19 August, London: Protest outside G4S for freedom for Palestinian hunger striker Bilal Kayed

18 August 2016

Friday, 19 August
3:00 pm
G4S Headquarters, 105 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6QT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/107467653037140/
WEB: http://inminds.com/article.php?id=10718

Organized by www.inminds.com

On Friday 19th August 2016 Inminds human rights group will protest outside the global headquarters of the worlds largest private security company G4S in Victoria, London to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Palestinian hunger striker Bilal Kayed who has been on hunger strike for over 60 days. Inminds will also demand an end to Israel’s illegal policy of punitive Administrative Detention whereby Palestinians like Bilal Kayed are caged without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time with no means to defend themselves.

G4S partners with the Israeli occupation to secure many of its prisons where Palestinians are caged and tortured. Bilal Kayed was previously caged at Israel’s G4S secured Megiddo prison where G4S provides the central command room from where the entire prison is controlled.
Bilal Kayed was imprisoned by the Israeli military occupation in 2001, he completed his full 14.5 years sentence on 13th June 2016. But instead of being released as scheduled to meet his waiting family at the military checkpoint, he was re-arrested without charge or trial and ordered to indefinitely-renewable 6 months administrative detention. To demand his freedom Bilal Kayed went on hunger strike.

Inminds chair Abbas Ali said “There are certain crimes that the occupation perpetrates that if left unchallenged, set a new dangerous precedent for all Palestinians.. The hunting down and murder of former prisoner Omar Zayed’s in Europe was one such example and today we have the arbitrary caging of Bilal Kayed without charge or trial after he has already served his full 14.5 years sentence. If we don’t fight this decision today then it will hang over every imprisoned Palestinian like a sword of Damocles. We must fight this injustice now!”

On friday, if he survives, Bilal Kayed will be on day 66 of his hunger strike. Kayed’s health is deteriorating fast and is vulnerable to cerebral haemorrhage, heart attack or stroke due to the physical strain on his body. He has been denied access to an independent doctor and is currently suffering from “chest pain, kidney, jaw, eyes, ears, legs, as well as severe headache. He also suffers from blurred vision, numbness throughout the body, hair loss, as well as yellowness and peeling of the skin.”

Despite his condition Kayed is kept chained, with his right hand and left foot shackled to his bed. Additional shackles have also been added to his feet, chaining him to the bed, despite the appeal submitted to the High Court by Physicians for Human Rights to remove the shackling of his hand and legs. In this state he is taunted and intimidated with 25 armed officers storming his hospital room and surrounding him. Meanwhile the occupation military court has set Kayed’s hearing date for 5th October knowing full well that he will probably not survive till then.

Inminds chair Abbas Ali said “Its clear that by setting his court hearing date two months away, that the occupation wants to kill Bilal Kayed. Bilal was a leader of the prisoners resistance inside the prisons.. the occupation is afraid of him.. they don’t want him to leave their prison alive.”

Nearly 100 fellow Palestinian prisoners have joined Kayed on hunger strike and there is an international campaign to demand Bilal Kayed’s freedom with protests across the globe. Today there are around 750 Palestinians being held indefinitely without charge or trial, with no way to defend themselves, under Israel’s illegal use of administrative detention. 127 administrative detention orders were issued last month in July 2016.

Inminds chair Abbas Ali said “Since 2007 the British security contractor G4S has worked hand in glove with the Israeli occupation, helping it secure its military prisons where Palestinians are brutally tortured and caged in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. G4S is a British company, we in Britain have a direct responsibility to end this company’s involvement in the crimes perpetrated against Palestinian political prisoners like Bilal Kayed. We urge you to join us on Friday 19th August outside G4S HQ in Victoria, London.”

If you support this activity please share this alert widely, thank you.

JazakAllah,
Abbas Ali

Inminds
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19 August, Philadelphia: Friday Protest: Free Bilal Kayed! End Administrative Detention!

18 August 2016

Friday, 19 August
4:30 pm
19th St & JFK Boulevard (Israeli Consulate)
Philadelphia, PA
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/1124911024240667/

Bilal Kayed is a Palestinian Political prisoner who was placed on administrative detention and forced into solitary confinement on the day of his release, after being incarcerated in an israeli prison for 14 years.

Bilal has been on a hunger strike for over 60 days since he was put on administrative detention. Hundreds of other Palestinian prisoners have joined his hunger strike in protest against the apartheid state of israel.

With his health reaching a critical turn for the worse, Bilal doesn’t have much time left. His situation is as urgent as ever. We must protest our freedom fighter!

Join us at the Israeli Consulate on Philadelphia on 19th and JFK as we protest against israel for his release.

Organized by SJP Ona MOVE and Temple Students for Justice in Palestine

Co-Hosts: International Action Center, Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

19 August, Sousse: Stand in solidarity with Bilal Kayed

18 August 2016

Friday, 19 August
6:00 pm
Municipal Theatre of Sousse
Avenue Habib Bourguiba Sousse
4000 Sousse, Tunisia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/251620505236618/

Youth Against Normalization calls on all political parties, national organizations and Tunisian citizens to participate in a vigil of solidarity with the Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed, on hunger strike for over 65 days, in rejection of the occupation authorities’ order of administrative detention against him after 14.5 years in Zionist jails, on Friday evening at 6 pm in front of the municipal theatre in Sousse.

19 August, NYC: Direct action to free Bilal Kayed and stop G4S

18 August 2016

Friday, 19 August
4:00 pm
G4S office NYC – 19 W 44th St
New York, NY
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1679496998937714/

Bilal Kayed, one of 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel, had been scheduled for years to be released on June 13, the end of a 14 1/2-year sentence by an Israeli military court in the occupied West Bank.

Instead, on the morning his family and friends planned to welcome him home, he was given an administrative detention order, a decree by an Israeli military commander sentencing him to six more months’ imprisonment, without charge or trial and subject to indefinite renewal.

Now one of 750 Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli prisons, Bilal launched a hunger strike on June 15 to demand his freedom.

Stand with Bilal as he starts his 67th day of hunger strike to demand that Israel release him, other administrative detainees, and all Palestinian politicial prisoners immediately, and that occupation profiteer G4S end its contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces, and checkpoints now.

Join us to answer united appeals by Palestinian prisoners for escalated boycotts of G4S and solidarity with Bilal.

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

17 August, Brussels: Freedom for Bilal Kayed

16 August 2016

Wednesday, 17 August
2 pm – 4 pm
Schuman Roundabout
Brussels

Stand up for justice and freedom for Bilal Kayed and all Palestinian prisoners! As part of the global days of action in solidarity with the Palestinian hunger striker Bilal Kayed, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Palestinian Community of Belgium and Luxembourg and the European Alliance for the Defence of Palestinian Detainees all to join us in protest and raise your voices for liberation at Schuman Roundabout on Wednesday, 17 August at 2:00 pm!

Bilal Kayed, 34, has been on hunger strike since 15 June; on Wednesday, he will have consumed only water for 43 days. He is shackled hand and foot to his hospital bed in Barzilai hospital despite being unable to walk and surrounded by guards. He launched his hunger strike after he was ordered to six months in administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – rather than being released after the expiration of a 14.5 year prison sentence on 13 June 2016. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners are on a collective open hunger strike in support of Bilal and hundreds more are engaged in protest actions. Bilal is one of around 700 Palestinians held under administrative detention, and 7000 total prisoners. Let us raise our voices in Brussels against EU complicity in the imprisonment of Palestinians and demand freedom for the Palestinian prisoners – and the land and people of Palestine.

Freedom for Bilal Kayed and all Palestinian Prisoners! End Administrative Detention! Freedom for Palestine!

17 August, Manchester: Emergency Protest Free Bilal Kayed and All Palestinian Prisoners

13 August 2016

Wednesday, 17 August
7:00 pm
Piccadilly Gardens
Manchester, UK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1657123617948319/

On 12 August Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed entered his 60th day of hungerstrike against his “administrative detention” (imprisonment without trial) by the Israeli state. In solidarity with comrade Bilal, other leading members of the Palestinian resistance movement have joined the prison protest. Living in Britain, we have a responsibility to break the chains and end our state’s support for Israel.

