24 June, NYC: Protest to free Bilal Kayed and end administrative detention

16 June 2016

Friday, 24 June
4:00 pm
G4S Offices – NYC
19 W. 44th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/587387314776371

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, 34, 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 We urge people of conscience around the world 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!

18 June, Sakhnin: Protest to free Bilal Kayed

16 June 2016

Saturday, 18 June
5 pm
Martyrs Roundabout
Sakhnin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/151481351931673/

After 14 and one-half years in Israeli jails, instead of being released, Bilal Kayed was ordered to administrative detention. He has launched an open-ended hunger strike. Youth for prisoners, along with Abnaa al-Balad Sakhnin and Hurriyat Foundation for Prisoners and Detainees will protest in support of Bilal Kayed on Saturday, 18 June 2016, in Sakhnin at the Martyrs Roundabout at 5 pm. Together on the road of freedom

18 June, Berlin: Protest to free Bilal Kayed

16 June 2016

Saturday, 18 June
6:00 pm
Pariser Platz 1
Berlin, Germany 10117

Organized by the Democratic Palestine Committees in Berlin

Protest to free Bilal Kayed and against the Israeli policy of administrative detention.

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, 34, 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.

Rasmea Defense Committee: More victories for the defense in Rasmea’s case

14 June 2016

The following statement was issued by the Rasmea Defense Committee following the 13 June hearing in Rasmea Odeh’s case:

Over 100 people from all over the Midwest gathered in Detroit to support Rasmea Odeh as she, her attorneys, and the prosecution appeared before Judge Gershwin Drain for a status conference on Monday, June 13, 2016.

After the conference ended, Rasmea joined the waiting crowd chanting her name, and Michael Deutsch, her lead attorney, addressed the media, explaining that a tentative date for a new trial has been set for January 10, 2017!

This is what the Rasmea Defense Committee has been anticipating ever since the appellate court decision a few months ago. Rasmea was convicted of a politically-motivated immigration charge in 2014, and sentenced to 18 months in prison and deportation last year. In February 2016, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Judge Drain, saying he had wrongfully barred the testimony of a torture expert that was critical to Rasmea’s defense. At the trial, Rasmea was not allowed to tell the entire story of Israel forcing her to falsely confess to alleged bombings in 1969, when she endured over three weeks of vicious sexual, physical, and psychological torture at the hands of the Israeli military.

Rasmea suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of this torture, which, according to world renowned psychologist, Dr. Mary Fabri, caused her to suppress the horrible recollection of the arrest when she answered questions on her immigration application. Judge Drain excluded Fabri’s testimony from the trial, and disallowed any evidence about the rape and torture. Appeals court judges sided with the defense, and wrote in their opinion that if the judge cannot determine new legal avenues to exclude the expert testimony, Rasmea must be granted a new trial, which it appears will happen.

At the status conference yesterday, the government called for a “Daubert hearing,” which is used to challenge the validity and admissibility of expert testimony (in this case, Fabri’s), and also requested to examine Rasmea with its own expert. If the hearing is granted by Judge Drain, it will happen on November 29 of this year, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Two other positive developments occurred yesterday as well. Deutsch requested to have Rasmea’s “burdensome reporting requirements” to probation authorities reduced from once a week to once a month. Judge Drain did not object, commenting that his earlier concerns about her being a flight risk “have been alleviated.” He also suggested that he would be willing to ease travel restrictions and allow Rasmea to occasionally travel within the U.S. The government wants to speak to the probationary authorities before agreeing to the end of the travel ban.

And speaking of the government, we all remember the zionist, right wing ideologue Jonathan Tukel, the lead prosecutor on the case, who was handled deftly by Rasmea during his disrespectful cross examination of her, and who described us as “mobs and hoards [sic]” while trying to criminalize our organizing of Rasmea’s political defense. Well, he’s GONE. He is off the case, and we are happy that we do not have to deal with his racist arrogance any longer.

