10 September, Berlin: Protest to Free the Hunger Striking Palestinian Prisoners

8 September 2016

PLEASE NOTE: DATE CHANGED FROM FRIDAY TO SATURDAY!

Saturday, 10 September
4:00 pm
Rathaus Neukolln
Karl-Marx-Str 83
12040 Berlin

Freedom for Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Administrative Detention! Protest in support of the brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud al-Balboul and student Malik al-Qadi, all imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention and currently in intensive care as they engage in long-term hunger strikes to demand their freedom. Protest for freedom for the Balboul brothers and al-Qadi and all Palestinian prisoners.

Rasmea Odeh’s lawyers file motion “to protect defendant from additional harm”

8 September 2016

New statement from the Rasmea Defense Committee:

Defense attorneys for Rasmea Odeh, the Palestinian American icon who was wrongfully convicted in a politically-motivated, federal immigration case, filed amotion yesterday in response to last week’s ruling by Judge Gershwin Drain that Rasmea would have to submit to up to 18 hours of a government expert’s examination of her mental state.

The defense motion asks Drain to “require the government to disclose the identity and all other relevant information concerning the expert…and to identify any formal tests that the designated individual intends to administer.” The defense had asked for this from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Michigan, and was refused.

Last week, Drain sided with the government, and will compel Rasmea to undergo intensive psychological evaluation by a government forensic examiner, even though the judge knows she is a survivor of vicious physical, sexual, and psychological torture at the hands of the Israeli military.

For this reason, the defense is asking for additional, “simple modifications” of the judge’s order, like a neutral site for the examination, allowing Rasmea to have a companion with her, and a clear explanation of the exact amount of time needed for the government to assess her.

Dr. Mary Fabri, the torture expert and former clinical psychologist at the world-renowned Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture, who diagnosed Rasmea with PTSD, again filed an affidavit with the court, writing that “the risk of Ms. Odeh suffering substantial further mental and emotional trauma from another examination—particularly from an adversarial figure, where the need for safety and trust will be fundamentally important—is very real.” Fabri adds that “trauma specialists agree that effort must be taken to avoid the retraumatization of survivors, especially by professionals.”

In addition, when the defense asked for the name of the government expert, the prosecution responded with a return to its wild claims that “defense counsel will then foment harassment of the expert by the supporters of the defendant.” Followers of the case will remember Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel’s attacks on the Rasmea Defense Committee, when he called her supporters “mobs and hoards [sic].” And even though it appears that Tukel has been removed from the case, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade’s office is still engaging in similar racist attacks against Rasmea’s supporters.

The legal defense responds to the accusation of harassment by calling it “slanderous and unprincipled,” and adding that “[n]o witness in this case has ever been improperly approached, and there is no justification for a secret witness in any event, especially an adversary who intends to spend hours interrogating the defendant.”

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 won an appeal of the decision, arguing that Drain had denied her defense the right to make its case. The appeals court sent the case back to Drain for an evidentiary Daubert hearing, scheduled for November 29^th, where the government will attempt to challenge the validity and admissibility of testimony from Fabri.

The decision to allow the government expert (who will clearly try to discredit her) to meet with Rasmea before a Daubert hearing is an unsound legal decision, because a defendant’s mental state is not necessary “for the court to decide the admissibility of an expert’s testimony,” according to the defense. It is also an unsound moral decision, because even with the safeguards described in yesterday’s defense motion, the ordeal will still be horribly retraumatizing for Rasmea.

The defense committee is mobilizing to fill the courtroom in Detroit for the November 29^th hearing, which falls on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People; is demanding “Hands Off Rasmea” and “Drop the Charges Now”; will continue to educate the public on Israel’s crimes and this specific case; and asks supporters to help raise money for the defense.

Mahmoud and Mohammed Balboul continue hunger strike after “suspension” of detention by Supreme Court; al-Qadi moved to intensive care

7 September 2016

The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the administrative detention of Palestinian hunger striking brothers, Mohammed and Mahmoud al-Balboul, suspended today, 7 September 2016. The Balboul brothers announced their rejection of the suspension of their administrative detention and the continuation of their hunger strike.

“Suspension” of administrative detention due to medical condition was also applied in the case of Mohammed Allan, Palestinian lawyer and hunger striker who sought to leave the hospital following his treatment only to be returned to detention; he was then released in an agreement. Mohammed and Mahmoud received multiple visitors and spoke with their mother via telephone from Wolfson and Assaf Harofen hospitals; both confirmed that they are continuing their hunger strike for the end of their administrative detention, not merely the suspension of the most restrictive aspects of their confinement due to their urgent health situation.