The Palestinian prisoners campaign Samidoun has put out the following call to action:

“At this urgent moment, we call on all people of conscience, Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizations and social justice movements to escalate the struggle for freedom for Bilal Kayed. The designation of a court date two months away is an open declaration of the Israeli desire to assassinate Bilal Kayed and suppress the prisoners’ movement. As Bilal Kayed enters his 60th day of hunger strike, let us make 12 August-20 August days of action for Bilal’s liberation and Palestine’s liberation!
We urge all international supporters of the Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian people and their struggle for justice and liberation to escalate protests, organizing and struggle for freedom to confront these threats to the life of Bilal Kayed and support his urgent battle for freedom.”

Join us on the streets of Manchester with flags, banners, candles and voices:

Free Bilal Kayed!
Free all Palestinian political prisoners!

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Manchester Boycott Israel Group – Victory to Palestine!
RCG Manchester – Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!

www.frfi.co.uk

13 August, Belfast: Free Bilal Kayed and all Political Prisoners

13 August 2016

Saturday, 13 August
2:00 PM
International Wall
IRPWA Mural, Divis Street
Belfast, Ireland

Stand in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed on his 60th day of hunger strike at Belfast’s International Wall, at the mural produced by the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association in support of Irish and Palestinian political prisoners struggling against colonial oppression.

Israeli court keeps Bilal Kayed shackled to hospital bed on 60th day of hunger strike; Amnesty speaks out

13 August 2016

As imprisoned Palestinian hunger striker Bilal Kayed enters his 60th day of hunger strike, an Israeli court in Beersheba rejected a petition to release him from the shackles on his wrist and ankle and denied him access to an independent physician.

Kayed, held in Barzilai Hospital, is shackled hand and foot to his hospital bed. After 60 days without food, he is weak, suffering serious pain throughout his body, with yellowing skin. He is surrounded by at least three prison guards at all times. Physicians for Human Rights, with Kayed’s lawyers, had submitted a petition seeking Kayed’s unshackling. The Israeli state responded by saying that Kayed was being shackled to prevent a “kidnapping attempt” or an “escape,” despite his urgent health condition. The Beersheba court refused to order Kayed’s unshackling or allow him to see an independent doctor; Kayed’s lawyers indicated they would appeal the decision.

This ruling came one day after the Israeli high court set a hearing date in Kayed’s case for 5 October, nearly two months from today, despite his hunger strike, severe health condition, and the fact that he has been held under administrative detention since 13 June.

Amnesty International issued a statement on Kayed’s case on 12 August as well, noting that “The Israeli authorities’ use of administrative detention to continue to hold a person who has completed a long custodial sentence appears particularly cruel. The Israeli authorities must release Kayed, or, if they have evidence that he has committed a crime, then he should be promptly charged with a recognizable criminal offence and tried in proceedings which comply with international law and standards on fair trial. ”

Kayed, 34, has been on hunger strike since 15 June when he was ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial for a six-month indefinitely-renewable term immediately after the completion of his 14.5-year sentence in Israeli prison. He has been imprisoned since 2001 for participation in the second Intifada and involvement in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Instead of releasing him as scheduled, Kayed was ordered to indefinite detention. His case is a dangerous precedent that threatens all Palestinian prisoners with continued detention after the expiration of their sentences.

Nearly 100 Palestinian prisoners have joined Kayed on hunger strike and hundreds more in protests throughout the prison system supporting his strike and demanding his release. Over 150 international organizations have signed on to a global call to free Kayed and protests are taking place throughout Palestine and internationally for Kayed’s release.

In New York City on Friday 12 August, marchers protested through the lobby of a G4S building and Grand Central Station, demanding freedom for Kayed and that the security corporation get out of occupied Palestine, where it provides control rooms, equipment and security systems for Israeli prisons.

Protests are scheduled for 13 August in Derry, Belfast and Dublin in Ireland, where the Irish anti-colonial hunger strike tradition is honored with solidarity with today’s Palestinian hunger strikers for liberation, as well as a symbolic hunger strike in Berlin. Further forthcoming protests are already planned in Sydney, Vienna, Copenhagen, Manchester and elsewhere, along with a full slate of solidarity actions in Beirut, Lebanon and ongoing protests throughout occupied Palestine.

Across the Globe: Transnational Solidarity with Palestinian Mass Hunger Strike

12 August 2016

August 11, 2016 – In light of the mass hunger strikes taking place inside Israeli prisons and detention centers in solidarity with hunger striking administrative detainee Bilal Kayed, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, US Palestinian Community Network and Black4Palestine wish to express their support for participation in and appreciation of the far-reaching solidarity actions across the globe. These actions have included stands of solidarity, public demonstrations, awareness raising leaflets and pamphlets, lectures and talks, as well as solidarity hunger strikes in other countries. Palestine, in its struggle against the Israeli occupation, has long mobilized transnational solidarity among peoples who have shared experiences of living under colonial imperialism, government oppression, racial domination and economic exploitation.People around the globe have been mobilizing and organizing solidarity actions with Bilal Kayed and other prisoners and detainees, including the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Greece, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Jordan, France, Ireland, Canada, and many other countries. Additionally, various networks and coalitions, including Black Solidarity with Palestine, have issued solidarity statements. Irish Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry Prison in Northern Ireland expressed solidarity with the hunger strikers in the hands of Israeli authorities “who have a lengthy record of abuse and torture of prisoners in occupied Palestine”. From South Africa, diverse voices for justice have spoken out for the hunger strikers. In France, imprisoned Lebanese Arab political prisoner Georges Ibrahim Abdallah returned meals for three days in solidarity with Kayed and his fellow strikers. In Palestine, solidarity tents throughout major cities organize a series of actions and events to express solidarity with the mass hunger strikes.

The issue of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons and detention centers transcends one of individual human rights; it is also one of collective rights of an entire people – the Palestinian people, who continue to be deprived of the right to self-determination and sovereignty – basic fundamentals of international law. All Palestinian political prisoners – regardless of their alleged political affiliations or charges – are entitled to fair trial guarantees under international humanitarian law and international human rights laws. Palestinian political prisoners and detainees are systematically subjected to torture and ill treatment with continued impunity – highlighting the need for more solidarity actions from people around the globe to call for immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners, long-denied their basic rights.

Transnational solidarity between various oppressed peoples and liberation movements around the globe demonstrates that the struggle for rights is a historical one that is connected through distinct experiences of oppression and dehumanization. Oppression, repression, and brutality of state terror persist despite the existence of internationally recognized rights, as oppressed peoples continue to be denied basic human rights, including the right to self-determination.

We salute all of the strugglers for justice who have taken to the streets and spoken with their communities about the mass hunger strike of Palestinians in Israeli jails. At this urgent moment, we call on all friends of Palestine to continue, expand and intensify their global solidarity actions for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners. As Bilal Kayed enters his 58^th day of hunger strike and as the mass movement inside Israeli prisons grows for his release, it is critical that the international movement be loud and clear when state actors are complicit or silent. In particular, we urge all to intensify the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel for the freedom of Palestinian political prisoners and the freedom of Palestine, and for BDS groups to take up actions in support of the rights of Palestinian prisoners.

We salute all of the political prisoners around the world leading the movement for justice, freedom and self-determination. Together, our global solidarity is crucial to collectively face repression and defeat racism, imperialism and exploitation

Call to Action – Bilal Kayed entering 60 days of hunger strike: Urgent Need for International Solidarity

11 August 2016

bilal-hands Bilal Kayed is about to enter his 60th day of hunger strike. As he moves into his third month without food, shackled hand and foot to a hospital bed and surrounded by prison guards in Barzilai hospital, the latest outrage has been issued from the Israeli occupation: a court date set for his appeal from the Israeli high court in two months’ time, when he is already suffering severe deterioration in his health, pain, weakness and yellowing skin. He has been threatened with forcible treatment should he lose consciousness again.

