since his arrest in May.

These hunger strikes come amid an escalation in collective confrontation. On Thursday, 3 August, 16 Palestinian prisoners launched a series of protest actions in Ofer prison against the policy of administrative detention. This was followed by a statement by the Administrative Detainees’ Committees, announcing collective steps to challenge the escalating use of administrative detention.

On Saturday, 5 August, the administrative detainees delayed their entrance to and return from the prison yard and on Sunday, 6 August, returned two meals collectively. On Tuesday, 8 August, the prisoners announced that they would not go out to the prison medical clinics and would closed the laundries.

The statement affirmed:

“At a time when our people are subected to the most severe Zionist repressive and racist measures, including killing, land confiscation and systematic displacement, and as our peopl express their revolutionary will in the highest meanings of confrontation and steadfastness in their principled adherence to their land, identity, freedom and dignity, we, the administrative detainees in the prisons of the oppressive colonial occupation, are exposed to the worst forms of arbitrary detention and suffering through our continuous detention that contradicts the most basic human rights and provisions of international law. This detention is practiced by their security services against the fighters of our people and our social activists, with the aim of subjugation and submission, and as an individual and collective punishment to inflict even greater harm upon us and our families under the pretext of the ‘secret security file’ and the hypothetical ‘danger to the security of the region.'”

“The policy of invasion and retaliation pursued by their security services against us, which we have witnessed in the recent period, is represented by the increase in our numbers, as our number has reached more than 1,200 administrative detainees, a number that has not been reached for 20 years, and the intensive renewal of detention orders for the majority of us in the recent period, as well as the arrest of women, children, the sick and the elderly, and the adoption of a revolving door policy that takes us out of administrative detention only for a short respite that does not exceed the one or two months that many of us spend outside the prison.”

“We are confronting this reality that has been going on for decades, where the state of emergency has been turned into a permanent and continuous state, in which the Zionist judicial system is used to legitimize this kind of arbitrary detention in order to subjugate us and attack our freedom and our lives. Many of us have spent more than 10 years and some have exceeded 15 years in detention.”

“Based on all this and our long experience in struggle and previous battles of confrontation, and after we have exhausted all means of dialogue and messages to many parties, as we did not find any listening ears to our demands, nor did we receive any positive reactions that put an end to our ongoing tragedy, we, the administrative detainees, of our various national orientations and paths, and from all factions in the prisons, demand that we proceed with our protest steps within the framewor of the open, escalating and comprehensive program of confrontation in response to this criminal policy. So that our confrontation is not seasonal, intermittent or a mere reaction, it was agreed in Ofer Prison as a preliminary start on a series of collective steps, which include open disobedience, mass exit from the cells, hunger strikes in limited batches, protests and delays in returning from and going to the yard, returning medicines, and refusing to deal with the clinics, which will extend to the rest of the prisons at the appropriate time. Based on developments and how we are dealt with, we will determine the appropriate time for the strategic step represented by the collective open hunger strike. Accordingly, on Thursday 3 August 2023, a group of administrative detainees in Ofer prisons will remain in their cells, which will be followed by many steps in the coming days, including sit-ins in the prison yards and the return of meals, all conducted under the supervision and direction of the Administrative Detainees’ Committee in the prisons of the Zionist occupation, and in coordination with the Higher National Emergency Committee of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement, to approve the program of national confrontation against administrative detention, with a national document of honour to express our united joint work.”

“As we raise our voice in rejection of this racist policy holding us hostage in detention, we look forward to the active, responsible role of our people and their activities from all popular and official sides, to join their efforts in our steps of struggle to support us in this battle. Our victory in this battle will enhance our confidence in our national and collective action and will open the door to other victories. Together, we will be able to expose these criminal measures and bring the perpetrators to the International Criminal Court, and we will remain loyal to the path of steadfastness and sacrifice.”

There are 18 child prisoners held in administrative detention and three women. In the past year, the occupation has issued 1608 detention orders, including 813 new orders and 795 renewal orders. Administrative detention orders are being issued on a near daily basis; on Monday, 7 August, occupation forces renewed the detention of Raghad Shamroukh from Dheisheh camp for four months; Ghassan Karajah from Safa village for four months; Abdel-Rahman Jarrar from Jaba for 4 months; and Nazih Abu Aoun, all of these for the third or fourth time consecutively. On 3 August, they renewed the detention of child prisoner Jamal Brahma, 17, for the second time for a new four-month period, and Bahaa Imad Qaadan, fom Tulkarem, was ordered to 6 months in detention after being seized from his home on 12 July 2023.

What Is Administrative Detention?

Administrative detention was first used in Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then adopted by the Zionist regime; it is now used routinely to target Palestinians, especially community leaders, activists, and influential people in their towns, camps and villages.

There are currently approximately 1132 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of nearly 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners, the highest number in 20 years.