While waiting for Rasmea and her defense attorneys to join them, her supporters—who hailed from Chicago, Detroit, Dearborn, Ann Arbor, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Minneapolis, and even as far away as Texas, and included about a dozen leaders from Rasmea’s Arab Women’s Committee—rallied outside of the downtown courthouse for almost three hours, chanting and picketing and listening to solidarity speeches from organizers and activists who have traveled many times to be with Rasmea at previous court appearances.

Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression opened the program with a pledge to continue to fight for #Justice4Rasmea and to “free all political prisoners in the U.S.” Linden Gawboy and Mick Kelly brought greetings from the Welfare Rights Committee (WRC) and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR) in Minneapolis. Kelly called the case “a political trial carried out by an empire trying desperately to shore up an increasingly unpopular and unstable Israel,” and Gawboy’s WRC mobilized more people to pack the courtroom for Rasmea’s trial in 2014 than any other organization outside of Chicago.

Fariba Nourian, an Iranian-American with the Cincinnati Palestine Solidarity Coalition ended her statement with a quote from Assata Shakur: “It is our duty to fight. It is our duty to win!” Nadine Darwish, a leader of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Loyola University-Chicago, discussed the importance of Rasmea’s life and work to students everywhere. And Detroit poet Tawana Petty (aka Honeycomb) joined Kristian Bailey, member of both the Black Youth Project (BYP) 100 and the National SJP, to talk about Black-Palestinian solidarity and recite a poem from the powerful video, WHEN I SEE THEM I SEE US.

As Rasmea herself stated during the press conference, “We want you to continue to help build our movement across the country as we seek justice. I need you now more than ever. It is together that we can win.”

And as we continue to chalk up victories, you can continue to help by donating to the defense, organizing educational events in your communities, staying in touch through justice4rasmea.org, and shifting the demand to Drop the Charges Now!

Rasmea Defense Committee, led by U.S. Palestinian Community Network and CSFR, Tuesday, June 14, 2016

See these great pictures of the rally by SJP member Hoda Katebi!

Rasmea Odeh: A ‘symbol’ for Palestinian struggle in US, article and video from Ali Harb and Dave Liens for Middle East Eye.

Supporters rally in Detroit for activist Rasmieh Odeh, article from Detroit Free Press.

Rasmea Odeh appeal moves towards new trial, article from Fight Back News!

New trial date set for Rasmea Odeh, article from the Electronic Intifada.

Israeli prison guards invade striking PFLP prisoners’ sections while protest in Nablus demands freedom for Kayed

14 June 2016

Israeli armed guards stormed the prison sections of the Palestinian prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Tuesday, 14 June, assaulting prisoners, imposing sanctions, and confiscating electrical appliances. This attack came after the PFLP prisoners announced their first of three scheduled two-day hunger strikes demanding the freedom of Bilal Kayed.

Kayed, 34, was scheduled for release on Monday, 13 June after the expiration of his 14 and one-half year sentence in Israeli prison; instead, as his family waited at the checkpoint to receive him, he was ordered to six months administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial. Prisoners have declared a series of escalations and protests inside the prisons demanding Kayed’s freedom and an end to administrative detention.

The attack on striking prisoners came as crowds took to the street in occupied Nablus, as the National Committee to Support the Prisoners marched for freedom for Kayed and his fellow prisoners. Maher Harb, a PFLP representative, spoke about Kayed and the ongoing struggle inside the prison; he described Kayed as a “strong and sophisticated militant leader with outstanding commitment to the Palestinian people.” Speaking about the prisoners’ campaign inside the prisons, he said that “they will not rest and will resist so long as this unjust decision remains.”

30 June, Toulouse: Rally in support of the 4 accused BDS activists

14 June 2016

Thursday, 30 June
1 pm
Tribunal de Grande Instance de Toulouse
2 allees Jules Guesdes
Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/625582810926326/

Bernard, Jean-Pierre, Loïc and Yamann were summoned to court on 9 December, “accused” of being involved in distributing a BDS leaflet on 7 February 2015; in addition, Bernard and Yamann were also “accused” of distributing another BDS leaflet on 19 December 2014. These two actions distributing information to the public – in the city center on 19 December 2014 and in the Metro Balma-Gramont on 7 February 2015 – are part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. Like the boycott of South Africa in the 1980s, the BDS campaign is a grassroots, non-violent campaign initiated by Palestinian civil society to launch a global campaign to respect Palestinian rights and end the impunity of the Israeli state.

