Free Bilal Kayed! Resources and Materials for International Day of Action

21 June 2016

Well over 100 Palestinian and international organizations have called for days of action on 24 and 25 June in support of Bilal Kayed. Kayed, 35, is entering his second week of hunger strike after being ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial on 13 June upon the expiration of his 14.5 year sentence in Israeli prison.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are engaging in a series of protests in support of Kayed’s demand to end his administrative detention and release him immediately; there are over 100 prisoners striking now in Megiddo, where Kayed was a prisoner leader before being isolated. Hundreds more Palestinian prisoners – including many affiliated with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Kayed’s party, will engage in a two-day protest hunger strike on 24 and 25 June; they are calling for a collective open hunger strike after 7 July if Kayed remains imprisoned.

Protests have already taken place in Berlin, Paris and throughout Palestine calling for Kayed’s release; more are scheduled in New York, Brussels, The Hague and elsewhere. In more cities, Kayed’s case will be part of tabling actions and protests.

Additional organizational signatures are welcome on the call for action for Bilal Kayed; please sign at this link: http://goo.gl/forms/wJ15cFDVsIGMGXld2

The following posters, banner templates, leaflets and flyers are available for you to download for use in protests and actions for Bilal Kayed – or to include this case in existing events and actions for Palestine or social justice more broadly.

Please contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net to let us know about protests and actions in your city including the case of the prisoner, including tabling, leaflet distribution and other regular actions!

	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (English) – Download PDF
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (English) with Take Action Call for the United States
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (English) with Take Action Call for the European Union
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (English) with Take Action Call for the UK
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (English) with Take Action Call for Canada
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (English) with Take Action Call for Australia
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (French)
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (German)
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (Greek)
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (Italian)
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (Spanish)
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (Turkish)
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (Czech)
	Bilal Kayed Leaflet (Dutch)
	Palestinian Prisoners’ Factsheet (English)
	Bilal Kayed Poster Download large, high resolution poster
	Bilal Kayed Poster – Italian
	Bilal Kayed Banner Template

Call to Action: 24-25 June – Days of Action to Free Bilal Kayed and End Administrative Detention

This call out is open for organizational endorsements. Thank you! Please use the form or emailsamidoun@samidoun.net to sign on.

On 13 June, Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed was slated for release after 14 and one-half years in Israeli prison. His family was waiting for him, as were his comrades and friends; however, Bilal never came – because instead of being released, he had been ordered by the Israeli occupation military to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial. He is now on an open hunger strike which he launched the morning of 15 June – demanding his freedom and an end to administrative detention.

Bilal Kayed, 35, is one of approximately 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence under administrative detention, and 7,000 Palestinians total in occupation prisons. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable – Palestinians can spend years in administrative detention at a time, never knowing when they will be freed.

Kayed is known as a leader among Palestinian prisoners – as the representative of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine prisoners in Megiddo prison, he was targeted for solitary confinement for one and a half years. His fellow Palestinian prisoners are engaged in a series of protests and actions to demand his release and will be conducting their third two-day hunger strike on 24 and 25 June, returning their meals to demand Kayed’s freedom and and an end to administrative detention.

This is an attempt to impose a precedent for all Palestinian prisoners – that on the date of release, after five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years in prison, rather than being released, Palestinian prisoners be held indefinitely without charge or trial, ordered to administrative detention. The denial of Bilal Kayed’s freedom is a threat to the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners.

The detention of Kayed, a prisoner leader, scheduled for release; Mohammed Abu Sakha, circus performer and teacher; Jerusalemite human rights defender Hasan Safadi; youth organizer Bilal Abu Diab; members of the Palestinian Legislative Council such as Abdel-Jaber Fuquha and Hatem Kufaisha; journalist and union leader Omar Nazzal – amid hundreds more, indicate the level of Israeli state impunity to lock away Palestinian emerging leaders and prominent community figures without charge or trial. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have put their bodies and lives on the lines in extended hunger strikes to demand an end to administrative detention.

We raise our voices around the world to join the call to free Bilal Kayed and all of his fellow administrative detainees and bring an end to the practice of administrative detention. We call for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners – and for the cause for which they struggle, the freedom of Palestine and its people.