A Palestinian prisoner, Bilal Kayed is held without charge or trial. He completed a 14.5-year sentence in Israeli prisons on 13 June 2016. While his family waited for him at an Israeli checkpoint to return home to his village of Asira al-Shamaliya, he was instead ordered to six months’ imprisonment without charge or trial, indefinitely renewable, on the basis of the “secret file” – and thrown into solitary confinement, where he had spent the previous 9 months. Kayed, who was arrested and imprisoned in 2001 for involvement in the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian resistance in the second Intifada, launched his hunger strike on 15 June.

Since that time, he has consumed no food. He has vowed to continue his strike for freedom, despite all consequences for him personally. At the same time, both he and his fellow 7,000 Palestinian prisoners – 750 held in administrative detention – have affirmed that his struggle is not an individual one. Kayed’s case threatens a precedent that impacts all Palestinian prisoners – the threat of indefinite detention following the expiration of a prison sentence. It is also an attempt to suppress dissent and organizing within Israeli prisons; Kayed was an elected leader of the prisoners who coordinated between Palestinian factions to organize hunger strikes and other prisoner actions.

Over 100 of Kayed’s comrades in the PFLP and hundreds more other Palestinian prisoners have joined in collective hunger strikes and protests for his freedom, including Ahmad Sa’adat, PFLP General Secretary. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement has issued a joint statement emphasizing the importance of his strike. Over 150 Palestinian and international organizations have signed on to a call for his release. And in the streets in Palestine and internationally, the popular voice is growing: from the cities, villages and refugee camps of occupied Palestine in all areas, in Haifa, Asqelan, Umm al-Fahm, Nablus, Dheisheh, Bethlehem, Aida Camp, Qalandiya Camp, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Gaza, Khan Younis, and so many more; and from the cities and towns of the world, in New York, Vancouver, Montreal, Johannesburg, Belfast, Dublin, Beirut, Cairo, Rabat, Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Toulouse, The Hague, Gothenburg, Montreal, Vienna, Copenhagen, Malmo, Caracas, Sao Paulo, Naples, Sydney, Milan, London, Manchester and so many more; the call is growing for the freedom of Bilal Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.

The Boycott National Committee has issued a call to escalate and intensify the boycott of G4S; as Bilal Kayed enters 60 days of hunger strike, this is the time to amplify the boycott of Israel and the campaign against G4S. In New York City, protesters will march and rally from one G4S office to another on Friday, 12 August as Bilal Kayed enters his 60th day of hunger strike. The ramped-up G4S campaign comes just as the Movement for Black Lives has urged all, in its historic platform, to “organize campaigns against G4S and other global private prison companies that are profiting from the shackling of our community in the US, in Palestine, in Brazil and around the world.”

In Lebanon, the Lebanese Communist Party will march to the borders of Palestine for the striking prisoners. In Lannemezan prison, Georges Abdallah refuses meals after 32 years in French prisons. In Ireland, the home of so many anti-colonial prisoners and a strong legacy of hunger strikes, the protests multiply by the day, including by today’s Irish republican prisoners. In Dublin, Copenhagen, Sydney, Derry, Vienna, Berlin, NYC and across occupied Palestine, people are readying to take to the streets for freedom.

At the same time, the official voices of the world are silent: from the large human rights organizations to governments and UN bodies. At this urgent moment, we call on all people of conscience, Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizations and social justice movements to escalate the struggle for freedom for Bilal Kayed. The designation of a court date two months away is an open declaration of the Israeli desire to assassinate Bilal Kayed and suppress the prisoners’ movement. As Bilal Kayed enters his 60th day of hunger strike, let us make 12 August-20 August days of action for Bilal’s liberation and Palestine’s liberation!

We urge all international supporters of the Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian people and their struggle for justice and liberation to escalate protests, organizing and struggle for freedom to confront these threats to the life of Bilal Kayed and support his urgent battle for freedom.

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Please use the form, email samidoun@samidoun.net or post to Samidoun on Facebook about events on 20-27 August, including existing events, protests, literature distributions or tables incorporating materials about Bilal Kayed and administrative detention.

Download signs and literature at this link: Free Bilal Kayed! Resources and Materials for International Day of Action

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