Administrative detention orders are issued by the military and approved by military courts on the basis of “secret evidence”, denied to both Palestinian detainees and their attorneys. Issued for up to six months at a time, they are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians — including minor children — can spend years jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Hundreds of Palestinians have gone on hunger strike to win their liberation from this form of arbitrary detention, which is not only illegal under international law but a form of psychological torture and collective punishment targeting Palestinian families and communities, as detainees are unable to predict or plan for their release.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine to take action to support these Palestinian hunger strikers and all Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom, for their own lives and for the Palestinian people. These sons of the Palestinian popular masses are confronting the system of Israeli oppression on the front lines behind bars, with their bodies and their lives, to bring the system of administrative detention to an end. With over 1100 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial — over 20% of all Palestinian prisoners — the struggle to bring down administrative detention is more urgent than ever. Take these actions below to stand with the hunger strikers and the struggle for liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!

Download these signs for use in your campaigns:

TAKE ACTION: 

Protest at the Israeli Embassy or Consulate in Your Country!

Join the many protests taking place around the world — confront, isolate and besiege the Israeli embassy or consulate in your city or country of residence. Make it clear that the people are with Palestine! Send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.

Take to the streets: Organize a protest in solidarity with Palestine!

Take to the streets and join actions for justice! Organize your own if there is none in your area, and send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.

Boycott Israel!

The international, Arab and Palestinian campaign to boycott Israel can play an important role at this critical time. Local boycott groups can protest and label Israeli produce and groceries, while many complicit corporations – including HP, G4S, Puma, Teva and others, profit from their role in support Zionist colonialism throughout occupied Palestine. By participating in the boycott of Israel, you can directly help to throw a wrench in the economy of settler colonialism.

Demand Your Government Sanction Israel!

The racist, settler colonial state of Israel and its war crimes against the Palestinian people are enabled and backed extensively by the over $3.8 billion each year given to Israel by the United States — targeted directly to support the Israeli occupation military killing children, women, men and elders throughout occupied Palestine. From Canada to Australia to the European Union, Western governments and imperialist powers provide ongoing diplomatic, political and economic support to Israel as well as selling billions of dollars of weaponry to the settler-colonial state. Meanwhile, they also purchase billions of dollars in weaponry from the Israeli state. Governments in league with imperialist powers, such as in the Philippines, Brazil, India and elsewhere, also buy weapons and “security” services — all “battle-tested” on the Palestinian population. Call your representatives, MPs, political officials and demand your government sanction Israel now, cut off all aid, expel its ambassadors, and stop buying and selling weapons!

16 August, NYC/Online Event: Fadia Barghouti live from Ramallah in conversation with CUNY 4 Palestine

The Israeli attacks on Jenin and Nablus this summer have been heartbreaking and infuriating to watch. Now more than ever, we must stand in and build solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Join us for a virtual event featuring Palestinian political organizer, Fadia Barghouti, joining us live from Ramallah. Fadia will discuss the most recent escalation of settler colonial oppression and violence in Palestine as well as update us on Palestinian resistance. Activists from Within Our Lifetime, Palestinian Youth Movement, and CUNY4Palestine will follow with brief remarks on how you can contribute to the struggle for Palestinian liberation. Bring your outrage, questions, and ideas.

When: August 16, 12-1:30pm
Where: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88001909458?pwd=WXBaQjdyYzFWbHRUOTgwMHZYMzdydz09

Organized by CUNY 4 Palestine

Keep up to date with our campaigns, events and more by following us on social media:
Twitter: @Cuny4P; Instagram:@cuny4palestine & Linktree: https://linktr.ee/cuny4palestine

Palestinian prisoners’ movement leaders under attack: Interrogation and isolation of Wael Jaghoub, Yaqoub Qadri, Nael Barghouthi

Palestinian prisoners are continuing to confront new repressive attacks inside the occupation prisons, amid a growing uprising against administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. On Monday, 31 July, occupation forces stormed the rooms of Palestinian prisoners in Gilboa prison, and attacked leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, including Wael Jaghoub, Nader Sadaqa, Hikmat Abdel-Jalil and Ahmad al-Ardah, all of whom were taken to interrogation.

Wael Jaghoub was then transferred to isolation in Salmoun prison. On Thursday, 3 August, these repressive actions continued with Yasar Shtayyeh, Thaer Hanani, Mohammed Tabanja, Mahmoud Nairat and Mohammed Obeidat all being suddenly transferred to interrogation.

Next, on Tuesday, 1 August, occupation forces invaded the room of Nael Barghouthi, the longest-held Palestinian prisoner in total number of years served, and transferred him to the Jalameh interrogation center. He was previously denied visits from his wife and sister. Barghouthi has been imprisoned since 1978 and was repeatedly denied release until 2011, when he was liberated in the Wafaa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. After his release, he married fellow former prisoner Iman Nafeh. On 18 June 2014, he was seized by occupation forces, who then reimposed his former sentence, along with dozens of Palestinians freed in the exchange.

On Monday, 7 August, Yaqoub Qadri, one of the six Freedom Tunnel prisoners, who liberated themselves from Gilboa prison in September 2021, was transferred from isolation in Megiddo prison to isolation in Ohli Kedar prison. All six prisoners — Qadri, Mahmoud al-Ardah, Mohammed al-Ardah, Ayham Kamamji, Munadel Nafa’at and Zakaria Zubaidi — have been subjected to constant isolation and frequent transfers since they were rearrested, and their fellow prisoners have conducted several protest actions and steps of struggle to defend them. Their isolation cells lack necessities of life and their ongoing isolation and transfer is targeting them physically and psychologically.