We join the call for protests, actions and events around the world on 24 and 25 June in support of the Palestinian prisoners striking for freedom and urge organizations and people of conscience everywhere to join in actions to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed and his fellow prisoners, 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.

Free Bilal Kayed and all Palestinian Prisoners!
End Administrative Detention!

Signed:

This call out is open for additional organizational endorsements. Please use the form or email samidoun@samidoun.net to sign on.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Abna’a el-Balad Movement – Palestine
ACAT France
Actions4Palestine – Toronto, Canada
AFPS Association France Palestine Solidarité
Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition NY
Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition – US
Alternative Information Center
Asociación Palestina BILADI
Association Belgo-Palestinienne
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) – India
Association of Academics for the Respect of International Law in Palestine – AURDIP
Association of the Palestinian Community in Scotland
Associazione Amicizia Sardegna Palestina
BAYAN USA
BDS Action Calgary
BDS Amsterdam
BDS Austria
BDS Berlin
BDS Nederland
BDS Oudàh
BDS Slovenija
BDS Trieste
BDS Turkey (Filistin Için Israil’e Boykot Girisimi)
BDS Vancouver
Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israeli citizens for BDS)
Byron Friends of Palestine
Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Canada Palestine Association
CAPJPO – EuroPalestine
Cátedra de Estudiso Palestinos Edward W. Said
Citizens International – Malaysia
Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (Sydney)
Collectif Judeo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
Collettivo Autogestito CASAROSSA40
Comité Palestina Libre / Uruguay
Comite Salta de solidaridad con Palestina
Committee of the Greater ABC/SP of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Brazil
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Committees for a Democratic Palestine – Brazil
Communist Party, Sweden
Contemporary Lawyers Association (Çagdas Hukukçular Dernegi)
Corvallis-Albany Palestine Solidarity
Coup Pour Coup 31
Democratic Lawyers’ Alliance – Palestine
Democratic Palestine Committees – Germany
docP (Diensten en Onderzoek Centrum Palestina , Netherlands)
éirígí
Education Equals Making Community Connections
European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP)
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
Faculty for Palestine (Canada)
February 20 Movement – USA
Filipino Refugees in the Netherlands
Finnish-Arab Friendship Society
Football Against Apartheid
Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Friends of Ain el-Helweh, Grenoble
Fronte Palestina
Gaza Action Ireland
Gerechtigkeit und Frieden für Palästina
Gesellschaft Schweiz Palästina
Groupe Non-Violent LOUIS LECOIN
Grupo de Tecnología Alternativa S.C.
Gruppo Azione Palestina – Parma
Handala Center for Prisoners and Former Prisoners
Handala Cultural Center – Vienna
Hilton Head for Peace
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (Türkiye Insan Haklari Vakfi)
Human Rights Institute – Bratislava, Slovakia
Human Rights March – Denmark
Hunter College Students for Justice in Palestine
Initiative for a Just Peace in the Middle East – Slovakia
Inminds.com
intal
International Action Center
International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
International League of Peoples Struggle in Canada
International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
International Solidarity Movement – Palestine
International Solidarity Movement – Northern California
International Solidarity Movement Czech Republic group
Internationale Socialisten
Internationalt Forum/Middle East Group
InvictaPalestina – Torino
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Isçi Demokrasisi Partisi (IDP)
Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Labor for Palestine
LADH (Liga Argentina de los Derechos del Hombre)
Landless Workers ‘ Movement (MST) – Brazil
Lefterianews – Greece
Left Perspective – Czech Republic
Leuvense Actiegroep Palestina
Libertarian Lawyers Association (Özgürlükçü Hukukçular Dernegi)
London Palestine Action
Los Otros Judios
Merton PSC – London
MRAP Vaucluse
Mouvement Citoyen Palestine
National Jericho Movement
National Lawyers Guild – Palestine Subcommittee
Netherlands Palestine Committee (NPK)
New York City Students for Justice in Palestine
Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition
NY 4 Palestine Coalition
NYC Free Peltier
NYC Friends of MOVE
Palästinensische Kulturzentrum Schweiz
Palestijnse Gemeenschap in Nederland
Palestina Kommitee Rotterdam
Palestina Rossa
Palestina Solidariteit
Palestine Platform Human Rights and Solidarity (PPMS)
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Brazil – Rio Grande do Sul
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Brazil – Sao Paulo
Palestinian Arab Society – Corumba (Brazil)
Palestinian Child and Youth Institute – Lebanon
Palestinian Democratic Coalition – Chicago
Palestinian Documentation Center
Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee – Palestine
Palestinian Youth Organization
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine
Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association
Progressive Palestinian Youth Union – Palestine
Progressive Student Labor Front – Palestine
Proletaren FF, sports club, Sweden
Raja’een Folkloric Dance Troupe
Red Sparks Union
Release Aging People in Prison
Resistance for Free Palestine – Greece
Revolutionaire Eenheid
Revolutionary Communist Group/Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
Revolutionary Communist Youth, Sweden
Sawt al-Shaab (Voice of the People Radio) – Palestine
SODePAZ Balamil
Solidarity with Novorossiya and Antifascists in Ukraine – NYC
Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine
Stichting Groningen-Jabalya
Studenten Voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina- Nijmegen
Studenten voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina (SRP) – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
SJP at Sacramento State University
Students for Justice in Palestine – Maastricht
Students for Justice in Palestine at the College of Staten Island
Students For Justice in Palestine – Rotterdam
UDAP – Unione Democratica Arabo-Palestinese
UJFP French Jewish Union for Peace
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees – Palestine
United for Palestine
USC Students for Justice in Palestine
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
Vlaams-Socialistische Beweging
Voice of Palestine
West Valley Neighborhoods Coalition
Women In Black International(Seattle USA chapter)
Women in Black (Vienna)
Women in Black The Netherlands