Our comrades are accused of “obstructing the normal exercise of economic activity of three stores.” This comes as a result of a complaint filed by two pro-Israeli organizations (LICRA), sent to the Prosecutor of the Republic. While both leaflet distributions were entirely peaceful, without intimdation, conducted on public property and did not even enter any stores, they are charged.

The criminalization of BDS activism began with the Alliot-Marie circular which is still not repealed by the government. Today, freedom of opinion and expression itself is at stake. On 31 March, the mayor of Toulouse prohibited a panel discussion with Professor Farid Esack, friend of the late 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 engages in apartheid policies, must not be in question. It is contrary to the heart of the definition of a democratic society.

The committee in support of the accused Toulouse BDS activists calls on all to mobilize:

* in support of freedom of opinion and expression, in particular for the BDS campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people
* for the cancellation of the Alliot-Marie circular
* Together, we demand the dropping of all charges against Bernard, Jean-Pierre, Loïc and Yamann and all campaigners for BDS;
*Participate in the rally in solidarity outside the Toulouse tribunal on Thursday, 30 June at 1 pm, and future initiatives of the support committee;
* Donate to the legal fund (checks made out to BDS France Toulouse, mention “BDS charges” – addressed to CASC – Comite BDS 10bis, rue du Colonel Driant 31400 Toulouse)

We call on all organizations for justice who are not already members of the support committee to join us.

**

Bernard, Jean-Pierre, Loïc et Yamann sont convoqués au tribunal le 9 décembre, « accusés » d’avoir participé à la distribution d’un tract de la campagne BDS le 7 février 2015. En outre, la convocation de Bernard et Yamann porte aussi sur la distribution d’un tract le 19 décembre 2014.

Ces deux actions d’information à la population – en centre ville le 19 décembre 2014 et au métro Balma – Gramont le 7 février 2015 – sont inscrites dans le cadre de la campagne internationale Boycott – Désinvestissement – Sanctions qui est, à l’image de celle du boycott de l’Afrique du Sud dans les années 80, une démarche citoyenne et non violente, initiée par la société civile palestinienne pour lancer un courant d’opinion mondial en faveur du respect des droits des Palestiniens et pour en finir avec l’impunité de l’état d’Israël.

Nos camarades sont poursuivis pour « avoir entravé l’exercice normal – de 3 magasins – lors de leur activité économique » à la suite d’un dossier monté par deux organisations proisraéliennes (dont la LICRA) et adressé au Procureur de la république. Alors que les deux distributions de tracts auxquels ils sont supposés avoir participé ont été pacifiques, dans la bonne humeur et sans intimidation envers les passants, sur le domaine public et sans entrer dans aucun magasin.

La criminalisation des actions militantes BDS a démarré avec la circulaire Alliot-Marie, toujours pas abrogée par le gouvernement. Mais aujourd’hui, pire encore, c’est la liberté d’opinion et d’expression qui est remise en question. Le 31 mars, le maire de Toulouse a même osé interdire une conférence-débat avec le professeur Farid Esack, ancien compagnon de Nelson Mandela et président de BDS en Afrique du Sud. Un recours pour illégalité contre cette décision du maire a été déposé.

Le droit de critiquer un Etat qui ne respecte pas le droit international, qui colonise et occupe dans le cadre d’une politique d’apartheid, ne peut être remis en question. Ce droit se trouve au coeur même de la notion de société démocratique.