Mohammed Balboul, 26, and Mahmoud Balboul, 21, have been on hunger strike since 7 July and 4 July, respectively. The two brothers have been imprisoned without charge or trial since 9 June when they were arrested in a pre-dawn violent raid on their family home by Israeli occupation soldiers. For the past five days, Mohammed has suffered from a loss of vision due to the medical consequences of his strike.

In addition, Malik al-Qadi, 20, a journalism student at Al-Quds University, has been on hunger strike for 51 days against his own imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention. He was moved to intensive care in Wolfson hospital after a serious deterioration in his health on Wednesday night.

Protests are growing in support of the hunger strikers. Marchers in Bethlehem and in Qalqilya demanded the release of the three strikers, three of 750 Palestinians held without charge or trial in Israeli jails. Tomorrow, the PFLP Palestinian Prisoners Committee and Mohja Jerusalem Foundation will hold a protest at 11:00 am in Gaza City, while a protest will also take place in Berlin, Germany on Friday demanding the strikers’ release.

22 October, Lannemezan: Rally to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

6 September 2016

Saturday, 22 October
2:00 pm
Lannemezan, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1000930120005464/

Annual protest and rally to demand freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah from Lannemezan prison.

More information will be forthcoming; as always Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a strong supporter of this critical action and the campaign to free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine, imprisoned in French jails for 32 years.

9-11 September, Paris: Palestine events at Fete de l’Humanite

6 September 2016

9-11 September
Fete de l’Humanite
Parc Georges Valbon – La Corneuve
Paris, France

Festival Website: http://fete.humanite.fr/

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network will be participating in a variety of discussions and events at Fete de l’Humanite, the annual festival of the newspaper of the French Communist Party.

Among other events, Samidoun will be participating on Saturday, 10 September

2 pm – Manifestation for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Lebanese Communist Party booth, Village du Monde

3 pm – Discussion on Palestinian Prisoners and the Palestinian movement today
EuroPalestine booth, « STAINS » Avenue Georges Valbon

Sunday, 11 September:

1 pm – International Platform Against Isolation – Struggle of Political Prisoners Around the World
IPAI, Village du Monde

We will join in various events for Palestine and for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah throughout the weekend. We will update this page with further details.

22 September, Toulouse: Raly to support 4 accused BDS campaigners

5 September 2016

Thursday, 22 September
1 pm – 6 pm
Tribunal de Grande Instance
Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1210867175612247/

Bernard, Jean-Pierre, Loïc et Yamann are summoned to court “accused” of distributing BDS leaflets on 7 February 2015; in addition, Bernard and Yamann are “accused” of distributing another leaflet on 19 December 2014. These public information distributions, in the city center and outside the metro – are part of the international campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions, which is a popular, non-violent method of support of the Palestinian struggle initiated by Palestinian civil society to urge international public opinion to respect Palestinian rights and end the impunity of the Israeli state. Our comrades are accused of obstructing the normal economic activity of three stores as a result of a complaint filed by two pro-Israel organizations sent to the Prosecutor of the Republic.

Both leaflet distributions were peaceful, positive and did not interfere with passerby. They took place on public property and did not enter any store. The criminalization of BDS activism began with the Alliot-Marie circular, still not repealed by the government, and places freedom of expression and opinion itself under threat. On 31 March, the Mayor of Toulouse even prohibited a panel discussion with Professor Farid Esack, former companion of Nelson Mandela and president of BDS South Africa. The right to criticize a state that does not respect international law, that colonizes and occupies and that engages in apartheid, cannot be questioned or undermined; this right is at the core of the concept of democratic society.

We call on all to stand together to demand the acquittal of the four accused and to participate in the solidarity rally in Toulouse on Thursday, 22 September at 1 pm, and to support the legal defense by donating to the fund: checks payable to BDS France Toulouse – description “BDS trial” – sent to CCAC, BDS Committee, 10bis rue du Colonel Driant 31400 Toulouse.

Organized by Comité de Soutien aux inculpéEs BDS toulousains

Mohammed al-Balboul loses eyesight, Mahmoud al-Balboul moved to intensive care as three strikers continue battle for freedom

5 September 2016

Palestinian hunger strikers Mahmoud al-Balboul, Mohammed al-Balboul and Malik al-Qadi are continuing their open hunger strike as the Balboul brothers enter their third month without food. Mahmoud Balboul, 21, a student who works with the Palestinian police, was moved to intensive care in Assaf Harofeh hospital last night; his brother Mohammed, 26, and Malik al-Qadi, 20, are held in Wolfson hospital. Mohammed Balboul, 26, a dentist who recently opened an office in Jenin after completing his studies in Egypt, temporarily lost his sight yesterday.

The Balboul brothers and Al-Qadi are held without charge or trial under administrative detention. They are under severe threat of forced treatment and Wolfson’s “Ethics Committee” has reportedly convened regarding Mohammed’s case following his loss of vision. An appeal is being presented tomorrow in the Balboul brothers’ case at the Israeli Supreme Court.

Mahmoud has been on hunger strike since 4 July, and Mahmoud has been striking since 7 July. Both are held under administrative detention since their arrest by Israeli occupation forces on 9 June in a pre-dawn violent invasion of their family home. The brothers have lost over 20 kilograms of weight each and have pain throughout their bodies, difficulty breathing, and inability to move.

The brothers’ father, Ahmed Al-Balboul, was assassinated by occupation forces in 2008; their 15-year-old sister Nuran was also imprisoned for three months earlier in the year.

The families of Malik al-Qadi and the brothers held a press conference on Sunday, 4 September in Ramallah. Al-Qadi’s mother noted that Malik has been on strike for 51 days against his detention order; he was rearrested only weeks after his release from a prior four months imprisoned without charge or trial. He rejected offers to end his strike with a release date in four months, noting that the offer was not committed to writing. Al-Qadi is a journalism student at Al-Quds University and one of 27 Palestinian journalists imprisoned in Israeli jails.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges supporters of justice and liberation for Palestinian prisoners and for Palestine to build on their excellent work to support Bilal Kayed and his fellow hunger strikers to continue efforts to free these three Palestinian prisoners and take action between 3-10 September 2016. Their bodies are on the line in the struggle to secure their freedom and end administrative detention – and the struggle for the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people.

Now is the time for urgent action to support Mahmoud al-Balboul, Mohammed al-Balboul and Malik al-Qadi in their struggle for freedom.

A flyer for download is now available for actions and events in your city!

1. Hold a direct action, protest, picket or demonstration, including building the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to internationally isolate Israel, its institutions, and the corporations – like G4S -that profit from imprisonment, occupation, racism, colonialism and injustice. Demand freedom for the Balboul brothers, al-Qadi and all Palestinian prisoners. Please email samidoun@samidoun.net or post to Samidoun on Facebook about your events and actions.

2. Call political figures to demand action for the four hunger strikers. Call your government officials to pressure them to end the silence and complicity with the Israeli regime of political imprisonment and administrative detention.

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:

Three Palestinian prisoners, Mahmoud al-Balboul, Mohammed al-Balboul and Malik al-Qadi, have been on hunger strike since July against administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial.
Your government must demand the strikers’ immediate release and end all support for Israel’s political imprisonment and other crimes against Palestinians.
Israel’s use of administrative detention is a universally-recognized violation of human rights and international law.
The government must do more than criticize administrative detention or express concern, but should also take serious measures to end these violations.

5-6 September, Argentina: Week of Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners

5 September 2016

Monday, 5 September and Tuesday, 6 September
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1064456290296571/
Event website: https://prisionerospalestinos.wordpress.com/

Organized by the Federación De Entidades Argentino-Palestinas and the Comite Argentino de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino

A delegation of six former political prisoners will be in Buenos Aires to denounce the situation of thousands of Palestinians who are detained by Israeli occupation forces.

Monday, 5 September
5:00 pm
Opening of the forum
Ex-ESMA Building Cuatro Columnas
Av. Libertador 8151 CABA

Speakers: Adolfo Perez Esquivel – Nobel Peace Prize; Nora Cortinas – Mothers Line Founder, Jorge Taiana – President Parlasur, Socorro Gomez – Cebrapaz – Brazil, Issa Qaraqe – Minister of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners-Palestine.
Coordinator: Jose Shulman, LADH

Palestinian Delegation: Issa Qaraqe, Qadura Fares, Abeer Al Wahedi, Fidaa Abulatifa, Malak Khatib, Samer Tayyem.

