Dareen Tatour questioned about poetry; trial to resume on 26 January

24 November 2016

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour once again faced the Magistrate’s Court in Nazareth on Thursday, 24 November. The hearing was the latest development in her prosecution by the Israeli state for writing and publicly posting her poetry. Arrested in October 2015, Tatour has spent over a year subject to ongoing confinement and repression, including over three months in prison and over nine months in house arrest. The presentation of the case is expected to end on 26 January 2017, when the next hearing will convene.

Tatour, 34, earlier had a court hearing on 14 November, where she declared that she did write her poem, “Resist, My People, Resist Them.” She was questioned by the prosecution on Thursday about her writings and poems.

Tatour’s father stressed in an interview with Arab48 that his daughter is continuously suffering, despite the “easing” of her detention conditions won after worldwide attention to her case from international poets, artists and writers, including PEN, the freedom of expression association, as she is denied any meaningful freedom of movement. She continues to be threatened with years in prison for so-called “incitement,” among one of the most prominent Palestinians – and one who holds Israeli citizenship – targeted under this charge. The arrest and prosecution of Tatour also comes in the context of a long history of occupation persecution of Palestinian writers and artists, including such former prisoners as Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim and Tawfiq Zayyad, like Tatour, Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48. Learn more about the case at the Free Dareen Tatour facebook.

Long-serving Palestinian prisoner transferred as family fears re-imposed life sentence

24 November 2016

Longtime Palestinian prisoner Nael Barghouthi is at risk for the re-imposition of the life sentence against him, reported his wife Iman Nafie to the Asra Media Center. Barghouthi, 59, from the village of Kobar near Ramallah, was first detained in 1978 at the age of 20.

He has spent more than 35 years in Israeli prisons. Released in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange by Palestinian resistance organizations for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Barghouthi married Nafie, a fellow ex-prisoner. In 2014, he was among over 60 of these former prisoners rounded up in a series of mass re-arrests. Today, he is one of over 50 who remains re-imprisoned.

Under an Israeli military order, the Israeli occupation forces claim the right to re-impose the prison sentence of any prisoner released in an exchange on the basis of secret evidence, including alleged “support for” or “association with” prohibited organizations, including all major Palestinian political parties. Many of the re-arrested prisoners, like Samer Mahroum, Ala Bazian and Nidal Zaloom, had their life sentences reimposed against them. Barghouthi was ordered to 30 months mprisonment on 25 November 2015. He completed those 30 months of imprisonment earlier in the month; however, he has not been released as the Israeli military prosecution have filed an appeal calling for the reinstatement of his life sentence.

Rather than preparing for his release, he was transferred from the Negev desert prison to Ramon prison on 21 November. Nafie noted that the family fears this is in preparation for his life sentence being reimposed; she noted that she is awaiting a decision before 7 December in this case. Nafie has been barred from visiting her husband under the pretext of security, while his brother Omar is imprisoned under administrative detention without charge or trial and will be released later in the year. His sister Hanan is the only family member allowed to visit him in prison.

Nafie urged action to release all of the re-imprisoned released prisoners of the Wafa al-Ahrar agreement.

Palestinian university student Noor Darwish sentenced to eight months for student activities

24 November 2016

Palestinian student Noor Darwish, 22, a student at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, was sentenced to eight months in Israeli prison and a fine of 2000 NIS (approximately $500) on Wednesday, 23 November.

From the village of Deir Abu Mashal near Ramallah, Darwish was arrested with two other female students, Hala Bitar, 19, and Salam Abu Sharar, 21, on 19 April. The three were arrested among an escalated series of arrests targeting Palestinian students around the time of annual student council elections at Palestinian universities. All three were charged with participation in the public student activities of the Islamic Bloc at the university, including organizing a book fair.

Bitar was earlier sentenced to four months in prison, while Abu Sharar was sentenced to 10 months in Israeli prison. Darwish has been held in Damon prison, which requires a three-day trip to the Ofer military court, which pronounced her sentence. Her case involved six hearings, each accompanied by the lengthy “bosta” travel from the prison to the military court and back.