Bilal Kayed struggling in isolation as Palestinians protest for his freedom

20 June 2016

Palestinians in Gaza gathered on Monday morning, 20 June, outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza City, in a protest in support of Bilal Kayed, imprisoned in administrative detention in Israeli jails immediately following the expiration of his 14.5 year sentence on 13 June. Kayed has been on hunger strike for six days, while his comrades in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and fellow prisoners across political lines have launched collective protests demanding his freedom.

Families of prisoners, representatives of the Handala Center for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners and the National and Islamic Forces, as well as PFLP members and leaders, participated in the demonstration, carrying posters and banners of Kayed, fellow prisoner Majd Oweida, and calling for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners. Former prisoner Ali Alsarafiti spoke at the event, urging the broadest support for Kayed’s strike and the collective struggle for his freedom, saying that it risks setting a dangerous precedent and becoming a systematic policy of the Israeli occupation, of ordering Palestinian prisoners to administrative detention immediately upon the completion of lengthy sentences.

He also denounced the role of the ICRC in failing to uphold its duties to Palestinian prisoners, most notably in its recent announcement of cuts to family visits, saying that these cuts intersect with the systematic occupation policy against the prisoners. He demanded that the ICRC restore twice-monthly family visits and play an active role in defending actively defend the rights of prisoners and end its silence.

Alsarafiti also urged the international solidarity movement and BDS campaigners around the world to escalate the boycott campaigns in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and in particularly with Kayed’s struggle, and saluted those organizing events around the world to free Kayed.

The protest also included a speech by the father of the imprisoned young Palestinian Majd Oweida, founder of “Palestine’s Got Talent,” urging release of his son abducted by Israeli occupation military at Erez crossing, where he had received a permit for travel to the West Bank.

The Gaza event came as Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association announced that their lawyer, Farah Bayadsi, had met with Kayed, describing his experience in isolation in Ramon prison:

“Mr. Kayed reported to Addameer attorney Farah Bayadsi that he has exhausted all judicial remedies with regards to his isolation and administrative detention and that he will continue his hunger strike without any negotiations. Mr. Kayed’s main demands are: to be immediately released, his removal from isolation and that of Mr. Musa Safwan, who is also on hunger strike.

Mr. Kayed reported to Addameer attorney Farah Bayadsi that his current isolation conditions are poor. The size of the cell is 3 X 3 meters, including a toilet, shower, sink, and a window. All electric devices were confiscated and Mr. Kayed only has two pairs of pants, two shirts, and toothpaste (without a toothbrush) in his possession.