Tuesday, 6 September
Teatro La Mascara
Piedras 736 (Entre Av. Independencia and Chile)

11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Dialogue between former prisoners and politicians of the region and former Palestinian prisoners

Speakers: Anahit Aharonian (Uruguay), Alicia Lira (Chile), Ricardo Canese (Paraguay), Palestinian Delegation

4:30-6:15 pm
Psychological and Psychosocial Aspects

Speakers: Dr. Lucila Edelman and Dr. Dario Lagos, in dialogue with former Palestinian prisoners. Both are affiliated with EATIP, the Argentine Task Force for Psychosocial Research.

6:30 pm

Meeting with Workers, Social Organizations, Politicans, Students and Palestinian Delegation

Closing and final documents

27 Palestinian journalists held in Israeli prisons, including prisoner advocates and closed radio station’s staff

4 September 2016

27 Palestinian journalists are currently held in Israeli prisons, after the arrest of several prominent Palestinians, including journalist Osama Shaheen of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies and five journalists at Al-Sanabel Radio, invaded and shut down by Israeli occupation forces.

One of the imprisoned Palestinian journalists, student Malik al-Qadi, 20, has been on hunger strike since 16 July 2016, for 50 days, demanding his release from imprisonment without charge or trial. Al-Qadi is a journalism student at Al-Quds University arrested on 23 May and held without charge or trial since that time; he was previously subject to four months of administrative detention from December 2015 to April 2016. Al-Qadi’s health is now in serious danger after 50 days without food; he is held in Wolfson hospital under Israeli armed guards and continues to refuse medical examinations and supplements.

Al-Qadi’s fellow journalists held under administrative detention without charge or trial include Nidal Abu Aker, 50, of Dheisheh refugee camp, former hunger striker and host of a program on Palestinian prisoners at Sawt al-Wihda radio; Ali Oweiwi; Omar Nazzal, member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate; Hasan Safadi, media coordinator for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association; Mohammed Kaddoumi; and Adib Al-Atrash.

Five journalists were arrested on 31 August when the Israeli occupation forces invaded Radio Sanabel in Dura, al-Khalil in the occupied West Bank of Palestine, seizing the station manager and four fellow workers. Ahmad Daraweesh, Mohammed Sous, Nidal Amro, Montasser Nassar and Hamed Nammoura were all seized by occupation forces and the station ordered closed for three months.

osama-shaheen Osama Shaheen, journalist and director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies, was seized on 1 September 2016 by Israeli occupation forces in a violent armed raid on his home, also in Dura. He was interrogated for one hour in his home and documents related to the center confiscated by the occupation forces. Shaheen had been released in March after one and a half years in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Fellow journalists being held pending sentencing or military court trials include Hammam Attili, the very ill patient Bassam Sayeh, Samer Abu Aisha, Nasser Al-Din Khasib and Hadi Sabarneh.

In addition, nine Palestinian journalists are imprisoned, sentenced by occupation military courts on a wide range of charges, many associated with so-called “incitement” for posting on social media. These nine journalists are Mohammed Mahmoud Issa, Salah Awwad, Ahmed Al-Saifi, Walid Khaled, Qutaiba Qasim, Muhammad Aseeda, Sami al-Saee, Samah Dweik, and Hazem Nasser. Photojournalist Nasser, 28, was arrested on 11 April at a military checkpoint near Nablus and has now been sentenced to eight months in Israeli prisons. He had previously been summoned three times by Palestinian Authority intelligence for interrogation in early April.

The imprisonment of Palestinian journalists comes alongside a string of attacks on Palestinian journalism, including the detention of Shadi Hatem, Amir Abu Markhia, Khaled Ma’ali and his crew and Iman Salawi in the month of August, and the summoning of writer Lama Khater for interrogation. Furthermore, in the month of August, journalists, including Iman Salawi, Raghad Aleitma, and Hassan Dabous. Further, four Palestinian journalists were beaten, including Hasan Shaalan, Nidal Aghbarieh, Iman Salawi and Sabrine Diab. Two Palestinian journalists were fined, Hazem Nasser and Faisal al-Rifai, while five were prevented from traveling, including the prohibition of Palestinian journalist Ashraf Abu Amra from Gaza, prohibited from traveling abroad to receive an award.

Palestinians protest for release of 6 hunger strikers as families issue statement urging their freedom

4 September 2016

Palestinian protesters gathered in Ramallah on Saturday, 3 September to demand the release of six Palestinian youth held in the Palestinian Authority Beitunia prison. The six youth, Basil al-Araj, Haitham Siyaj, Mohammed Harb, Mohammed al-Salameen, Seif al-Idrissi and Ali Dar al-Sheikh, have been imprisoned in PA prisons since March and early April 2016.

