Interrogation repeatedly extended for BDS leader, grassroots activist Salah Khawaja #FreeSalah

21 November 2016

Palestinian grassroots activist Salah Khawaja, the Secretary of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) in Palestine, once again was ordered to eight days in interrogation on Wednesday, 16 November. Khawaja, 45 and a leader of the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall), was seized from his home in a violent raid by Israeli occupation military forces on 26 October. He had been denied access to a lawyer for 20 days and was only allowed to peak to a lawyer for the first time on 16 November at the Petah Tikva military court.

Since that time, he has been held under interrogation in Petah Tikva interrogation center. He has been subject to numerous intense interrogation sessions and it was reported by his lawyer that he has visibly lost weight and is sleep deprived. He has undergone over 40 interrogtion sessions lasting eight to 16 hours each; Khawaja reported to his lawyer that he has been beaten and that interrogators have spit in his face, screamed in his ears, and kicked at his genitals, and that his family members have been threatened, reported Stop The Wall.

Front Line Defenders, Unadikum and Stop the Wall have issued calls for action in support of Khawaja and urging international attention to support this case of a Palestinian human rights defender targeted for his activism.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins in the call for action in the case of Salah Khawaja and demands his immediate freedom. We urge international action in support of Salah and all imprisoned Palestinians.

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. Participate in the Stop the Wall action and send the sample letter to your government officials to demand they speak up about the case of Salah Khawaja and other human rights defenders. http://stopthewall.org/2016/11/11/freesalah-send-message-your-governments-now

3. 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 Barack Obama: 1-202-456-1111

Tell your government:

Salah Khawaja, a Palestinian human rights defender, has been arbitrarily detained since 26 October and denied access to a lawyer. 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.
Israel’s interrogation of Salah at Petah Tikva violates the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilians during Times of War, which prohibits the transfer of protected civilians to the territory of the occupying power. Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilians during Times of War, which prohibits the transfer of protected civilians to the territory of the occupying power.
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 beginning on 6 November, and suspend agreements with Israeli institutions involved in the ongoing imprisonment and oppression of Palestinians.

Palestinian student leader, journalist has detention extended until 20 December

21 November 2016

Palestinian student leader, journalist and media activist Ibrahim Abu Safiya, the coordinator of the Islamic Association at Bir Zeit University, once again had his imprisonment extended by Israeli occupation forces. The Ofer military court extended his detention until 20 December despite the appeals of his defense lawyers that there was no justification to extend his arrest.

Abu Safiya, 21, was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 28 September at Beit Ur checkpoint west of Ramallah. He is in his final year of study in the journalism faculty at Bir Zeit University and is highly active in unions and popular organizations of journalists. He also works as a freelance writer and researcher.

He is heavily involved in Bir Zeit student union activities, including the 28-day student strike against tuition increases on the campus, in which he engaged in a five-day hunger strike. Just days before his arrest, he spoke to the media about the success of the student campaign in preventing tuition hikes that make education inaccessible to Paletinian youth, and announcing the agreement to end the student strike. Abu Safiya had been one of the four student spokespeople and representatives during the anti-tuition-hike campaign.

Dozens of Palestinian journalists remain imprisoned by the Israeli occupation, including Omar Nazzal, member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and Hasan Safadi, media coordinator for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. Abu Safiya’s arrest also points to the ongoing targeting of Palestinian student activists and organizers for involvement in student union activities, student protests and other student actions on campus. In another example, Palestinian student Awni Shakhshir, 26, from Nablus, was arrested on Sunday, 20 November as he passed through the Za’atara military checkpoint south of the city. Shakhshir is the coordinator of the Islamic Bloc of An-Najah University; he was seized and taken to an unknown location.

Journalist Omar Nazzal, Shadi Jarrar among Palestinians ordered to additional imprisonment without charge

21 November 2016

omarnazzal Omar Nazzal, prominent Palestinian journalist and member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, was ordered on Monday, 21 November to three additional months in administrative detention by the Israeli occupation military. One of dozens of imprisoned journalists, Nazzal was seized by occupation forces on 23 April 2016 as he attempted to cross the al-Karameh/Allenby bridge to Jordan to participate in the General Meeting of the European Federation of Journalists in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since that time, he was ordered first to four months in administrative detention without charge or trial, then again to another three months of arbitrary imprisonment before his detention was again renewed today. Nazzal’s case has drawn international condemnation at the targeting of a prominent Palestinian journalist without charge or trial on the basis of so-called “secret evidence.”

Nazzal was not the only Palestinian political prisoner ordered to additional imprisonment without charge or trial. Palestinian prisoner Shadi Jarrar, 36, from Wadi Burkin west of Jenin, was to four months in administrative detention for the third time consecutively. He has spent eight months in administrative detention since his seizure by Israeli occupation forces on 12 March as he passed a military checkpoint between Ramallah and Nablus. Jarrar is held in the Negev desert prison. He previously spent 13 years in Israeli jails before his release in 2014 as a Palestinian political prisoner.

Also ordered once more to administrative detention was Louay Daoud, 41, of Qalqilya, for the fourth time, for four months. Arrested by Israeli occupation forces when they invaded his home on 9 December 2015, he has now been ordered to administrative detention four times consecutively, without charge or trial. Daoud is also a former prisoner who spent 12 years in Israeli prisons until his release in 2003.

ashraf-jibril Ashraf Jibril, 23, of Qalqilya, was also ordered imprisoned without charge or trial for an additional four months – the third consecutive administrative detention order against him. His home was raided on 10 November 2015 by Israeli occupation forces; he was twice ordered to six months in administrative detention and now an additional four months. The Israeli occupation authorities also renewed the administrative detention of Palestinian prisoner Qusai Hassan Khaliliya, 22, of Jaba village south of Jenin, for the second consecutive time for six months of imprisonment without charge or trial. Khaliliya was seized by occupation forces on 23 May in a pre-dawn raid on his Jaba home by occupation forces, who ransacked his belongings.

There are over 700 Palestinians held without charge or trial out of a total of 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. Administrative detention orders can be issued for one to six months at a time and are indefinitely renewable. Many Palestinian prisoners have spent years at a time imprisoned under repeatedly-extending administrative detention orders. Administrative detention has been used to target political leaders, influential community members, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and other prominent Palestinian figures. Ahmad Abu Fara and Anas Shadid are currently on hunger strike for the 57th day against their own imprisonment without charge or trial.

Shadid, Abu Fara continue hunger strike after “suspension” of administrative detention

21 November 2016

Two Palestinian prisoners, Ahmad Abu Fara and Anas Shadid, are on their 57th day of hunger strike against their imprisonment without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention. On Friday, 18 November, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered their administrative detention “suspended” due to their desperate health conditions; both are held in Assaf Harofeh hospital. Like previous hunger strikers, they refused to end their strike based on this “suspension,” as it has been shown that the Israeli interpretation of this action is merely to re-impose their administrative detention once their medical situation improves. While their detention is suspended, they will not be shackled to the bed and may receive visitors. However, the detention order itself remains in place.

Abu Fara, 29, and Shadid, 19, have been on hunger strike since 25 September. Both have been imprisoned without charge or trial since 1 and 2 August, respectively, and are on strike to demand their release. They are suffering from severe weight loss, headaches, inability to walk or move, dizziness, inability to speak and blurred vision. They have now been placed in one room and are continuing to refuse food or medical nutrition.

They are among over 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention. A number of administrative detainees, including Khader Adnan, Bilal Kayed, and Mohammed al-Qeeq, have launched hunger strikes to win their freedom. Under administrative detention, Palestinians are ordered imprisoned for a one to six month period, indefinitely renewable. This means that people regularly spend years imprisoned without any charge or trial against them, on the basis of secret evidence.

Meanwhile, three brothers, Nour el-Din, Abdel-Salam and Nidal Amer, are continuing their hunger strike for 17 days against the isolation of Nour el-Din, who has been held in solitary confinement for years. Sheikh Raed Salah, the imprisoned head of the northern Islamic Movement in Palestine ’48, ended his hunger strike after five days on Thursday evening, 17 November, following an appeal by the Higher Follow-Up Committee of Palestinian Arab organizations in Palestine ’48, who declared that Salah’s strike had thrown a light on the ongoing issue of his isolation and solitary confinement; he is serving a nine-month sentence for “incitement.”