Mr. Kayed’s health condition is deteriorating. He is losing weight, feeling dizziness, physical exhaustion and drowsiness, and suffers from redness in the eyes. He is only consuming water, without even salt supplements. Mr. Kayed has been subjected to disciplinary penalties by the Israeli Prison Service, including denial of canteen access, confiscation of newspapers and books, prohibition of fora (recreational time).”

The Palestinian youth group Al-Damaer, which works with Addameer in Arroub refugee camp, distributed over 400 bottles of water and dates at iftar time to passing cars in the camp on 19 June, including information on the Palestinian prisoners’ situation and the case of Kayed in particular; they also urged the boycott of Israeli goods.

A march for Kayed’s freedom will take place on Tuesday, 21 June at Martyrs’ Square in Nablus; exiled Palestinians in Rashidiya refugee camp will also protest to demand Kayed’s freedom at 6 pm on Tuesday, 21 June. Over 100 Palestinian and international organizations have urged international actions and events in solidarity with Kayed, which are being organized or will take place in New York, Dublin, Amsterdam, Vancouver, Brussels, Paris, Berlin and other cities around the world.

Photos by Loay Ayyoub

Hundreds march in Paris for freedom for Georges Abdallah, justice for Palestine

20 June 2016

Several hundred people marched in Paris, France on Sunday, 19 June, the International Day for the Freedom of Revolutionary Prisoners, for freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine who has been imprisoned for 32 years in French prisons.

Abdallah, who received a life sentence in 1987, has been eligible for release from prison since 1999. His parole has been approved twice by the judiciary, once at the highest level – only to be blocked by the personal intervention of then-Interior Minister (today Prime Minister, and anti-Palestinian advocate) Manuel Valls, alongside that of then-US Secretary of State (and today presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton.

Marching from the Place des Fetes to the Place de la Republique, marchers carried banners demanding freedom for Abdallah, and justice and liberation for Palestine. They highlighted the struggles of all Palestinian prisoners, in particular the cases of Bilal Kayed, now on hunger strike for six days after being ordered to administrative detention immediately following the expiration of his 14.5-year sentence in Israeli prison, and Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Chants denounced the French state’s complicity in the ongoing Israeli attacks and crimes against the Palestinian people, and the role of French president Francois Hollande in supporting the imprisonment and oppression of Palestinians, urging the full boycott of the Israeli state and complicit corporations, and calling for freedom for Bilal Kayed, Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons.

Marchers placed Abdallah in the context of prisoners for Palestine in Israeli jails and other jails around the world, highlighting that Abdallah’s activity was against the Israeli occupation of Lebanon and U.S. support, and that he had always prioritized the liberation of Palestine. Olivia Zemor, president of EuroPalestine, said to AFP that “For us, he is a resistor, like those who struggled against the German occupiers [in France].”

Participating organizations emphasized that they will continue their activities to demand the release of Georges Abdallah and support for the Palestinian cause, particularly the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, and for escalating the BDS movement in France, including supporting BDS activists like those in Toulouse targeted for state repression.

At the same time, the anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup 31 visited with Georges Abdallah in Lannemezan prison in southern France. In the meeting, Abdallah saluted the Paris demonstration as part of the global anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movement; he also expressed his support for the workers’, youth and student movement against the attempts to impose changes to the Labor Law. Further, he saluted the release of Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar, urging that the struggle for the release of all Palestinian prisoners must continue and intensify.

These activities also come in the context of protests and actions in various European and international cities in support of justice and freedom for Palestinian prisoners and for Palestine, as well as the upcoming days of action in solidarity with Bilal Kayed, demanding his release and an end to administrative detention.

Video:

60 Palestinian prisoners striking in Megiddo to free Bilal Kayed

19 June 2016

60 Palestinian prisoners in Megiddo prison are carrying out a hunger strike protest to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed, Palestinian prisoner held under Israeli administrative detention and on hunger strike in Ramon prison.

The 60 prisoners, affiliated with the leftist Palestinian party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, are part of an ongoing plan of staggered collective strikes, actions and protests inside Israeli prisons to demand the liberation of Kayed, 35, who was ordered to administrative detention on Monday, 13 June after completing a 14.5 year sentence in Israeli prisons.

Kayed launched a hunger strike on 14 June in protest of his detention; his comrades and Palestinian prisoners generally have stated that they view this case as a potentially dangerous precedent threatening to imprison Palestinians indefinitely upon the completion of lengthy prison sentences. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable, issued without charge or trial, and based on secret evidence. Kayed is one of over 700 Palestinians held under administrative detention in Israeli jails.

Over 100 international and Palestinian organizations have called for actions in support of Kayed’s freedom on 24 and 25 June; hundreds of prisoners will be conducting a two-day hunger strike protest on those days.

Palestinians in Gaza to boycott ICRC Ramadan iftar over family visit cuts

19 June 2016

The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces (the Palestinian political factions) and the families of the prisoners in the Gaza Strip have called for a boycott of the collective Ramadan iftar held by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza on Monday, 20 June. They are calling the boycott in protest of the ICRC’s recent decision to cut visits to men prisoners from the West Bank in Israeli prisons, and its overall declining role towards the issues of prisoners and their families.

The Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces held an urgent meeting on Sunday to discuss several issues, including the ICRC iftar. Atiya Bassiouni said that the decision to boycott the iftar was taken to reject the ICRC’s role in reducing family visits for prisoners from the West Bank, while not increasing family visits from Gaza.

Khaled al-Batsh, the coordinator of the National and Islamic Forces, called on the factions to commit to boycotting the iftar, and also informed prisoners’ families, institutions and prominent figures of the boycott.

Abdel-Nasser Ferwana, a former prisoner and prioners affairs researchers, called on all of the guests to take a clear position and boycott the iftar, considering that the ICRC’s invitation to such an event is “not acceptable in light of the failure of the ICRC and the decline in its role.”

The ICRC announced earlier that due to budget restrictions, as of July 2016, it will provide only once-monthly rather than twice-monthly visits for adult men prisoners from the West Bank. (Visit trips for prisoners from the Gaza Strip are arranged approximately every two months.) There is no alternative to the ICRC for Palestinian families to vixit their imprisoned loved ones. Palestinian prisoners have widely rejected this action, condemning it as fully in compliance with Israeli attempts to isolate and cut back on family visits for Palestinian prisoners.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has joined these demands, writing to the ICRC and protesting outside the ICRC’s UN delegation in New York City. We urge international supporters of justice for Palestine to sign the petition to the ICRC calling upon the international organization to reverse this decision and support family visits for Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed’s hometown Asira al-Shamaliya marches for his release

19 June 2016

Palestinians in Asira al-Shamaliya, the hometown of prisoner Bilal Kayed, joined in a march and rally through the streets of the town on Saturday evening, 18 June, calling for Kayed’s immediate release from Israeli prison.

Kayed, 35, was ordered on 13 June to six months in administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial, under the order of the Israeli occupation military commander of the West Bank. The order came immediately upon the expiration of his 14.5 year prison sentence and as his family and comrades in Asira waited to celebrate his release.

Kayed – a known prisoner leader and a representative of prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – launched an open hunger strike on 14 June, as fellow prisoners have joined in collective protests and announced an escalating series of srikes and protests demanding his freedom. Kayed and fellow prisoners have identified his detention as a dangerous threat of indefinite detention without charge to all Palestinian prisoners reaching the end of lengthy sentences.

The demonstration in Asira was organized by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee, the Handala Center for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners, the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, as well as Kayed’s PFLP comrades, and drew large crowds from Asira and around the Nablus area, chanting for Kayed’s freedom. The march – led by Kayed’s mother, Rahiba Kayed, was followed by a press conference outside the family home.

Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun spoke to the rally via telephone, greeting the family of Kayed, the residents of Asira al-Shamaliya and Palestinians throughout the occupied homeland, saying that “it is our responsibility and duty as Palestinians in diaspora to stand with Bilal and all Palestinian prisoners. It is from the steadfastness of Bilal and the prisoners that we in the diaspora enhance our dedication and commitment to the liberation of Palestine.”

He noted that “at a time when Palestinian officials and Arab representatives participate in normalization at the Herzliya Israeli strategy conferences, Bilal and his comrades were gathering their strength for an open confrontation with the oppressor. Bilal and his fellow prisoners are the true leaders of the Palestinian people.”

Samidoun is currently organizing and working with groups internationally to organize events and actions calling for freedom for Kayed. Over 100 Palestinian and international organizations have joined in the call for actions on 24 and 25 June to free Kayed and end administrative detention.

Maher Harb, the representative of the PFLP on the Palestinian political factions’ coordination committee, delivered a message on behalf of the PFLP members in Israeli prisons. Harb’s message called for “expanding mass action and popular events,” noting the “importance of the role of youth in the battle waged by Bilal and his comrades..and the importance of the Palestinian and Arab media in supporting events of solidarity with the prisoners and exposing the practices of the occupation.” Harb said that PFLP prisoners have been barred from family visits and locked down in their prison sections in retaliation for the strikes and protests for Kayed’s freedom. Harb urged people to “escalate events of solidarity and expose the Israeli prison administration’s punitive practices,” urging a march toward victory for Bilal and his fellow prisoners.

Raed Amer spoke on behalf of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society saying that this case is a priority for the society and all of the legal institutions working on the cases of Palestinian prisoners, who will “work to expose the occupation and its practices, and uphold their responsibilities toward Bilal and all prisoners, and specifically administrative detainees.” He emphasized the importance of international support for Kayed’s case and the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners.

Bilal’s brother, Mahmoud Kayed, said that “Bilal is stronger than the occupation and the prison administration and the prison guards. The will of the people is stronger than tyranny, and our will is to rise for freedom, no matter how oppressive their measurers.”

Harb concluded the press conference urging participation in a march next Tuesday, 21 June, at Martyrs’ Square in Nablus, to free Bilal Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.

Freed lawyer Raouf Zoghbi: Megiddo prisoners will strike 22-23 June to free Bilal Kayed

19 June 2016

A group of prisoners in Megiddo prison will go on a two-day hunger strike on 22 and 23 June in solidarity with Bilal Kayed as part of the ongoing program of strikes and protests throughout Israeli prisons, said Raouf Zoghbi, a lawyer from Jenin, upon his return to his hometown after six months of administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, in Megiddo.

Kayed was ordered on 13 June to six months imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention, immediately upon the expiration of his 14.5 year sentence in Israeli prisons. Palestinian prisoners have developed a plan of protests, including multiple two-day hunger strikes, leading up to an announced open hunger strike of Kayed’s imprisoned comrades of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine after 7 July.

Zoghbi denounced the administrative detention of Kayed, saying that prisoners view it as an attempt to set a precedent of indefinitely detaining, rather than releasing, Palestinian prisoners upon the expiration of their sentences. He said that the “message of the prisoners in Megiddo is the need for all to work hard to support the prisoners’ movement, experiencing horrible situations in all aspects, and especially to support the prisoner Bilal Kayed.”

Kayed was imprisoned in Megiddo for years and was a member of the prisoners’ leadership committee before being ordered to solitary confinement. He is curently being held in solitary confinement in Ramon prison.

Zoghbi said that the prisoners will continue to protest until the release of Kayed and the end of the policy of administrative detention.

Zoghbi, 23, was arrested on 19 December 2015, shortly following his graduation with a degree in law. He was ordered to six months’ administrative detention without charge or trial after nearly a month of interrogation, and was released on 16 June 2016.

Fellow lawyer and administrative detainee Bahaa Abdel-Rahman Zayoud was ordered once again to six months administrative detention without charge or trial. Zayoud is also from Jenin, and has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 18 December 2014. This is his fourth administrative detention order consecutively.

Berlin protest demands freedom for Bilal Kayed, end to administrative detention

19 June 2016

Palestinians and friends of Palestine in Berlin, Germany, protested on Saturday, 18 June to end administrative detention and free Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed.

Gathering at the Brandenburg Gate, the Committees for a Democratic Palestine – along with participants from various Palestinian and solidarity organizations including BDS Berlin – urged freedom for Kayed, ordered on Monday, 13 June to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial immediately after the completion of his 14.5 year sentence.

Kayed is now on an open hunger strike, while his comrades in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine prison organization have announced an escalating series of strikes and protests inside the prison demanding freedom for Kayed. Prisoners from across all political affiliations have joined in the call for Kayed’s freedom, and view his case as an attempt to set a dangerous precedent for administratively detaining Palestinian prisoners after their stated release from lengthy sentences.

There are over 700 Palestinian prisoners held without charge or trial in administrative detention under indefinitely renewable one to six month orders.

Over 100 Palestinian and international organizations have signed a call to action for 24-25 June – at the same time that hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will conduct a two-day hunger strike – urging action in Kayed’s case.

NYC protest denounces ICRC cuts, demands restoration of family visits for Palestinian prisoners

18 June 2016

New Yorkers protested on Friday, 17 June outside the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation to the United Nations, demanding the restoration of twice-monthly family visits for Palestinian prisoners and an end to the cutbacks that will see those visits slashed in half for adult male prisoners.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network rallied outside the ICRC office in protest of the recently-announced policy, which has been rejected by Palestinian prisoners and by a range of Palestinian prisoner support organizations inside Palestine.

Samidoun activists spoke with the head of the delegation, Philip Spoerri, and urged him to convey their message to ICRC headquarters in Geneva, and to the ICRC delegation in occupied Palestine – that Palestinian prisoners’ family visits are precious for over 7,000 families and must not be cut. They also spoke with Ernesto Granillo, the delegation’s media liaison, carrying the same urgent message from Palestinian prisoners and people around the world concerned for their rights.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation – and the Israeli imprisonment of Palestinian prisoners outside the occupied West Bank, in violation of the Geneva Conventions – Palestinian prisoners’ family visits must be coordinated by the ICRC.

Palestinians in the West Bank need special permits to visit their imprisoned family members inside Israel, where most prisoners are held in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These permits are often delayed or denied and take months to process; if and when they are approved, Palestinians must visit on special ICRC buses arranged twice monthly. The entire visit process begins early in the morning and ends late at night for a 45-minute visit, and includes often-abusive checkpoints, inspections, and interactions with Israeli guards; it is very difficult for young children and elderly parents.

The ICRC has claimed that budget shortfalls are the reason for the cuts, which would see only once-monthly visit dates available for adult male Palestinian prisoners.

However, Palestinian prisoners across the political spectrum have denounced the cuts as deeply damaging to prisoners and their over 7,000 Palestinian families. Further, they have noted that the ICRC, by carrying out these cuts, is complicit in an ongoing Israeli agenda of cutting back on family visits and isolating prisoners from the broader Palestinian public.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is involved in ongoing efforts to call upon the ICRC to end these family visit cuts, which as the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said, “fit perfectly with the occupation policy aimed at restricting the prisoners and their families by increasing burdensome requirements and complications.”

Photos by Joe Catron

Take Action! Support Palestinian Prisoners and their Families:

1. Sign and share the change.org petition to the International Committee of the Red Cross urging them to change this decision. Palestinian prisoners and their families need support – not yet more roadblocks in the way of family life and family connections!

2. Join or organize a protest at an ICRC office near you. Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to let us know about protests or actions telling the ICRC to reinstate full family visits for all Palestinian prisoners. See ICRC office locations here: https://www.icrc.org/eng/who-we-are/contacts/

Bilal Kayed: History of Struggle in Prison

18 June 2016

The following history of Bilal Kayed was compiled by Handala Center for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners, translated by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network:

Bilal Kayed was arrested on 14 December 2001, accused of participating in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and in resistance operations carried out in the second Intifada. He was subjected to harsh and lengthy interrogation for nearly two months. He refused to provide any meaningful information to the occupation interrogators, was charged in military court and sentenced to 14 and one-half years in Israeli prisons. He has now had an additional order of six months’ administrative detention imposed upon him at the moment of his scheduled release.

He has been active inside the prisons in leading and organizing Palestinian prisoners and confronting repression by the Israeli prison administration since early 2002, when the prison administration prevented family visits, and engaged in daily raids, transfers and assaults on prisoners, escalating after the invasion of Palestinian cities and the increasing number of Palestinian prisoners.

After his interrogation, he was transferred to Megiddo prison, where he joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organization inside the prisons, and dealt with the crises experienced by every new prisoner in line with their reality, realizing the new basis of their struggle.

He was committed to organizational and cultural work, and became a leader by virtue of his commitment and personality; he is very social and has a strong ability to communicate others and organize activities and cultural events.

After a little over a year in Megiddo prison, he was transferred to Hadarim prison, then again after several months transferred to Gilboa prison. In Gilboa prison, he emerged as an effective, active and essential cadre who developed his potential, contributed to the collective life in the prisoners, and became part of the group of prisoners who addressed issues with the prison administration, and also a member of the ongoing national dialogue among the national and Islamic forces in prison, in relation to the open hunger strike of 2004.

Kayed was transferred on multiple occasions between Gilboa, Ramon, Beersheba, Ashkelon and Nafha prisons, including periods of isolation, and transferred again in 2012 to Megiddo prison, where he remained for three years, actively working on the reception and support of new prisoners, and one of the most prominent cadres inside the prison.

In August 2015, he was transferred to isolation in Ashkelon prison, and then to isolation in Beersheba prison, and finally to isolation in Ramon prison.

His father died in February 2015; he had been denied family visits for some period before that time, and Bilal was prohibited from seeing him before his death.

During his time in prison, Bilal has dedicated extensive time to study; he learned English, Hebrew and French with a high degree of skill, and was in the process of learning German when he was transferred to isolation in 2015. He has written a number of articles and creative pieces while imprisoned, and is seeking to pursue further education.

Bilal was part of the dialogue and discussion among Palestinian political forces in the prisons in preparation for the 2004 hunger strike, which lasted for 18 days, and was heavily involved with various initiatives and struggles between 2004-2011 against the prison administration’s repression of prisoners. He sought, together with his comrades, to raise the profile of the prisoners’ struggle, and develop the prisoners’ movement in confrontation of the prison administration and its repressive practicess. This made him a consistent target for sanctions by the prison administration.

He was part of the prisoners’ leadership committee in several prisons, and he participated in the organizing, planning and carrying out of the hunger strike conducted by the PFLP organization in Israeli jails in September 2011, in protest of the policy of isolation and in particular, the solitary confinement of PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and leader Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh. The open hunger strike lasted 21 days, and Bilal was an active participant.

The strike had an impact on Bilal’s health, as he suffered head and stomach aches for months following. He was subject to medical negligence, delays in diagnosis and provision of necessary medical care. Despite this experiene, Bilal did not hesitate to become involved in organizing and preparing for another strike in solidarity with isolated prisoners and for family visits for prisoners from Gaza, which had been denied for three consecutive years.

He was part of the leading dialogue and discussion among prisoners, which resulted in the agreement to conduct a collective open hunger strike beginning on Prisoners’ Day, 17 April 2012, named the Karameh (Dignity) strike. This strike lasted for 28 days, which were not Bilal’s last days on strike; for the next several years he participated in multiple hunger strikes, including in 2015 in Megiddo prison against denials of family visits, and in 2015 and 2016 in protest of solitary confinement and isolation.

The policy of solitary confinement was a major catalyst for the strike of 2012, and when its scope was widened to over two dozen isolated prisoners, Bilal was among them. He was returned to isolation in August 2015, in Ashkelon prison, where cells are very narrow with poor conditions. He was ordered to six months in isolation, and then transferred to isolation in Beersheba prison. He has now been transferred, in continued isolation and under an administrative detention order to the Ramon prison, despite the completion of his 14.5 year sentence on 13 June 2016, threatening a dangerous precedent.

This is a rare case, in which a prisoner is ordered to administrative detention after serving 14 and a half years in prison. Once informed of the administrative detention order, he launched a hunger strike, supported by his imprisoned comrades, who have announced a program of struggle including a collective hunger strike of over 300 prisoners to demand Bilal’s release, whose battle is considered to be one for all prisoners threatened with a similar transfer to administrative detention following the completion of their sentences.

Call to Action: 24-25 June – Days of Action to Free Bilal Kayed and End Administrative Detention

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