The PFLP prisoners announced on Sunday, 6 August that they would begin protest actions to demand Jaghoub’s release from isolation. Jaghoub, who has been a prominent leader in several collective hunger strikes and protest movements inside the Zionist prisons, has been repeatedly held in isolation during his years in prisons. They announced that beginning on Tuesday, 8 August, they would refuse to participate in roll call and wear prison uniforms to make it clear that they are ready to escalate their steps of confrontation.

Born in 1976 in Beita, south of Nablus, Wael Jaghoub was first arrested in 1992. He has been jailed since 1 May 2001 and is sentenced to life imprisonment. Formerly the head of the PFLP prison branch, he is considered one of the leaders of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its strongest condemnation of the ongoing policy of isolation, raids and attacks directed against the Palestinian prisoners. As in these three cases — those of Wael Jaghoub, Nael Barghouthi and Yaqoub Qadri — these attacks are intended to target the leaders of the Palestinian resistance and revolutionary movement behind bars, the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. We urge Palestinian communities and supporters of Palestine around the world to highlight these leaders targeted for isolation and repression and make clear that we will never allow these leaders — leaders of our international liberation movements — to be isolated, despite the walls and iron bars of Zionist prisons. Instead, we pledge to organize and struggle for their freedom, the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, and the freedom of Palestine, from the river to the sea.  

Masar Badil summer youth camp concludes in Germany with continued dedication to struggle

Dozens of active members of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network throughout Europe participated in the summer camp of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, in Germany between 23 and 28 July 2023. Participants in the camp, including members and supporters of the Masar, came from France, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Sweden, the United States and Canada.

The summer camp included several internal organizational workshops, cultural activities and sports events, and participants discussed their plans for the movement’s upcoming conference in late October, titled “The Right to Return and Freedom for Prisoners,” marking the second anniversary of the founding of the Masar Badil, and the upcoming annual mass march in Lannemezan, France, for the liberation of imprisoned Lebanese revolutionary and struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, jailed in French prisons for nearly 39 years.

Participants in the camp also discussed the common struggle against repression in Europe, noting the escalating waves of defamation and repression targeting the Samidoun Network, including the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, in Germany, France, Spain and other countries. “Holding the camp successfully at this time and coming together to plan our next steps is an important and necessary step for our movement,” a Masar spokesperson said.

In conclusion, the participants in the camp affirmed their commitment to confront repression, racism and the campaign launched by the occupation regime with Zionist organizations in Europe and North America, targeting Palestinian community organiing, Palestine solidarity action and supporters of the resistance in exile and diaspora. The camp also presented several recommendations and proposals to develop the role of the Masar Badil movement and increase its presence in all levels of struggle, including political and media work.

Imprisoned, cancer-stricken Palestinian intellectual Walid Daqqah once again denied release by occupation courts

March for the freedom of Walid Daqqah in Baqa’ al-Gharbiyeh, 5 August 2023

 

Occupation courts once again denied justice to imprisoned Palestinian intellectual and freedom fighter Walid Daqqah on Monday, 7 August 2023. Imprisoned since 1986, Daqqah is currently suffering from a rare form of bone marrow cancer, myelofibrosis. Since his diagnosis in December 2022, he has not only received inadequate and inappropriate treatment for his cancer, he has also experienced a stroke, developed pneumonia, had part of his lung removed in surgery and had multiple infections after he was repeatedly removed from a civilian hospital to the infamous Ramleh prison clinic.

Demonstrations in occupied Palestine — especially in his hometown of Baqa’ al-Gharbiyeh in occupied Palestine ’48 — have continued on an almost daily basis to demand his freedom, while his family — including his wife Sana’ Salameh and their daugher Milad, conceived through “liberated sperm” smuggled outside the prison after he and his wife were denied conjugal visits.

Daqqah’s family issued a statement on the latest denial of his early release petition, as follows:

Statement by the family and the campaign to release the prisoner Walid Daqqah on the refusal of the Lod (al-Lydd) Central Court of early release for the prisoner Walid Daqqah, Monday, 7 August 2023 at 1:55 pm

Today, Monday, 7 August 2023, the Central Court of Lod (al-Lydd) issued a decision rejecting the early release of the prisoner Walid Daqqah, despite the extreme danger to his life as a result of the deterioration of his health conditions during the past five months, and he is still undergoing inappropriate treatment due to the seriousness of his condition, in the Ramleh prison clinic (Marash). It is noteworthy that the prisoner Walid Daqqah’s unjust life sentence of 37 years ended on 24 March 2023, but he is still arbitrarily detained after two years were added to his sentence in 2018 on the pretext of his attempt to help the prisoners contact their families.

We, the family and the campaign for the release of the prisoner Walid Daqqah, consider any decision or judgment that does not lead to the immediate release of the prisoner Daqqah to be an authorization for his execution, by procrastinating in deciding on his release despite the very high degree of danger posed by his health condition, which was recognized even by the report of the occupation prisons “Minshalah.” Despite this report, the removal of the “Sagaf” (high-security prisoner) classification of Walid Daqqah and the expiration of his actual sentence five months ago, the court again refused his immediate release. We take this opportunity to call on all political and popular levels of support for our campaign at all levels, nationally on the Palestinian scene, in the Arab world, and internationally, until the release of the prisoner Walid Daqqah. We will continue to work on the legal path by petitioning the Israeli Supreme Court.

Campaign to release the prisoner Walid Daqqah

In July 2023, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers adopted a resolution urging Daqqah’s release, noting, “Daqqah has been repeatedly denied release in prisoner exchanges with other Palestinian political prisoners four times, in 1994, 2008, 2011 and 2014, because he is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, yet he has also been denied the rights and privileges granted to Jewish Israeli prisoners, such as conjugal visits and early release, reflecting the apartheid and settler colonial nature of the Israeli prison system…Walid Daqqah is one of the preeminent intellectuals of the Palestinian resistance movement and has been subjected to solitary confinement in retaliation for his writing and publication, and is the author of multiple books, including: Testimonies of Resistance: The Battle of Jenin Camp 2002 (2004); Consciousness Molded or the Re-identification of Torture (2010); The Story of the Forgotten in Parallel Time (2011); The Oil’s Secret Tale (2018); The Sword’s Secret Tale (2021); The Spirit’s Secret Tale/ The Martyrs Return to Ramallah (2022), as well as unpublished manuscripts, paintings, poetry, lyrics and autobiography.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the family of Walid Daqqah, the campaign for his freedom and the entire Palestinian people in demanding his immediate release, the only way in which he can receive proper treatment without restrictions. The Israeli prison administration and the Zionist regime hold full responsibility for his life as they continue to deny him an appropriate environment to treat his rare cancer.

Take action to save the life of Walid Daqqah and defeat the Zionist policy of assassination through medical neglect.

We urge Palestinian communities around the world and supporters of Palestine to include the campaign to free Walid Daqqah in your events and activities for Palestine and to organize actions and events demanding his immediate liberation and that of all Palestinian prisoners.

  • The Palestinian Youth Movement has launched a petition campaign as part of their advocacy for Daqqah’s release. Samidoun has signed on to this call alongside many other organizations and individuals! Add your name and sign on here: https://palestinianyouthmovement.com/free-walid-daqqah

Use these signs below in your actions and campaigns, and send us your photos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or via email at samidoun@samidoun.net.

Use the hashtags:

Download below, in English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese and Italian — or Download all PDFs (A3) or (11×17).

 

Preliminary Statement and Findings of the Venezuela Fact-Finding Mission

The following statement was issued by the Venezuela Fact-Finding Mission of the International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism, carried out between July 24-28 with the National Lawyers Guild and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Charlotte Kates, Samidoun’s international coordinator, participated in the Mission.

As the Fact Finding Mission of the International People’s Tribunal, we unequivocally denounce the U.S. imperialist hybrid war on the Venezuelan people, economy and state. Throughout our mission we have witnessed the brutal effects of the unilateral economic coercive measures regime. Our meetings, interviews, and discussions clearly exposed the lies of the US government and the propaganda of the corporate media that aim to depict Venezuela as a “failed state”. We concluded  our Mission July 28, the birthday of Comandante Hugo Chávez with our Venezuela Hearing and public release of our statement. 

As we mark the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, we recall that the economic blockade is part of a long history of enslaving, colonizing and subjugating the peoples of the Global South. Our meetings have helped us to understand how sanctions are designed not only to exacerbate internal contradictions within the organic social base of a revolutionary project but to undermine the material conditions necessary for socialism. The sanctions regime attempts to manufacture political confusion among the population, to direct legitimate frustration over a lack of social services and access to public goods against their government rather than the true culprit: US imperialism. What appears as neoliberal austerity is in fact CRIMINAL THEFT by sanctions. As one of our speakers, Laura Franco, Coordinator of Exchange and Cooperation at the Simon Bolivar Institute told us “this is not a neoliberal economy, it is a war economy.” 

Sanctions as a Policy of “Regime Change”

Political confusion is neither accidental nor a secondary result of the sanctions and blockade regime. It is designed to create an environment of chaos towards regime change and to provide narratives for opposition forces, particularly proxies of the United States working to extend and intensify the sanctions regime. For example, the recognition of Juan Guaido as the fake “president of Venezuela” by the US, Canada and other imperialist powers was used to create propaganda and also to implement the sanctions, by confiscating the property of the Venezuelan state (the sole legitimate political organ of the Venezuelan people) and transferring them to the custody of an array of U.S.-backed “opposition” forces, another form of blockade imposed upon the assets of the Venezuelan people. 

We see the most recent incitement towards “regime change” with the announcement of a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. This bounty recalls those issued for the heads of state of Iraq and Libya shortly before their violent removal and assassination and the destruction, destabilization and looting of these states by imperialist forces. Additionally, the three bills in the U.S. Congress that seek through legislative means to achieve the same ends: the Prohibition of Transactions and Leases with Venezuela’s Illegitimate Authoritarian Regime Act, the Venezuelan Human Rights “AFFECT” Act and the Venezuelan Democracy Act. The bills have a common denominator: to further increase the pressure of the blockade and impose on it a framework of “humanitarian assistance”. This represents an escalation of imperialist intervention in the lead up to the presidential elections next year. 