Le Comité de Soutien aux inculpéEs BDS toulousains vous appelle à vous mobiliser nombreux :
– pour faire respecter la liberté d’opinion et d’expression, en particulier pour la campagne BDS et pour la solidarité avec le peuple palestinien,
– pour l’abrogation de la circulaire Alliot-Marie.
– ENSEMBLE, NOUS EXIGEONS LA RELAXE DE BERNARD, JEAN-PIERRE, LOIC et YAMANN et de tous les militantEs de la campagne BDS en procès :
– en participant au rassemblement de solidarité devant le tribunal de Toulouse le jeudi 30 juin à partir de 13h, et aux futures initiatives du comité de soutien,
– en apportant le soutien financier nécessaire aux frais de justice (chèques à l’ordre de BDS France Toulouse – mention « procès BDS » au dos – à adresser à : CASC – Comité BDS 10bis, rue du Colonel Driant 31400 Toulouse).
Nous appelons les organisations éprises de justice non encore membre de notre comité de soutien à nous rejoindre.

Prisoners launch hunger strike as protests take the streets demanding release of Bilal Kayed

14 June 2016

Palestinian prisoners and prisoner support associations have announced a series of actions and protests demanding the release of Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed, ordered by the Israeli occupation military commander yesterday to six months administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – rather than releasing him as scheduled after the end of his 14 and one-half year sentence.

Bilal Wajih Kayed Yassin, 34, was scheduled for release yesterday, 13 June; however, to the anger of his family waiting to receive him at Tarqumia checkpoint, he was suddenly ordered to administrative detention and, instead of reaching his freedom, locked once more in Israeli prison. A planned reception for Kayed at his family home in Asira al-Shamaliya near Nablus became a protest calling for his immediate release, as his family and comrades joined in a march demanding his freedom.

bilal-rally2 Palestinian prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine began a series of announced protests today, Tuesday 14 June, announcing a two-day hunger strike for 14-15 June. This will be followed by another two-day hunger strike among all PFLP prisoners in all Israeli prisons on 21 and 22 June, and a third two-day strike on 24 and 25 June, so long as Kayed remains imprisoned.

A three day strike, from 27-29 June, has also been announced in all prisons. If Kayed remains imprisoned, further protests will escalate after 10 July; in addition, the PFLP prisoners declared that if Kayed enters an open hunger strike, a large number of PFLP prisoners and other Palestinian prisoners across factional affiliations will join the hunger strike in solidarity with Kayed.

Protests will take place on 14 June in Nablus and Ramallah, demanding the release of Kayed and the end of administrative detention without charge or trial. The National Committee to Support the Prisoners in Nablus will rally at 1 pm at Martyrs Square in support of Kayed and all Palestinian prisoners, focusing on administrative detention, medical neglect, and ongoing attacks by occupation forces against prisoners. In Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee will rally at 9 pm in Manara Square in support of Kayed, against administrative detention and ongoing attacks on Palestinian prisoners.

Kayed himself said that he is preparing to launch an open hunger strike if he is not released. He is currently being held in Ofer prison in anticipation of the court session to confirm the administrative detention order. He has been imprisoned since 14 December 2001, on charges of membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and participation in the Palestinian resistance. He has spent over one and one-half years in solitary confinement in various prisons and has participated in multiple hunger strikes and prisoner protests over his time in prison. He is a leader among PFLP prisoners and was their representative in Megiddo prison.

Kayed is one of approximately 750 Palestinians held in administrative detention without charge or trial, and 7,000 Palestinian prisoners total in Israeli prisons. Prisoners have conducted numerous hunger strikes demanding an end to administrative detention; Israel’s systematic use of the practice, in which Palestinians are ordered to one to six months imprisonment on the basis of a “secret file,” indefinitely renewable, has been widely condemned worldwide by human rights organizations, activists and officials as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The administrative detention of Bilal Kayed is clearly an attempt to arbitrarily avoid releasing a Palestinian prisoner and struggler who has served over 14 years in Israeli prisons. From his teenage years, he has been known as an outstanding organizer and Palestinian youth leader. This illustrates once again the use of administrative detention as a method to target leaders in Palestinian community and society, as a systematic colonial practice meant to strip the Palestinian people of their strong organizers and to isolate emerging Palestinian leaders from the people.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Bilal Kayed and all fellow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and urges all friends of the Palestinian people to organize, protest and act to demand his freedom and that of 7,000 Palestinians behind bars.

“Too dangerous” with 4682 Facebook friends: Palestinian astrophysicist charged with incitement in military court

14 June 2016

Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi faced a second hearing yesterday, 13 June in Israeli military court. Barghouthi, 54, is a professor of space plasma physics at Al-Quds University; he was arrested on 24 April as he traveled from Nabi Saleh to his home in Beit Rima.

Barghouthi, whose work is internationally renowned and who has received the support of scientists and academics around the world, was ordered to three months in administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Originally, his administrative detention order was decreased to two months, and then his release ordered after a month of imprisonment, following his lawyer, Jawad Boulos, presenting the statements and petitions of hundreds of international scientists supporting Barghouthi’s case.

Most recently, the University and College Union, a UK union representing over 100,000 academic workers, researchers and others, passed a resolution at its Congress calling for Barghouthi’s release and pledging to write Israeli and British officials, and distribute a Samidoun alert on the case.

However, instead of releasing Barghouthi, the Israeli military prosecution charged the professor with “incitement” for his writings on Facebook. Over 150 Palestinians have been arrested and accused of “incitement” for posting on social media, most commonly for posts in support of Palestinian resistance or with praise or mourning for Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces.

At the military court hearing yesterday, the military judge rejected a plea to release Barghouthi to house arrest – where he would be kept from his own home and denied access to the internet; instead, he was ordered imprisoned until the end of the process, arguing that he was “too dangerous” to be released. The military indictment lists numerous counts – all of which are Facebook posts, and labels Barghouthi an “influential public figure,” because he has 4962 Facebook “friends” and 1684 Facebook “followers.” The military trial itself – where this indictment will be read and Barghouthi asked for a reply – will begin on 12 July.

Take action! It is critically important for people around the world to make their voices heard and demand the release of Imad Barghouthi and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.

1. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area. Bring posters and flyers about the imprisonment of Palestinians, including academics like Imad Barghouthi, and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

2. Contact political officials in your country – members of Parliament or Congress, or the Ministry/Department of Foreign Affairs or State – and demand that they cut aid and relations with Israel on the basis of its apartheid practices, its practice of colonialism, and its numerous violations of Palestinian rights including the systematic practice of administrative detention and the injustice of military trials. Demand they pressure Israel to free Palestinian prisoners and end administrative detention. In the United States, call the Israel/Palestine Bureau at the State Department at 202-647-3930 and the White House – 202-456-1111. Demand action on Barghouthi’s case and an end to aid to Israel. In the UK, call UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Philip Hammond, MP, +44 20 7008 1500. In Canada, call Foreign Minister Stephane Dion: 613-996-5789.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.

Take action: New alert on imprisoned human rights defender Hasan Safadi

14 June 2016

Front Line Defenders has issued an action alert for Hasan Safadi, the Palestinian journalist and human rights defender who works as the Arabic media coordinator for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. The organization works internationally to highlight the cases of human rights defenders at risk and confronting repression.

Safadi, 24, a Jerusalemite Palestinian, was ordered on Friday, 10 June to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial. He has been imprisoned since 1 May, when he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces as he crossed the Karameh bridge from Jordan to Palestine’s West Bank, while returning from an Arab youth conference in Tunisia. From 1 May until 10 June he was held under interrogation at al-Moskobiya interrogation center in Jerusalem. On 10 June, he had been scheduled for release and his family had already paid a bail amount.

However, instead, he was ordered to administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial, one of approximately 750 Palestinians imprisoned on the basis of “secret evidence.” Administrative detention orders – issued, in Safadi’s case as a Jerusalemite, by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman – are indefinitely renewable.

Addameer issued a profile detailing Safadi’s case and his experience under interrogation. “Under the forty-day interrogation, Hasan Safadi was subjected to sleep deprivation, long interrogation sessions, being placed into stress positions with hands tied throughout the interrogation, threats, shouting, and lack of adequate food. Additionally, he was denied access to an attorney for 10 days (12 – 22 May 2016) as well as family visitation. As a result, his family was unable to see him until 07 June 2016 during a court hearing.”

Take action at Front Line Defenders: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/hasan-safadi

Rasmea Odeh case: New trial and hearing dates set for former Palestinian prisoner, community leader

14 June 2016

At a status conference in Detroit on 13 June for former Palestinian political prisoner, torture survivor, and Palestinian community leader Rasmea Odeh, a hearing was set for 29 November on the admission of evidence and expert testimony concerning her PTSD. This evidence had been excluded from her earlier trial, a decision rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals, which returned the case to the lower court for further proceedings.

If Judge Gershwin Drain accepts the expert witness on Odeh’s PTSD, Dr. Mary Fabri, at the 29 November hearing, Odeh will have a new trial, tentatively set for 10 January 2017. If there is a new trial, there will be a new prosecutor assigned to the case; the previous prosecutor, Jonathan Tukel, was frequently criticized for his use of “terrorist” labeling in the case, which contained no charges relating to “terrorism,” as well as his bullying-style questioning of Odeh in the courtroom.

Outside the closed status conference, over 100 Palestinians and supporters from across the Midwest rallied outside the courtroom, chanting and carrying signs and banners demanding Justice for Rasmea. The Rasmea Defense Committee, led by the US Palestinian Community Network and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, organized with people throughout the Midwest to bring a strong base of support for Odeh.

Odeh, 68, was convicted of unlawful procurement of naturalization, in charges stemming from her 10 years in Israeli prison from 1969-1979; she was accused of not disclosing her imprisonment to US immigration officials. Her case was widely known in both English and Arabic media, and her US citizen father had consulted with the State Department during her detention. Odeh’s brutal physical and sexual torture at the hands of interrogators had been brought before the United Nations and published in the Sunday Times.

The charges were brought against Odeh in 2013, a year before the statute of limitations on such a charge expires. They appear to have derived largely from a multi-year FBI infiltration among leftist, anti-war and Palestine solidarity activists in Chicago and Minnesota.

During her trial, Odeh and her legal team were forbidden to discuss her experience of torture and denied the ability to bring an expert witness – Fabri – who could testify as to how Odeh’s PTSD impacted her answers to the questions on the immigration forms.

Following the 13 June hearing, Odeh’s lawyer, Michael Deutsch, told the Electronic Intifada that “Judge Drain offered no new argument against scheduling a new trial that would include Fabri’s testimony, but granted the prosecution’s request for a pre-trial hearing to determine her qualifications.” He noted that he expects Fabri’s testimony to be accepted and the trial to go forward in January – but that there are additional evidentiary issues, such as specific testimony regarding Odeh’s torture, and the Israeli allegations against her, to still be decided.

Deutsch and fellow member of Odeh’s legal team, Huwaida Arraf, spoke to the crowd of supporters outside the courtroom following the hearing. Hatem Abudayyeh of the US Palestinian Community Network – Odeh’s co-worker and a target of the earlier FBI infiltration – spoke about the history of the case and the growing support for the Rasmea defense campaign.

Odeh herself spoke, thanking supporters, after the hour and one-half hearing. “I hope with your support, we will be able to win this case,” she said.

Protests also took place in New York, San Jose, Salt Lake City and Tampa in support of Odeh and the campaign for a new trial.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Rasmea Odeh, a true Palestinian leader and hero in Palestine and in exile, confronting repression and injustice with steadfastness and commitment throughout her entire life. We join the call to mobilize on 29 November – the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – in support of Rasmea Odeh and all Palestinian prisoners targeted for persecution, whether in Palestine or internationally. A victory for Rasmea is a victory for all Palestinian prisoners, for the Palestinian people, and for all oppressed and persecuted people. Justice for Rasmea!

Photos via Twitter, by SJP UM-Dearborn, USPCN Detroit, Mark Mondalek, Bill Chambers, and on Fight Back!

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