Samidoun urges widespread international support and action for Shadid and Abu Fara and all Palestinian prisoners confronting repression, racism and settler colonialism within Israeli prisons.

29 November, London: London Action Against Hewlett Packard

19 November 2016

Tuesday, 29 November
9:30 am
ExCel London – 1 Western Gatway, Royal Victoria Dock
London, UK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/235165616886649/

Hewlett Packard: Harms Palestinians

Who: For decades, HP has profited from Israel’s apartheid system. Checkpoints. Biometric ID cards. Surveillance databases. We need to hit them where it hurts.

What: From 29 Nov–1 Dec, HP will be holding a big trade show at the Excel Centre to drum up business from the tech sector. But despite the “Discover” name, attendees won’t be given the full facts of what HP is doing to Palestinians. That’s where we come in.

Why now: Join us, on 29 November, the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, to make sure that attendees who step foot into the fair are under no illusions about how HP tracks and surveils Palestinians. If we can get to the people that bulk-buy HP equipment, we can have a really solid impact on their bottom line and brand.

Where: Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, E16 1XL

Time: from 09:30 so we can talk to the HP event attendees as they go into the Excel Centre – so do try to get there early! We’ll stay until around 14:00.

Why target HP:

HP props up Israeli apartheid: they set up the “Basel system”, hand and face scanners that track Palestinians through Israeli checkpoints.
HP fuels Israeli aggression: they runs systems for Israeli prisons, the Israeli navy and the Israeli army.
Outside of Israel, HP is the backbone of the US military-industrial complex, tracking migrants and managing prison populations.
The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign has identified HP as one of its core targets.
More info at http://stophp.uk/

Supported by: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, London Palestine Action

28 November – 3 December, Ireland: Tour of Ayed Abu Eqtaish of Defence for Children International Palestine

18 November 2016

To commemorate the annual International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People 2016, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is honoured to host a speaking tour featuring Ayed Abu Eqtaish from Defence For Children International in Palestine between Monday 28th November and Saturday 3rd December.

Mr. Abu Eqtaish will speak in the following locations:

Cork, Ireland:
Monday, 28 November
7:00 pm
Sample Studios, 3rd Floor
10-19 Sullivan’s Quay, Cork
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/143335459473519/

Dublin, Ireland:
Tuesday, 29 November
7:00 pm
Academy Plaa Hotel
10-14 Findlater Place, D1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/614032668757381/

Limerick, Ireland:
Wednesday, 30 November
7:30 pm
Pery’s Hotel, Glentworth Street
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/355142651486498/

Galway, Ireland:
Thursday, 1 December
Venue and Time TBA, see: http://ipsc.ie

Derry, Ireland:
Friday, 2 December
7:00 pm
UNISON Building
Clarendon St
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1484968828186642/

Portadown, Ireland
Saturday, 3 December
2:30 pm
Drumcree Community Centre
Ashgrove Road

Since 2000, Israeli occupation forces have killed over 2,100 Palestinian children and maimed thousands of others, while Israel arrests and imprisons around 700 children every year. Israeli state violence against Palestinian children takes many forms, encompassing physical violence such as injury from gunfire or crowd control weaponry, beatings and torture, or individual attacks. It includes psychological violence that arises from fear of arrest or physical harm, as well as the psychological interrogation techniques employed by the Israeli army and the trauma inflicted by massive military assaults.

The ongoing Israeli occupation the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) creates an environment in which children are routinely exposed to violence. Occupation policies and practices, such as the indiscriminate use of crowd control weapons, result in regular injury to children. In Gaza, violence against children is perpetuated through the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has been in place since 2007, and regular Israeli military operations that result in high numbers of child fatalities.

About the Speaker

Ayed Abu Eqtaish has worked with Defence for Children International – Palestine since 2000 and currently holds the position of Accountability Programme Director. The main focus of Ayed’s work is child detention issues, including the documentation of cases of ill-treatment and torture. Ayed studied social work and has a Masters Degree in Advanced Studies in Children’s Rights from the Fribourg University in Switzerland. Ayed is an ex prisoner.

About DCI Palestine

Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP) is committed to securing a just and viable future for Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. For more than twenty years, DCIP has supported and advocated for this child population: investigating and documenting grave human rights violations, holding both Israeli and Palestinian authorities to account, and providing legal services to children in urgent need. DCIP’s is the only Palestinian human rights organization specifically focused on child rights.

Hosted by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign to commemorate the annual International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People 2016.

28 November, NYC: New York Demands Justice for Rasmea Odeh

16 November 2016

Monday, 28 November
3:30 pm
Zucotti Park – Liberty St and Broadway
NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1378998515443718/

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.

New York activists will stand in solidarity with Rasmea Odeh on November 29th, the same day as the 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!

Groups Endorsing:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
The Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
International Action Center
NYC Students for Justice in Palestine
Al-Awda
SJP St Josephs college

26 November, Brussels: Palestinians – Prisoners of the Occupation

15 November 2016

Saturday, 26 November
5:30 pm
Cinema Galeries
26 Galerie de la Reine
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1163734537050001/

On the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the Association Belgo-Palestinienne invites you to attend this event:

6:00 pm: Discussion with Kareem Jubran, Director of research for B’Tselem, and Salah Hamouri, French-Palestinian former political prisoner

Followed by a conversation with Mustafa Barghouthi, president of the Palestinian National Initiative

8:30 pm: Presentation of the campaign, “50 years of occupation.”

9:30 pm: Palestinian musical performance

Bar and snacks available. Information and reservations: info@abp-wb.be

18 November, NYC: Protest to free the hunger strikers and stop G4S

15 November 2016

Friday, 18 November
4:00 pm
19 W. 44th St, NYC – G4S Offices
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/571631846359326/

On Friday, two Palestinian political prisoners, Ahmad Abu Fara and Anas Shadid, will reach their 55th day on hunger strike against their “administrative detention” without charge or trial by Israel.

Held shackled to his hospital bed in Assaf Harofeh hospital, Ahmad Abu Fara, 29, has developed a problem pumping blood from his heart. Abu Fara is on hunger strike alongside Anas Shadid, 19. Both have refused food since September 25 and are demanding their immediate release.

Mohja Al-Quds reported that Abu Fara’s condition is very dangerous and that he suffers from severe pain in his chest and abdomen. He has blurred vision and difficulty speaking. He continues to refuse medical tests and supplements despite increased pressure on him to end his strike. Also on November 9, the Israeli military appeals court postponed a decision on Abu Fara’s appeal against his administrative detention, requiring a comprehensive medical report to be submitted by 14 November.

Shadid is also suffering intense pain. He has had major migraine headaches as a result of the hunger strike as well as persistent dizziness and weakness. He has severely blurred vision and can speak now only with great difficulty. Shadid also also held shackled hand and foot to his hospital bed in Assaf Harofeh hospital.

Abu Fara and Shadid have been imprisoned without charge or trial since the beginning of August. Abu Fara hails from the village of Surif near al-Khalil, while Shadid comes from Dura village.

Stand with Abu Fara and Shadid to demand that Israel release them, other administrative detainees, and all 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners immediately, and that occupation profiteer G4S end its contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces, and checkpoints and settlements now.

Join us to answer a united appeal by Palestinian prisoners for escalated boycotts of G4S.

Support the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian Resistance, and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

25 November, NYC: Protest Hewlett Packard’s Support for Israeli Crimes

14 November 2016

Friday, 25 November
4:00 pm
Best Buy
52 E. 14th St, NYC – at Union Square
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/856788944457770/

Join a global week of action against Hewlett Packard over the company’s role in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and help launch a local campaign demanding HP end its support for Israel’s prisons, where 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners are held and tortured.

In Palestine, Hewlett Packard companies provide imaging for Israel’s apartheid checkpoints and ID cards system; enable Israel’s deadly blockade of the Gaza Strip; provide services to illegal Israeli settlements; and manage people for profit in Israeli prisons where torture is systematic.

While claiming to uphold values of social responsibility, HP companies are notorious for involvement in oppressive practices worldwide, like providing technology to enable deportations, mass incarceration, and solitary confinement in the United States.

From the United Kingdom to Malaysia, from the United States to Italy, from Germany to Palestine, organizations in cities worldwide are organizing campaigns and actions to hold HP accountable.

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