Bolivarian Resistance to U.S. Imperialism 

In our mission, we learned about the suffering of the Venezuelan people because of the imperialist sanctions regime. But we also learned about and have been inspired by their resistance. We witnessed the resilience and creativity of the communes, building independent economic capacity and development based on collective, non-capitalist forms of knowledge production.  We saw the ingenuity and passion of doctors in the Children’s Cardiology Hospital of Latin America treating the most difficult cases while navigating shortages of medical supplies and equipment, demonstrating the cruelty and genocidal intent of the sanctions regime. We were also profoundly inspired and uplifted by the hospital’s commitment to not only treating patients from outside of Venezuela but also to providing free education to new generations of doctors internationally. This serves as a testament to the nation’s culture of compassion, socialist values, and solidarity. 

We have been particularly struck by the centrality of women to this resistance. From the struggle to achieve food sovereignty, to political education initiatives, frontline legal defense,  Afro-Venezuelan revolutionary projects fighting colonial capitalist gentrification and displacement, and their overall political leadership, women are the backbone of the Bolivarian Revolution. 

International Fact-Finding Mission

Our delegation includes lawyers, legal scholars, academics and organizers from the United States, Canada, Philippines, Kenya, Lebanon, Algeria, and Iran. This delegation is part of the International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism, an international effort investigating the sanctions regimes as key tools of imperialism, used to undermine the sovereignty – particularly the economic sovereignty – of nations in the Global South, maintaining the global capitalist order. Venezuela and all countries targeted by U.S. sanctions have challenged U.S. imperialism, and seek to uphold their independence and sovereignty from U.S. hegemony. We are holding hearings on the impact of sanctions, economic coercive measures, in 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

Our mission has examined the intent, history, and legal framework of the sanctions regime. It has entailed observation, analysis, and earnest dialogue with impacted individuals, workers in various sectors of the economy, communes, analysts, political organizers, and government officials. 

 Throughout our mission, we met with many people and organizations, all deeply committed to defending the Bolivarian Revolution and advancing toward socialism, despite the United States’ tremendous crimes against the Venezuelan people historically, and especially in the past eight years. “We refuse to negotiate our revolution under the sanctions’ gunpoint,” declared Robert Longa from Comuna Socialista El Panal. 

Our meetings included a meeting with Venezuela’s Vice-Minister of Anti-Blockade Policies, William Castillo, the Venezuelan Anti-Blockade Observatory, El Panal Commune, Venezuela Analysis, SURES, Plan Pueblo a Pueblo, Free Alex Saab Movement, Fundación Rompiendo la Norma ‍(Breaking the Norm),  La Fundación Género con Clase (Gender with Class), Children’s Cardiology Hospital of Latin America, CONADECAFRO (National Council for the Development of Afro-descendant Communities of Venezuela)– and Cumbe Nacional AFROvenezolano.

Our objective has been to illuminate the consequences of sanctions, as experienced and understood from the ground, and to deliver a comprehensive account of their socioeconomic, political, cultural, and individual effects. The investigation has informed our collective understanding and equipped us with the evidence that was presented in the July 28th Venezuela Hearing. 

Holding U.S. Imperialism Accountable 

As we conclude our mission in Venezuela, our Tribunal moves forward on research, legal and political work to challenge U.S. imperialism and its blockade on the people and nation of Venezuela. We will complete our deliberations and release our verdict and findings at the closing on 29-30 September at the People’s Forum  in New York City, on the sidelines of the opening of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Today, we state unequivocally that the sanctions, blockades and economic coercive measures imposed on Venezuela constitute crimes against humanity, including the crime of genocide. That the US has not succeeded in its efforts to subjugate the Venezuelan people is a testament to their resistance, creativity and steadfastness in developing new forms of action and production in order to confront the blockade. 

We conclude the work of our mission  in Caracas with inspiration, motivation and commitment to do everything in our power to confront these crimes against humanity alongside the people of Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Palestine, Zimbabwe, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Eritrea, and all the peoples and nations of the world targeted for confronting imperialism, yet moving on a daily basis from resistance towards dignity, collective liberation, self-determination and emancipation. 

From Palestine to Venezuela, imperialist crimes can never be stopped through concessions to its demands: It is RESISTANCE that wins. It is clear, more than ever, that the U.S. empire is not able to achieve its ends by committing these crimes, and that we are witnessing a brutal attempt to maintain U.S. hegemony amid an emerging pluripolar world.

There is an added responsibility of people in the belly of  the beast to challenge imperialist sanctions and to hold U.S. imperialism accountable for their crimes against humanity and plunder of the wealth and peoples of the world. We strongly denounce the deliberate promotion of migration of young Venezuelan populations to the U.S. and the imposition of a fake “American dream”. This trend in reality aims to push Venezuelans to join the impoverished working classes, in particular the dispossessed, criminalized and struggling Black and Brown communities in the United States, at the same time that U.S. policies seek to impoverish Venezuela. 

The devastation wrought by U.S. imperialism is substantial and apparent across a range of indicators and fields, from coerced migration to the confiscation of state assets, from the unlawful detention, kidnapping and imprisonment of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab to the attack on petroleum production and revenues. At the same time, as we conclude our mission, we are struck not only by the enormity of the crimes against humanity committed by the U.S. in Venezuela but also by the strength of the resistance of the Venezuelan people and their legitimate organs of governance and representation as well as their internationalist perspective and political clarity.

The crimes taking place in Venezuela are inseparable from U.S.-led imperialism and capitalism. Confronting these crimes cannot be confined to the legal sphere but requires a clear political commitment to confront, defeat, and dismantle imperialism and capitalism.  The global world order must change, from unipolarity to pluripolarity, from anti-people to a pro-people order with dignity, emancipation and self-determination for all.

Together, we declare: These crimes against humanity will not pass! We pledge to stand with the people of Venezuela and of the world, to do our work in our spheres of legal action, political education and popular organizing  to defeat sanctions, blockades and coercive economic measures, to support the Venezuelan people and all those confronting sanctions in order to advance the potential for revolutionary victory for all of our peoples in struggle. 

In struggle until victory, 

Members of the Fact-Finding Mission 

The International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions, Blockades, and Economic Coercive Measures

 

Samidoun joins international fact-finding mission to expose U.S. sanctions against Venezuela

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is participating in the international fact-finding mission in Venezuela launched by the International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions, Blockades, Coercive Economic Measures, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the National Lawyers Guild (U.S.) on the impact of U.S. sanctions and coercive economic measures targeting the people and nation of Venezuela. The fact-finding mission is composed of delegates representing a range of international organizations, including distinguished lawyers, jurists, academics and activists. The mission will conclude on Friday, July 28 with a day-long public hearing on the impact of sanctions across a broad range of social, economic, political and cultural factors.

Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates, also a steering committee member of the Tribunal, is participating in the fact-finding mission. Samidoun is a co-sponsor of the Tribunal’s ongoing work to challenge U.S. imperialism and its economic assault on the peoples and nations of the world, including the Palestinian people and the ongoing siege on Gaza.

The fact-finding mission will conduct a series of meetings, site visits and forums with Venezuelan government officials, anti-sanctions activists, women’s, health and agricultural organizations, communes, and a variety of people who have been impacted by the U.S. imperialist policy of sanctions and coercive economic measures. It comes as part of the ongoing International People’s Tribunal, which has already conducted hearings about U.S. imperialist sanctions in Zimbabwe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, Palestine; Eritrea, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Libya, with upcoming hearings on Hawai’i and Puerto Rico.

Participants in the fact-finding mission include:

  • Helyeh Doutaghi, co-chair, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism
  • Suzanne Adely, president, National Lawyers Guild; Steering Committee, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism
  • Max Ajl, Senior Fellow at in the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University; Steering Committee, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism
  • Corinna Mullin, anti-imperialist and anti-colonial academic based in New York; Steering Committee, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism
  • Charlotte Kates, international coordinator, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network; Steering Committee, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism
  • Edre Olalia, transitional president, International Association of Democratic Lawyers; Jurist, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism
  • Mohammed Tay, Professor emeritus of constitutional law, labor law and private administrative law at the Lebanese University; Jurist, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism
  • Jaribu Hill, civil and human rights attorney, ED of the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights; Jurist, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism
  • Booker Omole, national vice-chair and Central Committee member, Communist Party of Kenya
  • Brahim Rouabah, Teaching Fellow in Political Science at Brooklyn College
  • Margaret Kimberly, Black Alliance for Peace; Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report
  • Mohammed Zidan, long-time activist in the Canadian student movement
  • David Paul, member of Sanctions Kill Campaign and Venezuela Embassy Protection Collective
  • Adrienne Pine, anthropologst active with the US Peace Council and Sanctions Kill campaign

The fact-finding mission began its meetings on Tuesday, July 25, when its members met with Vice Minister of Anti-Blockade Policies, William Castillo, and Vice Minister for North America, Carlos Ron, at the Venezuelan Anti-Blockade Observatory, which provides detailed statistics and resources on the impact of coercive economic measures not only in Venezuela but globally. This was followed by a visit to Comuna Socialista El Panal 2021, where fact-finding mission members learned about the effects of sanctions policies on popular initiatives as well as the resistance actions and development organizing being done to confront the “economic war” targeting Venezuela.

The fact-finding mission will be holding meetings between July 24 and 28, 2023, including with an array of non-governmental organizations, popular movements, officials and health workers.

Follow @sanctionstrib on Twitter and Instagram for more updates from the Mission!

28 July, Online and Caracas: Venezuela Hearing, International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism

Join us on Friday, July 28 for a special two-part hearing — convened live in Caracas, Venezuela, and available over Zoom — covering the impact of U.S. sanctions and imperialism on the people of Venezuela at 10:00AM [GMT -4] with a second sesion at 2:00 PM.

Hear from a range of experts who will testify to the impact of sanctions and blockades on Venezuela in various sectors and areas of the country, and the ongoing role of coercive economic measures in imperalist targeting of the people and nation of Venezuela.

Register today: http://bit.ly/venezuelahearing

Please share these hearing updates with your colleagues and comrades, and watch the Tribunal’s previous hearings at the Sanctions Tribunal YouTube channel!

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a co-sponsor of the Tribunal. Visit the Sanctions Tribunal website to learn more and register for upcoming hearings.

14-15 July, Washington DC, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles: PYM Events to #Free_Walid_Daqqah

The following events in Washington DC, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles are being organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement and partners as part of the campaign to free Walid Daqqah, the Palestinian prisoner, intellectual and freedom fighter suffering from a rare cancer who has been repeatedly denied release and subjected to systematic Israeli medical neglect.

Can’t attend an event in person? Join the PYM’s email campaign to international actors to demand freedom for Walid Daqqah. Click here to join the campaign.

Friday, 14 July
5 pm
Israeli Embassy
Washington DC
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuaAKbvAZv5/

WASHINGTON, DC! Join PYM on Friday July 14 at 5pm at the zionist embassy to demand the immediate release of Walid Daqqah and to raise our voices for Jenin!

DALLAS! DEMAND FREEDOM FOR WALID DAQQAH!
WHEN: July 15 @ 3pm
WHERE: 4466 S Marsalis Ave, Dallas, TX
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuZrp1DAKoF/

Who is Walid Daqqah? Why is he one of the longest-held Palestinian prisoners in Zionist detention? What can you do to help him gain his freedom?

Learn this and more at our screening of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” on Saturday July 15 at the Pan-African Connection Bookstore. We will learn about why Palestinian prisoners are the compass of our struggle, about Walid Daqqah’s case and how to get involved in demanding for his release, as well as write letters of support to him, his wife and young daughter.

Date: Sat, July 15
Time: 4-8 PM central
Suhbah Center
1111 Conrad Sauer Dr. Suite I

4-5 PM – Social hour
5:15 PM -Asr Prayer
5:30 PM – Film
7 PM – Discussion
7:30 PM – Letter-writing for Walid Daqqah
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cum1_ragbyw/

Houston! Join Palestinian Youth Movement and @suhbah_institute for a viewing of Farha. Farha depicts the real-life tale of Radiyyeh, a 14-year-old girl whose village was destroyed during the Nakba (Catastrophe) in 1948 Palestine. (Movie depicts violence, mature content). After discussion, there will be a letter writing campaign for Walid Daqqah in support of his freedom from Israeli prison.

Saturday, 15 July
12:30 pm
Zionist Consulate (11766 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025)
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CudSqoGAmrB/

Join us this Saturday, July 15th at 12:30pm  to rally for the immediate release of Walid Daqqah and the Heroes of Jenin!

We must fight alongside Walid Daqqah! We must fight alongside our resistance fighters in Jenin!  Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners! Glory to our Martyrs!

For those in San Diego who are in need of a ride OR can help with rides to LA, please fill out our form at bit.ly/715carpool.

International lawyers denounce European states’ repression of Palestine organizing

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers adopted a resolution at its Council meeting on 2 July 2023, condemning the attacks on Palestine solidarity and Palestinian community organizing in Europe. Specifically, the resolution addresses the banning of Nakba commemorations and other demonstrations in Germany, the Israeli ambassador’s demand to ban Samidoun Deutschland, and the ongoing targeting of Palestinian activists for deportation, surveillance and immigration repression; the French government’s ongoing attempt to dissolve and ban the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and other organizations; the prosecution of protesters in Spain while Israeli security agents point guns on university campuses; the City of Geneva cancelling an art exhibition at the request of the Israeli ambassador; and the Netherlands’ recent arrest of Palestinian activists while buying Israeli weapons from Elbit Systems. It also urges institutions and legal organizations to reject the so-called “IHRA definition of anti-Semitism” that aims to equate anti-Zionism and support for Palestinian liberation with anti-Semitism.

The full text of the resolution follows:

IADL Resolution on State Repression Targeting Palestine Solidarity and Palestinian Community Organizing in Europe

Whereas, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers has previously raised serious concerns about the ongoing repression of Palestinian community and Palestine solidarity organizing in Europe, particularly in Germany, and

Whereas, these incidents have included the stripping of a Schengen visa from torture survivor and former political prisoner Rasmea Odeh, the political ban on Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat  and his deportation from Germany, the firing of Palestinian and Arab journalists for expressing their opinions about Palestine on social media, the acts of various state governments, including that of Berlin, to ban commemorations of the Nakba and demonstrations to free Palestinian political prisoners, and to block events and activities in support of Palestine or advocating for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, from taking place in public facilities or at all, and

Whereas, this has also included Berlin immigration officials in multiple cases recommending denial of residency, expulsion and even bans from Germany or from Europe for multiple years, particularly against Palestinian youths, including stateless Palestinian refugees, and

Whereas, on 17 April 2023, Berlin police once again banned demonstrations for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, and in May 2023, banned commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and lands, and

Whereas, the one event on 20 May 2023 that was not initially banned, organized by Jewish solidarity organizers, was attacked by police after the organizers refused to exclude Palestinian activists from their demonstration or bar people from chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and Jewish, Palestinian and solidarity activists were violently arrested by Berlin police, and

Whereas, Berlin police dispatched at least six armed officers to remove a mural poster of Khader Adnan, the Palestinian prisoner who died in Israeli jails after 86 days on hunger strike, from an empty wall in Berlin, and

Whereas, the Israeli ambassador to Germany has since demanded that grassroots Palestinian prisoner solidarity organization Samidoun be banned in Germany and that posters in support of Palestinian political prisoners should also be banned in Berlin, while the German-Israeli Society called for criminal prosecution of Samidoun members and other Palestinian activists under Germany’s Section 129(b), which has been used to prosecute Turkish and Kurdish leftist activists in Germany, and

Whereas, Palestinian and solidarity activists in Berlin were visited in their homes by police and questioned about their work with Samidoun, and

Whereas, a Palestine solidarity demonstration in  Köln was dissolved by the police on 13 May 2023 after demonstrators spoke in favor of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, and

Whereas, over 160 organizations have joined in an International Campaign Against Anti-Palestinian Repression in Germany, and dozens of organizations in Berlin have created the Revolutionary Solidarity Coalition to organize against this repression, and

Whereas, these concerns are not limited to Germany, as France has issued dissolution orders against the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and several other Palestine organizations, and has recently issued a new dissolution order against environmental activists, and

Whereas, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra was victorious in its initial appeal to the Council of State, suspending the application of the dissolution order, but the main case is still pending and these Palestine solidarity organizations continue to be threatened with dissolution, and

Whereas, the pending threatened dissolution continues to be used to deplatform the Collectif and deny it access to fundraising tools and banking, and

Whereas, the Israeli ambassador to Switzerland intervened in May 2023 and caused the City of Geneva to bar an exhibition of the posters of Swiss artist and revolutionary Marc Rudin organized by Secours Rouge Geneva and Samidoun Geneva from a city-owned venue, and

Whereas, the government of the Netherlands signed a $305 million deal to purchase weapons from Israel’s Elbit Systems in May 2023 and then, in June 2023, arrested a Palestinian-Dutch father and daughter for their charitable work for Palestine, who have been subjected to a long-running defamation campaign by Israel-aligned organizations, and

Whereas, several activists in Spain are facing prosecution in Madrid for protesting against the presence of the Israeli ambassador at the Complutense University, while there appears to be no punishment for an Israeli security agent accompanying the ambassador, who pointed a gun at the protesters in the university building, and the prosecution appears to seek the addition of hate crimes charges in this case of progressive activists protesting the representative of an apartheid state, and

Whereas, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Definition (“IHRA Definition”) of anti-Semitism and its “examples,”  most of which pertain to Israel, including “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, eg, by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” as an example of anti-Semitism, has been repeatedly used to justify the silencing, repression and banning of Palestinian and Palestine solidarity activities across Europe by equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism;

Therefore, be it resolved, that the International Association of Democratic Lawyers once again reiterates its call to German officials at the federal and state levels to cease the use of political bans, firing from public media positions, police prohibitions on events and immigration consequences to restrict public expression and advocacy for Palestinian rights, and

Be it further resolved, that the IADL calls upon French, Swiss, Dutch officials and the officials of all States to recognize the rights to freedom of expression in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including Article 19 and Article 2, without ostensibly claiming the right to restrict the freedom of expression of non-citizens, and

Be it further resolved, that the IADL calls upon lawyers’ organizations and states to reject the IHRA definition and its examples as a proper definition of anti-Semitism and instead encourages increased attention to fighting fascism, anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, including anti-Palestinian racism, and

Be it further resolved, that the IADL affirms that the right of Palestinians in exile and diaspora and supporters of justice in Palestine to organize, speak and boycott, divest and sanction Israel is part of the struggle for Palestinian rights and liberation, and actions to suppress these rights are a form of official state complicity with Israeli colonialism, apartheid and occupation in Palestine, and

Be it finally resolved, that the IADL will actively work together with targeted organizations and progressive legal associations to defend Palestinian and solidarity activists facing arrest, imprisonment, state harassment, political bans, immigration denials, and event prohibitions and defeat the unjust mechanisms used to carry out these repressive actions, including paragraph 129b in Germany and the widespread use of organizational dissolution in France.

Adopted by the IADL Council

2 July 2023

The IADL Council also adopted resolutions calling for freedom for Palestine Action prisoners in British jails and divestment from Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems and for the release of Palestinian prisoner, intellectual and freedom fighter Walid Daqqah, suffering from myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow cancer, repeatedly denied release and subjected to systematic Israeli medical neglect.

Founded in 1946, the IADL is accredited to UNESCO and ECOSOC at the United Nations, and it has sections and members in 50 countries and territories.

Since IADL’s founding in 1946 in Paris, IADL members have participated in the struggles that have made the violation of human rights of groups and individuals and threats to international peace and security, legal issues under international law. From its inception, IADL members throughout the globe have protested racism, colonialism, and economic and political injustice wherever they interfere with legal and human rights, often at the cost of these jurists’ personal safety and economic well being. IADL members in the United States, Canada, France, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Italy, Venezuela, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Philippines, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Togo, South Africa, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and India, among others, participated in the Council meeting.

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