The six launched a hunger strike on 28 August to demand their immediate release from PA prisons. Their detention has been repeatedly extended with no charges against them, while Palestinian Authority officials have boasted publicly about the importance of their “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation, in protecting the security of the occupier.

Dozens gathered outside the Muqata’, the Palestinian Authority presidential compound, to call for the release of the six, while police blared sirens to block their chants.

Protests also took place on 3 September in Rabat, Morocco; Tunis, Tunisia; and Beddawi refugee camp in Lebanon, all highlighting the case of the six hunger strikers and demanding their immediate release and an end to security coordination with the Israeli occupation.

The families of the six detained youth issued a statement urging action to free them:

Our children have been and are detained in inhumane conditions

We are the families of six Palestinian youth arrested by the PA security services (Basil al-Araj, Mohammed Harb, Haitham Siyaj, Seif al-Idrissi, Mohammed al-Salameen, Ali Dar al-Sheikh), calling upon the conscience of Palestinian society as our children are struggling since the evening of 28 August 2016 in an open hunger strike. They are demanding their freedom from unjust arrest; their arrest in April is without any legal justification.

In the first period of their detention, our children were subject to cruel methods of torture at the hands of Palestinian intelligence, causing harm to themselves and their bodies and requiring treatment on several occasions for the effects. Since their arrest until the date of this statement, the arrest of our sons has bee n extended repeatedly and arbitrarily by the Palestinian Authority courts without providing any indictment or charges against them. Our children are well-known to all for their strong morals and high patriotism, and some of them have experience in occupation prisons and have been detained on several occasions.

Today our six children are being held in inhumane conditions in Beitunia prison west of Ramallah. When our children announced they were taking this step of hunger strike, the prison administration escalated arbitrary punishments aainst them, including depriving us of family visits for us to check on them and their health, isolating them in tiny dirty cells lacking the minimum needs for human habitation, with nothing but a mattress provided only for the night with no blanket and withdrawn in the morning, in addition to a toilet inside the cell, adding further danger to their health.

We are the family of these detainees that today are screaming as the conscience of Palestinian society. Our children are facing the deterioration of their health as they conduct this strike and some of them already suffer from diseases that threaten their lives in the event of their continued hunger strike.

We want to preserve the lives of our children and protect them like all Palestinian families work to protect their children from any harm. Their ongoing continued detention threatens their future and their lives. So we call on all parties, official and unofficial, to work urgently for the release of our detained children. We hold the Palestinian security entities responsible in case of any consequences to their health or lives as a result of this hunger strike.

We call on the legal institutions and at the forefront, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, to work and pressure for the release of our children as soon aspossible. We also call upon international institutions to act immediately in order to secure their release.

Every minute that passes for us, the family of the six hunger strikers, are minutes of hell and heartache, of constant worry and fear for our children. Nothing reassures our hearts but lawyers’ visits, which confirmed their drastic conditions.

Stand with us and our children!

Families of the six hunger strikers held in Beitunia prison.

Protesters will gather again outside Beitunia prison for a sit-in and press conference on Tuesday, 6 September.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network revives and renews its call for international solidarity with these six detained Palestinian youth, prisoners of security coordination. We urge that international voices be raised to demand the immediate release of these six youth on hunger strike an and end to the policies of security coordination that further threaten Palestinian life and freedom at the behest of the occupation.

Take Action!

1. It is critical that official Palestinian institutions hear from Palestinian communities in diaspora and exile and from friends of the Palestinian people in support of the six detained Palestinian youth.

We urge you to CALL the Palestinian Mission to the United Nations at +1 212 288-8500 and EMAIL the mission at palestine@un.int.

* Tell the mission that you are calling as a supporter of Palestine or as a Palestinian and your location, regarding the case of the six Palestinian youth detained in PA prison in the West Bank.

* Tell the mission that you are urging the immediate release of the six detained Palestinian youth who are currently on hunger strike in Beitunia prison.

* Tell the mission that PA security coordination with Israel only hurts the Palestinian people.

We also urge you to CALL the office of PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Ramallah at + 970 229 68989, or EMAIL the office at info@pmo.gov.ps. Please emphasize the same points above and the importance of the immediate release of the six youth.

2. Sign and Share the Petition – Call on PA officials to immediately release the six Palestinian youth! This petition was launched upon their arrest in April. Please sign and share this petition and build international solidarity to free the six! Sign and share: https://www.change.org/p/palestinian-authority-free-six-young-palestinian-activists-from-political-detention

1...452453454...690 Page 453 of 690

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork