Omar Nayef Zayed to be laid to rest today in Sofia

10 June 2016

The family, friends and comrades of Omar Nayef Zayed will bury the former Palestinian prisoner – found dead in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia on 26 February 2016 – today, 10 June, at Sofia’s Muslim cemetery.

Nayef Zayed, 52, was a former Palestinian prisoner, who as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was imprisoned in 1986 and convicted, with two of his comrades, his brother Hamza and re-imprisoned Palestinian prisoner Samer Mahroum, of involvement of an attack on an extremist Israeli settler in Jerusalem. In 1990, he engaged in a 40-day hunger strike and after being moved to a hospital in the West Bank, escaped from the hospital and fled Palestine. He traveled in the Arab world for four years before moving to Bulgaria.

In Bulgaria, he married his wife Rania; they had three children. All are Bulgarian citizens. Omar, a permanent resident of Bulgaria, ran a grocery story in Sofia and was an active member in the Palestinian community in the Bulgarian capital. In December 2015, the Israeli embassy in Bulgaria officially submitted a request for his extradition, saying that his case would remain active until 2020. Nayef Zayed took refuge in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia.

Samidoun organized an international campaign in support of Nayef Zayed that included working with international lawyers to secure him representation, meeting with European parliamentarians to call for the rejection of extradition of former Palestinian political prisoners to the Israeli state, organizing protests and demonstrations, and building grassroots support for freedom and justice for Nayef Zayed.

At the same time, Nayef Zayed was subjected to intense pressure by PA Ambassador Ahmad al-Madhbouh to leave the embassy, while being threatened with arrest and extradition to Israel – and separation from his family for potentially the rest of his life – by the Bulgarian and Israeli states. On 26 February, after 71 days in the embassy – and as he was planning with his Bulgarian and European lawyers to launch a new legal and political challenge for his freedom – he was found dead outside the embassy, bloody, after a fall of several stories.

The official autopsy report has not been released, and Nayef Zayed’s family, comrades, and supporters of Palestine and Palestinian prisoners around the world have continued to protest and demand accountability and justice in the death of Omar Nayef Zayed, with those responsible held accountable.

A delegation from Samidoun Europe is participating in the funeral of Nayef Zayed, alongside Palestinian leader Leila Khaled, representatives of the Arab Palestinian Democratic Union of Italy and representatives of the Democratic Palestine Committees of Germany.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns Omar Nayef Zayed, a struggler for the freedom of Palestine and his people until the moment of his death. We will continue in the struggle for justice and accountability for Omar Nayef Zayed and all Palestinians whose lives are taken in the struggle for the freedom of Palestine.

14 June, Paris: Defend “Free Marwan Barghouthi” banner in Stains

9 June 2016

Tuesday, 14 June
9 am – arrive at 8:30 am
7 rue Catherine Puig (level 206 rue de Paris)
93558 Montreuil

Metro: Line 9 to Robespierre
Bus: Line 318, to Robespierre-Metro

A bus will leave at 7:30 am from the Stains town hall.

Come to support Mayor Azzedine Taibi, Marwan Barghouthi, and freedom of expression. There is a hearing in the administrative courts on the merits of the complaint of the Prefect demanding the removal of the banner calling for freedom for Marwan Barghouthi posted at Stains city hall.

The Prefect – the representative of the central French state – demanded its removal on three grounds: lack of local interest, not respecting the neutrality of the public service, and the risk of disruption of public order. A pro-Israeli organization, BNVCA, which presents itself as a group campaigning against anti-Semitism, but instead campaigns most vigorously against Palestine solidarity and the boycott of Israel, has made itself a civil party alongside the government.

Come to support the banner and freedom of expression – stand against the criminalization of Palestine solidarity in France and demand freedom for Palestinian political prisoners.

Announcement from CAPJPO EuroPalestine:

Le procès commençant à 9 H, nous nous donnons RV à 8 H 30 devant le tribunal administratif de Montreuil qui se trouve au :

7, rue Catherine Puig (niveau 206 rue de Paris) – 93 558 Montreuil Cedex

Pour vous rendre au tribunal :

Métro : Ligne 9, station Robespierre
Bus : Ligne 318, arrêt Robespierre – métro

Un car partira ce mardi matin de Stains à 7 H 30 de la mairie de Stains.

Pour rappel, il s’agit d’une audience sur le fond, concernant cette banderole pour la libération de Marwan Barghouti.

Le Préfet a demandé qu’elle soit retirée avec trois arguments ; absence d’intérêt local, non respect de la neutralité du service public, et enfin risque de trouble à l’ordre public.

Le Bureau national de vigilance contre l’antisémitisme (BNVCA, qu’il serait plus juste d’appeler (Bureau national de développement de l’antisémitisme) s’est constitué partie civile, aux côtés du gouvernement.

Liberté d’expression !

Non à la criminalisation de la solidarité avec la Palestine !

Libérez tous les prisonniers politiques palestiniens !

Halte au terrorisme d’Etat israélien !

Séparation du CRIF et de l’Etat !

CAPJPO-EuroPalestine

Palestinian prisoners struggle against sanctions while separated from their families at Ramadan

7 June 2016

As Ramadan begins, Palestinian prisoners’ associations have noted that 7,000 Palestinian prisoners will be kept from their families, with thousands of iftar tables having an empty seat for their absent family member inside Israeli prisons.

The Prisoners’ Affairs Commission emphasized the importance of supporting prisoners’ families during Ramada, noting that for Palestinian prisoners, their life is not eased during Ramadan but rather face sanctions and repression inside the prisons. They noted that imprisonment is particularly painful when prisoners know their families are gathering together in celebration together, and they are kept apart.

The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies urged renewed actions during Ramadan against sanctions imposed on prisoners, including frequent and violent invasions of cells with searches and the ransacking of prisoners’ belongings; bad and improper food; and denying prisoners’ purchases from the canteen (prison store operated by the Israeli prison administration). It urged pressure on the Israeli prison administration to not obstruct the entrance of items like dates and olive oil during the month of Ramadan.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network sends its warmest greetings as Ramadan begins to all those Palestinian prisoners and their families who celebrate. We look forward to a day when all Palestinian prisoners – and the entire Palestinian people – may celebrate each holiday and occasion collectively, free from oppression and colonialism, together in liberation.

Palestinian children behind bars: 14-year-old sentenced to over 6 years, visits denied, exorbitant fines

7 June 2016

Palestinian children continue to be targeted for collective punishment and harsh sentences, as 14-year-old Muawiya Alqam was sentenced to six and one-half years in Israeli occupation prisons and fined 26,000 NIS (approximately $6,750).

Ma’an News reported that the sentence came in a plea bargain that will be officially pronounced at a sentencing in July. Palestinian children ages 14 and up are ostensibly limited to a 6-month maximum sentence; however, this limitation no longer applies for any conviction for which the maximum sentence is greater than five years, which includes throwing stones, one of the most common charges raised against Palestinian children. Israeli officials are frequently thought to postpone trials until children reach the age of 14, as in the case of Ahmad Manasrah.

Muawiya’s cousin, Ali Alqam, 12, is currently serving a 1 year sentence in a juvenile detention center; Ali was shot at least three times and underwent surgery to remove a bullet from his stomach. Muawiya and Ali were accused of stabbing and “moderately wounding” an Israeli security guard on the Jerusalem Light Rail.

Muawiya and Ali are among over 330 Palestinian children imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces, according to May 2016 statistics compiled by Palestinian organizations. Also in May 2016, Israeli occupation courts imposed fines of 88,000 NIS (Approximately $22,000 USD) on Palestinian children in Ofer prison. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported that 48 children were convicted in May, with sentences ranging between three months and 30 months. There are 183 Palestinian children held in Ofer prison, 81 in Megiddo prison, and an additional number in multiple detention and interrogation centers, home detention centers, and juvenile detention facilities.

28 children in Ofer have also been denied family visits, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society – 14 have been denied visits since their arrest, while 14 families have had their permits suddenly withdrawn or cancelled when they arrive at the checkpoint for visitation, on the grounds of “security.”

12-year-old Shadi Farrah, another of the youngest Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, was arrested along with 13-year-old Ahmad Zaatari on 30 December when they were accused of having knives in their possession after they were stopped and searched by Israeli police. Despite never touching or attempting to touch a single person, both are accused of possession of a knife with intent to kill, reports the International Solidarity Movement . The boys were interrogated in Moskobiya interrogation center without their lawyers or parents. They have made 11 appearances in court and are held in a juvenile detention center. Shadi’s letter to his mother, in which he says “Mum, I want you to keep your head up high like a palm tree that cannot be moved by the wind or even an earthquake…Don’t be sad about what’s happened, mum. Today I stand in front of the mirror to shed my faults and I can see my good side,” has been widely distributed.

Shadi’s mother is only able to visit monthly due to the approximately 800-shekel ($213 USD) cost to visit the distant detention center for the day, and according to the ISM, they have been denied assistance from the ICRC because Shadi is detained in a juvenile detention center rather than a prison. This comes as the ICRC has announced plans to reduce family visits that it organizes from the West Bank to Palestinian adult male prisoners held inside the Israeli state, from twice to once monthly, denying not only the prisoners but also their families ongoing connection and relationships. The Palestinian prisoners’ movement has broadly denounced the ICRC for this action; Samidoun is urging international action to restore family visits and protest “budget cuts” taking place at the cost of some of the most marginalized and vulnerable people in Palestine.

Palestinian Prisoners Society Jerusalem director arrested by Israeli occupation forces

7 June 2016

In the latest attack on Palestinian human rights defenders, Israeli occupation forces arrested Nasser Qaws, director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in Jerusalem, on Sunday, 5 June.

Palestinian lawyer Mufid al-Haj said that Qaws was being interrogated about allegations of “incitement,” in the Palestine Information Center. Qaws has been targeted for arrest and detention on multiple occasions by occupation forces over the years.

Palestinian human rights defenders – including those who work on the cases of Palestinian prisoners – have been repeatedly targeted for arrest, persecution, and imprisonment. In addition to Qaws, prominent recent examples include Palestinian journalists’ syndicate leader Omar Nazzal; Palestinian journalist and human rights defender Hasan Safadi; Addameer vice-chair and Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar; imprisoned land defender and advocate Samer Arbeed, held without charge or trial; civil society leader Eteraf Rimawi, executive director of Bisan; and repeatedly targeted prisoners’ advocates like Ayman Nasser of Addameer and Osama Shaheen of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies.

The charge of “incitement” is frequently being used to target activists and community leaders, among students, academics and others; over 150 Palestinians have been arrested over social media postings termed “incitement” on Facebook; among others, prominent Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi is now being charged with “incitement” on social media after a successful campaign to end his administrative detention without charge or trial.

Khalida Jarrar speaks: “Focus on the message: Freedom, freedom, freedom!”

5 June 2016

Palestinian leftist and feminist parliamentarian and long-time prisoners’ advocate Khalida Jarrar was released from Israeli prison on 3 June after serving over 14 months imprisoned. Jarrar’s release was celebrated widely by comrades and supporters, and by international activists who urged her release since her 2 April 2015 arrest. Samidoun’s international coordinator, Charlotte Kates, spoke with Jarrar to congratulate her on her release and express the greetings of the solidarity movement upon her freedom, noting that her release was welcomed as a victory around the world.

Samidoun conducted a brief interview with Jarrar in which she discussed the current situation of Palestinian prisoners and priorities for the movement to support their struggle.

On the issue of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners: “I would like to thank the solidarity movement with Palestine and I want to salute the work of Samidoun on my case and on Palestinian prisoners generally, and all of the support that the solidarity movement has been providing for Palestinian women and men prisoners,” said Jarrar. “It is so crucial and important that this solidarity continues and escalates. What is needed today, more than at any other time in the past, is to focus on the message: Freedom, freedom, freedom!”

“Media work is important but what is most needed today is practical actions on a few priorities,” Jarrar said. “First, the ‘Bosta‘ [metal prisoner transport vehicle]. Some people may think of this as a detail, but it is a torturous and frequent reality for Palestinian prisoners. Now it is being privatized to corporations; research must be done on these companies to expose their role, as well as the policies of the Israeli prison authority.”

“The second issue is family visits. Some Palestinian women prisoners are denied family visits or their family members are denied permits. Mothers are permitted to hold their children for only ten minutes. Family visits and lawyer visits are critical for Palestinian prisoners and their well-being. In particular, the ICRC must be pressured to stop the cuts to Palestinian prisoners’ family visits,” urged Jarrar.

“The third issue is overcrowding, which is very much a reality from which Palestinian women prisoners suffer. There are too many women in too little space with very little access to necessary facilities,” Jarrar said.

Jarrar highlighted the case of Lena Jarbouni, the longest-serving Palestinian woman prisoner, who has been imprisoned since 2002 and was excluded from the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange which saw other women prisoners released. “Lena Jarbouni is a true Palestinian hero. As you may know, she is the representative of Palestinian women prisoners in HaSharon, a true struggler. She has been imprisoned for 15 years; she was not included in the prisoner exchange. You can imagine her feelings when she was told that she has been excluded. Not only that, but she was put in solitary confinement, alone, and had to face tremendous difficulties and illness,” said Jarrar.

“What is important also is Lena’s role in comforting and supporting the sisters and the comrades behind bars, and the special care that she provides for the imprisoned minor girls,” Jarrar said. “I cannot stress enough the importance of putting pressure in order to secure her freedom, and the freedom of all Palestinian women prisoners.”

Jarrar urged international activists to “include the Palestinian prisoners’ cause in actions for boycott, divestment and sanctions. All parties that are complicit in the imprisonment – like G4S and others – and besieging of the Palestinian people must be subject to boycott and the international grassroots pressure to compel them to end their role in our oppression.”

Samidoun participates in European conference on administrative detention

5 June 2016

Samidoun participated in a conference on administrative detention organized by the European Alliance in Defence of Palestinian Detainees in Brussels, Belgium on 4 June.

Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of Samidoun, participated in a panel on legal and political approaches to administrative detention; fellow participants included Issam Bakr, member of the Higher Committee for Detainees’ Follow Up; Rania Madi of Badil; Aouda Zbidat of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association; Helmi al-‘Araj; Ameen Shoman; Gwenaelle Grovonius, member of the Belgian Federal Parliament; Jan Fermon, General Secretary of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers; and the Free Ahmad Manasrah Campaign.

Samidoun’s intervention highlighted the colonial nature and history of administrative detention, having been established in Palestine by British colonial control and the need for political and legal challenges to confront administrative detention and the entire framework that imprisons Palestinians. Kates also noted the wide range of Palestinians held in administrative detention, including children like Hamza Hammad, NGO leaders like Eteraf Rimawi, performers like Mohammed Abu Sakha, journalists like Omar Nazzal, political leaders like Jamal Barham, and parliamentarians like Abdel-Jaber Fuquha.

She also noted that the military court system is one and the same as the administrative detention project, with the same goal of undermining and disrupting the Palestinian national liberation movement, noting cases like those of Imad Barghouthi and Khalida Jarrar transferred from administrative detention to the military courts. In conclusion, she highlighted European complicity in the imprisonment of Palestinians, despite expressions of concern regarding administrative detention, due to ongoing economic support for the Israeli state through the EU-Israel Association Agreement and joint programs like Horizon 2020, as well as ongoing contracts with G4S, the security corporation involved in Israeli prisons, detention centers, and checkpoints. She urged more action to build the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and confront attempts to criminalize it, noting the hypocrisy of a “French initiative for peace” while activists for Palestinian rights are prosecuted in France.

Zbidat discussed the situation of Palestinians in administrative detention and the military courts, noting the use of administrative detention to isolate Palestinian community leaders and prominent activists. She also highlighted the criminalization of Palestinian political activity, including all major Palestinian political parties, and noted the international conventions and human rights standards violated by administrative detention. Zbidat highlighted administrative detention as a form of torture, noting that administrative detainees are hit hard psychologically by the constant uncertainty of their release – anticipating release only to have their detention renewed, time and again.

Fermon emphasized the role of international lawyers and the IADL in working together with Palestinians in a variety of national and international levels to confront administrative detention and Israeli impunity in all areas, noting the potential use of the International Criminal Court and universal jurisdiction, alongside political struggles to bring an end to Israeli impunity for violations against Palestinian prisoners. He emphasized the necessity of unified legal and political struggle in which legal work supports political mobilization and the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, noting that this relationship to political struggle was necessary to confront US and EU support for Israeli occupation, apartheid and war crimes.

Palestinian participants in the conference included Issa Qaraqe of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Commission, Mounir Mansour of the Palestinian Prisoners Committee in Occupied Palestine 1948, Qais Abdel-Karim (Abu Leila), Qaddoura Fares of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, Palestinian ambassador Abdelrahim Al-Farra, Hamdan Al-Damiri of the Palestinian Community of Belgium and Luxembourg, and Fahed Abu al-Haj of the Abu Jihad Museum for Prisoners Movement Affairs, as well as conference organizers Dr. Khaled Hamad, George Rashmawi and Nader El-Sakka. Numerous conference participants highlighted and celebrated the 3 June release of Palestinian leftist leader and parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar.

International participants included Felicia Langer, renowned lawyer for Palestinian prisoners and honorary conference president; Mathilde El-Bakri, a Workers’ Party of Belgium member of the Brussels Parliament; Glen Williams of the British trade union UNISON; and parliamentarians: Annette Groth of the German Die LINKE party; Daniel Sestrajcic of the Swedish Left Party; Nikolaj Villumsen of the Danish Red-Green Party; and Ögmundur Jónasson of the Icelandic Left-Green Movement; Luis Perez, of the Association of Cubans in Madrid; among others, including parliamentarians from Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and the Basque Country.

The conference included presentations on a wide range of prisoners’ issues, with plans to follow up on building the campaign internationally against administrative detention.

11 June, Beirut: Protest at the Banque du Liban to Drop G4S

5 June 2016

Saturday, 11 June
11:00 am
Banque du Liban, Hamra, Beirut
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1605480089780944/

Following its protests at UNICEF and the Crowne Plaza Hotel against their contracts with G4S, the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon and the boycott movement in the Palestinian camps call upon all to join them in a peaceful protest against G4S’s support for the Israeli security establishment on Saturday, 11 June at 11 am in front of the Banque du Liban in Hamra, Beirut.

Participating organizations include the Lebanese Democratic Youth Union, the International Campaign for the Release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Palestinian Cultural Club at the American University of Beirut, and Al-Ghad Troupe.

We call on those organizations and corporations that contract with G4S security to terminate their contracts with this company and exclude them from bidding until they fully withdraw from Israel and stop supporting the Israeli security establishment.

Remembering Muhammad Ali: “I declare support for the Palestinian struggle to liberate their homeland”

5 June 2016

Statement in Turkish via BDS Turkiye: http://bdsturkiye.org/filistin-gundemi/samidoun-filistinli-tutsaklarla-dayanisma-agi-muhammed-aliyi-aniyor/

On the occasion of the passing of legendary athlete and struggler for justice, Muhammad Ali, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins millions around the world in remembering Ali’s historic legacy of commitment to the liberation of oppressed peoples and his willingness to sacrifice in order to adhere to those principles.

In 1985, Ali traveled to Israel in an attempt to secure the release of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in occupied Southern Lebanon. This followed on his visits to Palestinian refugee camps in 1974, when he declared in Beirut that “the United States is the stronghold of Zionism and imperialism.” While visiting Palestinian refugee camps in South Lebanon, he declared “In my name and the name of all Muslims in America, I declare support for the Palestinian struggle to liberate their homeland and oust the Zionist invaders.”

Ali championed the Black liberation struggle on multiple fronts; within the United States, and as a force against US imperialism worldwide. He wrote poetry in tribute to the Black leaders of the Attica prison uprising. At the height of his career, Muhammad Ali refused to fight in the Vietnam War in 1967, was sentenced to five years in prison and stripped of his title. When asked about his refusal while participating in a Louisville housing justice struggle, Ali said:

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end.

I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.

If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”

Dave Zirin writes, “Ali’s refusal to fight in Vietnam was front-page news all over the world. In Guyana there was a picket of support in front of the US embassy. In Karachi, young Pakistanis fasted. And there was a mass demonstration in Cairo.” While Ali’s later depoliticization and cooperation with the US government speak to a more complex legacy, the national and international resonance of his resistance to imperialism in the 1960s and 1970s at the height of his athletic greatness echoed around the world.

Ali’s history of struggle illustrates the lengthy and deep history of joint struggle and mutual solidarity among oppressed peoples and national liberation movements, and that Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon – and the Black Liberation Movement – were centers and incubators not only for the Palestinian revolution and Black struggle, but revolutionary movements the world over. We recall Ali’s role in representing a deep and collective legacy of resistance to imperialism, to anti-Black racism, and to Zionism, and of the struggle to free prisoners – and peoples – from the jails these systems of oppression create.

UK academic union of over 100,000 members urges freedom for Imad Barghouthi, defense of Palestinians under attack

5 June 2016

The UK’s University and College Union (UCU), representing over 100,000 members as the largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers and academic-related staff working in further and higher education throughout the UK, affirmed its support for the rights of Palestinian academics under attack in an emergency motion passed at its Congress on 1-3 June.

The motion, which was passed with no opposition, notes the arrest, detention, and now charges against renowned Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi, as well as the repression and threats against BDS movement co-founder Omar Barghouti; it instructs the union’s General Secretary to raise the matter with British officials and the Israeli embassy. The motion also commits UCU to distributing Samidoun’s call to action for Imad Barghouthi and fellow Palestinian prisoners, urging members to write to British and Israeli officials to call for his release.

The motion text:

Late motion for UCU Congress: Defend Palestinian academics

Congress notes with dismay that:

Renowned Palestinian astrophysicist Professor Imad al-Barghouthi has been arrested and put in administrative detention for the second time; his release has been cancelled and he now faces trial.

Omar Barghouti, a founder of the BDS movement and graduate of Tel Aviv University, has had an effective travel ban placed on him, widely seen as a step towards revoking his residency rights, as Israeli ministers recently threatened.

Congress condemns these fundamental breaches of human rights, instructs the General Secretary to raise these matters urgently with the FCO and the Israeli Embassy, and agrees to circulate the call by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network* to all members, asking them to write to MPs and the Israeli embassy calling for Prof.Al-Barghouthi to be released immediately.

Congress further instructs the General Secretary to call on the Israeli authorities to end the use of administrative detention.

* https://samidoun.net/2016/04/prominent-palestinian-astrophysicist-imad-barghouthi-detained-by-israeli-occupation-forces/

—

Barghouthi, 54, a professor at Al-Quds University and former employee of NASA in the United States, was arrested on 24 April at an Israeli military checkpoint as he traveled from Nabi Saleh to his home in Beit Rima. He was shortly ordered to three months’ administrative detention. Following an outcry by internationally prominent scientists, mathematicians and academics, his administrative detention without charge or trial was reduced to two months, and then his release ordered after one month. However, the Israeli military prosecution refused to release him and has now charged him in the military court system – where Palestinians are convicted at a rate greater than 99 percent – for posting on Facebook, labeling his posts “incitement.”

“My father isn’t the only scientist who has been persecuted by the Israeli occupation. There is a war on Palestinian education. I hope to see Israel held accountable for its cruel actions on an international level,” said Imad’s daughter, Duha Barghouthi, a new high school graduate whose graduation day came with her father imprisoned.

International organizations, scientists and academics have continued to call for Barghouthi’s immediate release, alongside other Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti has faced threats and attacks on his residency by high-ranking Israeli officials, both in public speeches and in practice, alongside attempts to criminalize BDS internationally being forwarded by the Israeli government.

The UCU has a long history of international solidarity and important motions in support of the rights of the Palestinian people and the BDS movement. It has supported the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. It has also expressed solidarity with imprisoned Palestinians, including writer and academic Ahmad Qatamesh. The UCU has come under attack by right-wing pro-occupation forces for its consistent positions, and was victorious in 2013 in a legal challenge brought by a pro-Zionist union member which was soundly rejected by a British employment tribunal.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network thanks the University and College Union for once again, and consistently, standing with the Palestinian people and their rights and struggle for justice and liberation. We welcome the UCU’s resolution on Palestinian academics under attack and look forward to working together to secure freedom and justice for Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people.

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