25 more Palestinians ordered imprisoned without charge or trial

24 November 2016

25 Palestinians were ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, between 10 and 23 November, reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society. Palestinian lawyer Mahmoud Halabi said that most of the orders were renewals of existing administrative detainees’ imprisonment.

65 Palestinians were imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention orders between 1 and 10 November, for a total of 88 orders issued so far this month. Among those ordered to further imprisonment without charge or trial was Palestinian Journalists Syndicate leader and prominent journalist Omar Nazzal. Nazzal’s detention was originally extended for three months; however, the order was reduced on 23 November to , meaning that Nazzal is now scheduled for release on 24 December.

The orders issued are as follows:

1. Musab Mahmoud Abed Rabbo, from Tulkarem, 6 months, new order
2. Qusay Hassan Khalilia, from Jenin, 6 months, extension
3. Hazem Nabhan Srouji, from Tulkarem, 4 months, extension
4. Abdel-Rahman Abdullah Hammad, from Jerusalem, 4 months, extension
5. Hamza Abdel-Fattah Omar, from Tulkarem, 4 months, extension
6. Khalil Mohammed Shawabka, from al-Khalil, 2 months, extension
7. Rami Jihad Khatib, from al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
8. Ali Abdel-Rahman Jaradat, from Ramallah, 4 months, extension
9. Omar Naji Nazzal, from El-Bireh, 2 months, extension
10. Yahya Hamid Armoush, from Ramallah, 4 months, extension
11. Bayan Khaled Badawi, from al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
12. Ahmad Adnan Salman, from Nablus, 6 months, extension
13. Mohammed Fouad Oweis, from Jenin, 4 months, extension
14. Tawfiq Hisham Abu Absa, from Ramallah, 3 months, extension
15. Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Hamed, from Qalqilya, 4 months, extension
16. Abdel-Rahim Bassam Hamid, from Ramallah, 4 months, extension
17. Abdel-Razaq Hussein Qawasmeh, from al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
18. Mohammed Mustafa Najjar, from Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
19. Ali Mohammed Amayreh, from al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
20. Ali Mohammed Shawabka, from Ramallah, 3 months, new order
21. Khaled Mohammed al-Fasfous, from al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
22. Jafar Sami Zaher, from Nablus, 6 months, extension
23. Mahmoud Muhannad Yaqiba, from Jenin, 4 months, extension
24. Mohammed Izzat al-Khatib, from al-Khalil, 3 months, extension
25. Alaa Abdel-Rahman Azem, from Ramallah, 6 months, extension

Palestinian women prisoners hit with high sentences, transferred to HaSharon prison due to fires

24 November 2016

Palestinian women prisoners held in Damon prison were transferred on the evening of Thursday, 24 November to HaSharon prison after the large fires sweeping the area have neared the area of the prison. The treatment of the 16 women prisoners held in Damon has long been a subject of protest by women transferred there, as well as by male Palestinian prisoners; recently, Samer Issawi and Munther Snobar engaged in a hunger strike demanding the transfer of women held there. Women have repeatedly protested their conditions of confinement, the lack of appropriate facilities and medical care, and the use of the “bosta” that makes trips to and from the military court last up to three days.

Among those transferred was Palestinian prisoner Hilweh Hamamreh, 26, who was sentenced by the Ofer military court on Wednesday, 23 November to 6 years in Israeli prisons. Hamamreh has been imprisoned for one year, since 8 November 2015; she was severely injured after being shot by Israeli occupation forces near Beitar Illit settlement and accused of attempting to stab a settler guard. Hamamreh was shot multiple times by occupation forces and was held in Hadassah hospital for a month, during which parts of her pancreas, liver, intestines and spleen were removed. During her time in hospital, a group of settlers entered her room and threatened to kill her.

Hamamreh, from the village of Husan near Bethlehem, has repeatedly been denied family visits and has had only one visit with her two-year-old daughter.

Meanwhile, Shorouq Dwayyat, 19, from Sur Baher in Jerusalem, had her until 25 December 2016. Dwayyat has been imprisoned since 11 October 2015; she was seriously injured when shot in the hand, chest, and neck by an Israeli settler in Jerusalem. Dwayyat is a student at Bethlehem University; the settler claimed that she attempted to stab him while she notes that she was assaulted by the settler who attempted to grab her headscarf in an act of religious and racial harassment and that she pushed him away before he shot her.

maysoon-musa Maysoun Musa, 22, from the village of Shawawreh east of Bethlehem, was sentenced to 15 years in Israeli prison by the Ofer military court. Musa has been imprisoned since 29 June 2015; she attempted to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in an anti-occupation operation.

On Thursday, 24 November, Sahar Natsheh, 43, of Beit Hanina in Jerusalem, was sentenced to three months imprisonment for “incitement” for her posts on Facebook. Natsheh, a prominent local activist known for her participation in protests in defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque and against the Israeli anti-Palestinian ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, already spent over eight months under house arrest in her home. She is one of hundreds of Palestinians targeted for arrest and imprisonment for their social media postings.

There are approximately 60 Palestinian women prisoners held in HaSharon and Damon prisons (now all in HaSharon), including 13 Palestinian minor girls.

Palestinian prisoners launch collective protests in support of Shadid and Abu Fara on 60th day of hunger strike

24 November 2016

A group of Palestinian political prisoners in the Ofer prison have launched collective actions in solidarity with Ahmad Abu Fara and Anas Shadid, on hunger strike for 60 days, demanding their freedom from administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial. Palestinian lawyer Ahlam Haddad, representing Shadid and Abu Fara, said that prisoners in Ofer sections 11, 15 and 18 were returning meals on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, with a plan to move toward a collective strike on Sunday, 27 November.

Shadid and Abu Fara are facing severe health conditions in Assaf Harofe hospital. Both men’s administrative detention was “suspended” by the Israeli Supreme Court given their severe health situation; however, they refused to end their hunger strikes without the cancellation of their detention orders. Shadid, 19, and Abu Fara, 29, launched their strikes on 25 September; both have been imprisoned without charge or trial since early August.

The two are currently held together in one room; they have experienced severe weight loss, headaches, difficulty seeing and breathing, and body pains. They have also not showered for 20 days due to their inability to stand. Palestinian lawyer Moataz Shqairat said that they both are barely able to speak or move, urging immediate action to save them from death.

Shadid’s brother, Abdul-Majid, told Asra Voice that the health of his brother had deteriorated severely, and that he was showing signs of liver disease. He noted that doctors at Assaf Harofeh warned that both Shadid and Abu Fara would be at severe risk of their lives if they enter a coma. Abdul-Majid Shadid said that the “freeze” of their administrative detention is a dangerous situation for the strikers, as it acts to divert public attention from the strikers and allows them to be subject to pressure to end the strike, while they continue to face the danger of a renewal of their administrative detention orders. He also said that he had received a phone call from Israeli intelligence, threatening him with arrest if he continues to organize public events in support of his brother and Abu Fara.

Meanwhile, Ammar al-Hmour, of Jenin, launched his own hunger strike on Tuesday, 22 November, against his administrative detention without charge or trial. He has been imprisoned since 16 February 2016 and is in his second six-month administrative detention period. Nour el-Din Omar is continuing his hunger strike for 20 days against his solitary confinement; he has been isolated for years.

They are among over 700 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial, out of 7,000 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons. Administrative detainees have engaged in a series of individual and collective hunger strikes to demand their freedom.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges the escalation of international actions to demand the freedom of Shadid, Abu Fara, their fellow strikers, and all Palestinian political prisoners.

Palestinian girl Nurhan Awad, 16, sentenced to 13 years in Israeli prisons

24 November 2016

Palestinian girl Nurhan Awad, 16, was sentenced to 13 1/2 years in Israeli prison on Wednesday, 23 November, the latest in a series of Palestinian children who have been subject to extremely lengthy prison sentences. Nurhan, a Palestinian refugee from Qalandiya camp, has been imprisoned for one year, since 23 November 2015. She was also sentenced to a fine of 30,000 NIS (approximately $7000 USD).

Her cousin, Hadeel Awad, 14, was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces on the same day at close range as she lay already injured on the ground. Nurhan and Hadeel were accused of attempting to stab a man with scissors; in this case, a lightly-injured 70-year-old Palestinian man. The event was captured on video; Nurhan stood in place holding a pair of scissors. She was hit from behind by a chair and as she lay injured in the ground, she was shot again at close range. Nurhan was severely injured after taking two bullets in her chest. After her cousin was extrajudicially executed, Nurhan was imprisoned. Her case is strikingly similar to that of Ahmad Manasrah, 14, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison after his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, was extrajudicially executed in a similar attack by Israeli forces.

Muawiya Alqam, 14, was sentenced to six and 1/2 years in Israeli prison; Munther Abu Mayalah, 15, and Mohammed Taha, 16, were sentenced to 11 years. Jerusalemite children, including Nurhan, Muawiya, Munther, and Mohammed, have been particularly subject to these extremely high sentences. In “security” cases, Palestinian children do not receive reduced sentences despite their juvenile ages. For any conviction on a charge that carries a maximum sentence exceeding six months, children 14 and older receive sentences equal to those of adults.

There are over 400 Palestinian children currently imprisoned in Israeli jails, including 13 Palestinian girls. Like Nurhan, they are held in HaSharon prison. Imprisoned Palestinian children have overwhelmingly reported being subject to harsh interrogations, inhumane treatment, sleep deprivation, kicking and beating, denial of access to lawyers and parents, and other forms of mistreatment amounting to torture. Over 57 Palestinian children, like Hadeel Awad, have been extrajudicially executed since October 2015.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates its denunciation of the lengthy sentences being systematically meted out against Palestinian children, particularly the 13 1/2 year sentence against Nurhan Awad. We urge the escalation of international solidarity actions and protests in response to the imprisonment and killing of Palestinian children and youth. We demand the immediate release of Nurhan Awad, Ahmad Manasrah, Muawiya Alqam, Munther Abu Mayalah, Mohammed Taha, and all of the over 400 Palestinian child prisoners in Israeli prisons. We further demand an immediate end to the international military aid, cooperation and assistance that funds these attacks on Palestinian children, and demand action to compel compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The sentencing of Nurhan Awad is part and parcel of a systematic targeting of Palestinian children for severe oppression as part of the Zionist colonial project in Palestine, in an attempt to stifle all forms of resistance and push Palestinian families out of their homeland. It is also part of the ongoing ethnic cleansing project of Nakba taking place in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine in an attempt to erase its Palestinian identity and presence. The road to freedom for Palestinian children is inextricable from the road to freedom for the land and the people of Palestine.

26 November, Houston: Houston Supports Rasmea Odeh

24 November 2016

Saturday, 26 November
1:00 pm
Mickey Leland Federal Building
1919 Smith St
Houston, TX
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/159375504535144/

On November 29th, Rasmea Odeh will be heading to court where the expert testimony of Dr. Fabri, a renowned psychologist who has worked with rape and sexual assault survivors, will be challenged by the prosecution.

The 69-year-old Rasmea is a legend in the Palestine national movement. In Drain’s courtroom in 2014, she was convicted of a politically-motivated immigration charge, and in 2015, sentenced to 18 months in prison and deportation. Rasmea appealed the decision, arguing that Drain had denied her defense the right to make its case.

In February of this year, in a major legal victory, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that Drain was wrong when he refused to allow defense attorneys to present evidence that Rasmea suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The PTSD caused her to misunderstand the questions about the unlawful conviction and imprisonment she suffered under the Israeli occupation. At the trial, Rasmea was not allowed to tell the story of Israel forcing her to falsely confess to alleged bombings in 1969, when she endured over three weeks of brutal sexual, physical, and psychological torture at the hands of the Israeli military.

We would like to show the world, on November 26th, that Houston, Texas, stands with Rasmea Odeh. We stand with her against political repression and we stand with the Palestinian people. Justice for Rasmea! Justice for Palestine!

26 November, Fort Lauderdale: Solidarity with Palestine – Justice for Rasmea

24 November 2016

Saturday, 26 November
3:30 pm
US Federal Courthouse
299 E Broward Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/337626353277732/

November 29 marks International Day of Solidarity With The Palestinian People. Also on November 29th, 69-year-old Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh will be heading to court where the expert testimony of Dr. Fabri, a renowned psychologist who has worked with rape and sexual assault survivors, will be challenged by the prosecution.

Rasmea is a legend in the Palestine national movement. In a US federal courtroom in 2014, she was convicted of a politically-motivated immigration charge, and in 2015, sentenced to 18 months in prison and deportation. Rasmea appealed the decision, arguing that Judge Drain had denied her defense the right to make its case.

In February of this year, in a major legal victory, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that Drain was wrong when he refused to allow defense attorneys to present evidence that Rasmea suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The PTSD caused her to misunderstand the questions about the unlawful conviction and imprisonment she suffered under the Israeli occupation. At the trial, Rasmea was not allowed to tell the story of Israel forcing her to falsely confess to alleged bombings in 1969, when she endured over three weeks of brutal sexual, physical, and psychological torture at the hands of the Israeli military.

South Florida activists will stand in solidarity with Rasmea Odeh on November 26th, two days before her trial which also happens to be International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

We demand justice for Rasmea, an end to political repression and an end to the oppression of Palestinian people!

G4S role in Standing Rock and Palestine slammed by NYC protesters

22 November 2016

Protesters in New York City gathered outside the offices of multinational security corporation G4S on Friday, 18 November to denounce G4S’ role in providing private security for the Dakota Access Pipeline against the water protectors’ camp led by the Standing Rock Sioux, and to demand the corporation get out of Palestine and end its profiteering from occupation. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network gathered outside the G4S offices in Manhattan, chanting, holding placards and distributing information about G4S and Palestinian political prisoners.

G4S is subject to a global campaign for boycott due to its contracts with the Israel Prison Service and other state agencies to provide security systems, control rooms and equipment to Israeli prisons, checkpoints and police training centers. The corporation is also involved in migrant detention and deportation and youth incarceration in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and elsewhere. Multiple campaigns for justice in Palestine, private prison divestment and prison abolition have campaigned for boycott and divestment from G4S due to its international role in repression. In Standing Rock, G4S is part of the private security forces mobilized on behalf of the Dakota Access Pipeline, where indigenous protesters have set up camp to defend the land and water of the Standing Rock Sioux from the destructive and dangerous project. G4S has pledged to sell off its “reputationally damaging” businesses like its entire Israeli subsidiary and its involvement in youth imprisonment, yet it remains in Palestine today. Palestinian activists have emphasized the importance of continuing to protest G4S.

When protesters arrived at the G4S offices in Manhattan on Friday, the doors were locked despite the fact that the office building’s corridor is a legally-designated public space. However, several groups of protesters were able to enter this public corridor at various times to march through the inside, chanting loudly, “Occupation is a crime, from Standing Rock to Palestine!” and “Stop detentions, stop the crimes! G4S out of Palestine!” They marched through the corridor to the other side of the building before returning the same way.

The protest highlighted the hunger strikes of Ahmad Abu Fara and Anas Shadid, who are held in Assaf Harofeh hospital. They have been on hunger strike since 25 September in protest of their imprisonment without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention. Both have suffered severe health difficulties; their detention has been “suspended” by the Israeli supreme court due to their health crises, yet they have vowed to continue their strikes until their detention orders are lifted. Also highlighted was the struggle at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline and for indigenous rights and protection of the water. Protesters likened the settler colonial destruction of the pipeline and attacks on indigenous protesters with the repression of Palestinian strugglers against Zionist settler colonialism.

Samidoun will hold its next New York City protest on Friday, 25 November, in a new location – at the Best Buy on Union Square. This protest, held on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, is part of the International Week of Action to Boycott Hewlett-Packard. This week of action includes events in hundreds of international cities. The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee is urging action to boycott HP due to its role in providing a range of services to the Israeli apartheid system for profit, including management databases and software for Israeli prisons, in addition to imaging services for checkpoints, computing services for settlements, and involvement in the siege on Gaza. The protest will take place at 4:00 pm at 52 E. 14th St (Union Square) and all are urged to attend to take a stand against HP’s involvement in Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.

Photos by Adnan Farsakh

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork