Adib Mafarjah suspends hunger strike after 59 days; to be freed in December in agreement

31 May 2016

Palestinian prisoner held without charge or trial under administrative detention, Adib Mafarjah, ended his hunger strike after 59 days, reported the Palestinian Information Center. Mafarjah, imprisoned under Israeli military order since 10 December 2014, agreed to suspend his hunger strike in an agreement to release him on 21 December 2016.

Mafarjah, 29, from Beit Liqya, began his hunger strike on 3 April 2015. He is one of approximately 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention, indefinitely renewable for one to six month periods on the basis of secret evidence.

Mafarjah, who has lost 30 kilograms of weight since beginning the strike, is held at Barzilai hospital; prior to transfer to the hospital he was held in solitary confinement in efforts to pressure him to end his strike.

Several Palestinian prisoners remain on hunger strike, including Musallam Eshtayyeh, Imad Abu Rezeq and Malik Qadi, all of whom are protesting the conditions of their detention and torture and ill-treatment under interrogation.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the steadfastness and achievement of Adib Mafarjah and his successful challenge to arbitrary administrative detention; we look forward to seeing him free and call for the freedom of all of his fellow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Take Action: Stop deep ICRC cuts to Palestinian prisoners’ family visits!

31 May 2016

The International Committee of the Red Cross has announced nearly 50% cutbacks in Palestinian prisoners’ family visits beginning in July 2016, in an action widely condemned by Palestinian prisoners’ associations and family groups. Join Samidoun in taking action to call on the ICRC to restore twice-monthly family visits for Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian prisoners are separated from their families by multiple facets of Israeli imprisonment. In clear violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides that “persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein,” Palestinian prisoners are imprisoned inside the territory of the occupying power. Thus, rather than prisoners being directly accessible to family members, Palestinian prisoners’ family members must seek special permits in order to be able to visit their imprisoned loved one.

Sign and share: https://www.change.org/p/international-committee-of-the-red-cross-stop-the-cut-in-family-visits-to-palestinian-prisoners

These permits are often delayed and denied, and take months to process – when they are approved. Addameer notes that “any male family member aged between 16 and 35 is typically prevented from visiting.” The process of the visit itself is lengthy and difficult, especially for the elderly parents or young children of prisoners. Sumoud Sa’adat describes her visit to her father, imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat, here – the joy of connection, but the pain of seeing her mother’s visit denied, the humiliation imposed by guards, and the arduous process and lengthy waits involved.

The ICRC notes that it is taking this step first because of budget cuts, and second, because of “efficiency,” noting that families do not always take advantage of the opportunity for the second visit. From the denial of permits, to the multiple checkpoints and searches, to the dirty and uncomfortable waiting areas, to the sudden denial of visits, to the prohibition of goods, to the long wait times, Israel engages in systematic practices designed to discourage Palestinian family visits. By denying Palestinian families their second monthly visit, the ICRC is participating in the Israeli policy of undermining, minimizing and denying family visits.

The International Committee of the Red Cross should be working to bring an end to the Israeli obstructions of family visits, and the Israeli violations of the Geneva Conventions, beginning with the location of imprisonment for the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners, rather than placing the weight of budget cuts on those most vulnerable and least able to bear it – Palestinian prisoners and their families. Palestinian families have no other means of securing family visits. The ICRC family visit program is their only option – and this decision removes 50% of Palestinian families’ access to this essential lifeline.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges the ICRC to not only immediately reverse this decision and resume the full schedule of twice-monthly family visits, but to exercise its responsibility to protect people living under occupation – the Palestinian people.

Take Action! 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!

Samidoun’s letter to the ICRC:

Palestinian leaders’ administrative detention without charge or trial renewed by Israeli occupation

31 May 2016

The Israeli occupation renewed the administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – of prominent Palestinian leaders Jamal Barham and Shaher al-Rai on Tuesday, 31 May. Both Barham and al-Rai are imprisoned in the Ketziot Negev desert prison.

Barham and al-Rai were arrested on 3 June 2015 in late-night raids. Barham, 56, of Tulkarem, is the head of the Arab Studies department of the Palestine Liberation Organization. After a 1:30 am raid on his home by large numbers of heavily armed occupation soldiers, Barham was detained at a military base and then transferred to Megiddo prison and Salem detention center; he was presented with five affidavits and accused of being a member of the Palestinian leftist political party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Addameer noted that one of the affidavits presented to Barham was collected twenty years ago; Barham was imprisoned from 1984 to 1987 due to his activities against the occupation.

After Barham refused to sign any papers, he was ordered on the third day of his detention to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial. His detention was renewed in December 2015 for an additional six months, and renewed for a third time today. Barham was one of 50 administrative detainees who in 2015 boycotted the Israeli military courts in order to emphasize their illegitimate nature.

Jamal’s wife, Amira Barham, is a coordinator in the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees. She, along with his sons Ghassan, 25, a medical student in Cairo; Majd, 23, an engineering graduate; and Jamil, 19, an accounting student, have not been granted permits to visit him. Jamal’s brother, Osama, spent six years in administrative detention without charge or trial in the 1990s.

Shaher al-Rai, 46, of Qalqilya, is also married with three children. On 3 June, his home was raided simultaneously with Barham’s, at 1:00 am. He was taken to a settlement, then to Huwarra detention center, and Megiddo prison; interrogated quickly, like Barham, about “membership in an illegal organization,” he refused to confess or sign any papers. All major Palestinian political parties are labeled “illegal organizations” by Israeli military order, and Palestinians can be prosecuted for membership or even participating in speeches, protests or other public political activities in support of these organizations, an attempt to criminalize Palestinian political life.

In Al-Rai’s case, the information revealed by the military prosecution – aside from the “secret file” was that he engaged in public political activities, including visits to families of the prisoners, participating in conferences, and speaking in public meetings with members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. As in Barham’s case, Al-Rai was ordered to six months in administratived detention, the order renewed in December and again today.

Al-Rai had been arrested seven times including three periods in administrative detention; his wife Manal told Addameer that though they had been married for 25 years, they had lived together for a total of only five years. Manal and Shaher have three children: Jarrah, 24, a physiotherapist; Wajla, 20, a law student in Algeria; and Kanaan, 5.

Al-Rai was previously imprisoned for multiple years by the Palestinian Authority security forces after he and his cousin were implicated in a false affidavit given by a Palestinian prisoner under Israeli torture. The confession was proven false by incontrovertible evidence and the Palestinian who made the confession released and later compensated by Israeli intelligence, in an unusual case. Nevertheless, al-Rai remained held in PA prison for years after the discrediting of the confession, released after a widespread campaign.

Al-Rai and Barham are among approximately 750 Palestinians held without charge or trial under Israeli military orders of administrative detention. 729 administrative detention orders have been issued so far in 2016.

Several more prominent Palestinians have also seen their administrative detention extended in the past several days. Omar Barghouthi, 63, who has served a total of 26 years in Israeli jails, had his administrative detention order extended for an additional three months on 30 May. Barghouthi’s detention has been extended three times since he was arrested on 19 November 2015. He previously spent 34 months imprisoned without charge or trial before his release in 2013. His brother, Nael, served 34 years in Israeli prisons. His son, Asem, is currently serving an 11-year sentence in Israeli prisons.

Adnan Hamarsheh, 51, formerly the longest-serving administrative detainee, imprisoned wothout charge or trial from 2003 through 2009, was ordered to an additional six months in administrative detention on Sunday, 29 May.

Hamarsheh now uses a wheelchair after suffering a stroke at the beginning of his last period in administrative detention, in 2014. Hamarsheh has spent over ten years in Israeli prison, mostly in administrative detention.

Take Action: Palestinian Fishers Under Attack – End the Siege on Gaza

31 May 2016

Five Palestinian fishers in Gaza – Rajab Abu Riyala, Khaled Abu Riyala, Hassan Miqdad, Mahmoud Miqdad, and Bashar Abu Riyala – were arrested this morning, 31 May, by Israeli occupation forces and two fishing boats confiscated by the Israeli navy. According to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, these arrests bring the number of Palestinian fishers in Gaza arrested by Israeli occupation forces in 2016 to 70, including eight children, and the number of boats confiscated to 20. In 2015, 71 fishermen were detained and 22 boats confiscated throughout the year.

Zakaria Baker of the UAWC, which organizes fishers and farmers for land defense and mutual support and solidarity, said that these violations against fishers in Gaza have only increased since the proclaimed decision of the Israeli occupation to “extend” the fishing area to 9 nautical miles – a decision retracted on Monday – saying that fishers could not make use of this distance because they were prevented by force of arms. The fishers were attacked this morning 5 nautical miles out to sea, Baker said. Further, Israeli occupation forces fired on fishing boats northwest of Gaza city, damaging a fishing boat and forcing the fishermen to flee for safety, and in the sea off Deir al-Balah, firing live bullets pushing the fishers back to the beach.

UAWC video on Palestinian fishers in Gaza:

On Monday, Israeli occupation naval forces said that the extended fishing zone had been “temporary,” for the fishing season, and that the fishing zone was again six nautical miles. The limit has frequently been used as a means of pressure and of maintaining the naval siege on Gaza; while the Oslo Accords set Gaza fishers’ zone as 20 nautical miles, the Israeli occupation has unilaterally lowered it to an area as small as three nautical miles, extended to six in 2014.

The fishing economy in Gaza – which supports 70,000 Palestinians – has been nearly destroyed by the naval siege on Gaza and the attacks on Palestinian boats, causing expensive boat damage to small fishing families who cannot afford repairs and preventing Palestinian fishers from entering deep waters where mature fish are available. Fishers in Gaza have lost 85% of their income since 2006 and the tightening of the siege.

On 30 May – 4 June 2016, activists are engaged in campaigns against the siege on Gaza – the denial of reconstruction, the smothering of the Palestinian economy, the closing of the crossings and denial of freedom of movement, the prevention of trade, the aerial attacks on Gaza, the firing on Palestinian farmers and destruction of Palestinian agriculture in the “no-go zone” near the border, and the strangling of the Palestinian fishery of Gaza – demanding an end to 10 years of Israeli siege with international support and complicity, and the involvement of the Egyptian state.

The actions mark ten years of siege and six years since Israel naval commandos attacked the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, killing ten Turkish activists seeking to break the naval siege. The occupation’s draconian restrictions on the movement of people and goods, along with its repeated military onslaughts and their destruction of Palestinian industry, resources, infrastructure, and life, have pushed the local unemployemt rate to 41.2%, the highest in the world. 75,000 remain displaced following Israel’s destruction of their homes, which have yet to be rebuilt, during its 2014 bombardment. Family members, patients, students, and workers are trapped, with over 25,000 having applied for rare permits to leave through the one crossing with Egypt.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges protests and actions to support the besieged fishers in Gaza, and raising the voice of Palestinian fishers to end the attacks and break the siege on Gaza. Samidoun in New York City will rally on Friday, 3 June at 4:00 pm outside the offices of G4S at 19 W. 44th Street in New York City. G4S, the world’s largest security company and second-biggest private employer, equips Israeli prisons and detention centers where Palestinian prisoners, including many fishermen detained off the coast of Gaza, are held and tortured, as well as the occupation forces and infrastructure – like checkpoints surrounding the Gaza Strip – routinely used to massacre Palestinians while holding millions under military rule.

Take Action!

1. Organize or join a protest against the attacks and arrests of Palestinian fishers and the siege on Gaza, outside your national government buildings, local Israeli embassy, G4S office, or corporation involved in the occupation. If you are in New York, join Samidoun’s protest – elsewhere, send us your local protests against the attacks on Palestinian fishers in Gaza. Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net.

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 siege on Gaza and the attacks on fishers. Demand they pressure Israel to stop attacking Palestinian fishers and strangling Palestinians in Gaza. 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 the Gaza Siege 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.

Adib Mafarjah on 59th day of hunger strike: family urge international action

31 May 2016

Palestinian prisoner Adib Mafarjah is on his 59th day of hunger strike in protest of his imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention. According to Asra Voice, Mafarjah will face a court hearing today; he has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 10 December 2014 and his detention renewed repeatedly.

Mafarjah, 28, launched his hunger strike on 3 April alongside Fouad Assi, also from his hometown of Beit Liqya, near Ramallah. Assi ended his strike in an agreement for his future release, but Mafarjah’s strike is continuing. He is held in Barzillai hospital, shackled hand and foot to his hospital bed. In a press conference in Ramallah on Monday, 30 May, Mafarjah’s wife, Aya, joined other family members and advocates to urge international and Palestinian action for his release.

Mafarjah has lost approximately 30 kilograms of weight (approximately 63 pounds) since he began his hunger strike, is vomiting blood, and has lost consciousness; however, Aya reported that he is refusing medications and supplements. She said that he had not received offers to end his strike and that he had been pressured repeatedly through multiple transfers from prison to prison via “Bosta” and long-term solitary confinement.

Speakers at the press conference urged international official actions from United Nations bodies and international governments, as well as support from grassroots groups and civil society, to free Mafarjah and end administrative detention.

Mafarjah is joined on hunger strike by Musallam Eshtayyeh, striking for 32 days against the conditions of his detention; Imad Abu Rezeq, refusing food for the 17th day in protest of torture and mistreatment under interrogation; and Malek Qadi, 19, of Bethlehem, in protest of his re-arrest and torture and mistreatement under interrogation, on his eighth day of hunger strike.

Palestinian activists in Nazareth are holding a protest in support of Mafarjah on Wednesday, 1 June at 5:30 pm, demanding his freedom; a permanent solidarity tent has been erected outside his Beit Liqya home.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges people around the world to participate in actions and protests to free Adib Mafarjah and all Palestinian prisoners. Mafarjah is one of nearly 750 Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention. We salute his steadfastness and commitment to win his freedom and that of his fellow imprisoned Palestinians, and urge the amplification of his voice, his struggle and his strike, with demands for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners.

Janazrah and Barghouthi facing social-media “incitement” charges after battles against administrative detention

31 May 2016

Palestinian prisoner and former hunger striker Sami Janazrah has joined fellow administrative detainee and professor Imad Barghouthi – facing charges for so-called Facebook “incitement” following international campaigns to end their administrative detention without charge or trial.

Despite earlier reports that charges of “incitement” against Janazrah had been denied, the military prosecution is now charging Janazrah over alleged Facebook comments. He had been imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 15 November 2015, and engaged in a 70-day hunger strike against his imprisonment. Following a hearing at the Israeli Supreme Court, Janazrah’s case was transferred to the military courts, where over 99% of Palestinians are convicted. As in Barghouthi’s case, it was initially stated that there was insufficient evidence to mount an “incitement” charge even within the Israeli military courts.

Janazrah will face the military court in Ofer next Thursday, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported. Janazrah, 43, is a Palestinian refugee who lives in Al-Fuwwar refugee camp near al-Khalil; he is married with three children.

Barghouthi, the Palestinian astrophysicist whose detention since 24 April sparked protests by world-renowned scientists and academics, will also face Ofer Military Court on Thursday in relation to Facebook “incitement” charges filed suddenly against him after he won his release from administrative detention on appeal.

729 orders for administrative detention without charge or trial have been filed against Palestinians by the Israeli occupation military since the beginning of 2016. In addition, approximately 150 Palestinians have been arrested for postings on social media, including journalists Sami al-Saee and Samah Dweik, beautician Majd Atwan, and several Palestinian university students.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network notes that the Israeli occupation is now developing a pattern of diverting Palestinian prisoners held without charge or trial under administrative detention – particularly those whose cases garner international attention, like parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar, professor Barghouthi and hunger striker Janazrah – to bogus charges of “incitement” in Israeli military courts. Despite the appearance of a “trial,” the Israeli military courts also rely on evidence obtained through torture, false confessions, and “intelligence information” in order to convict 99% of the Palestinians that come before them. Both administrative detention and the Israeli military courts are illegitimate regimes that in no way reflect “justice” or a “fair trial,” but serve only to facilitate the mass imprisonment of Palestinians and repression of any and all Palestinian resistance. The expression of sentiments shared by the overwhelming majority of Palestinians – such as mourning for Palestinians killed by the Israeli army or supporting Palestinian resistance – on social media is being used as a means to persecute and imprison Palestinians arbitrarily and to divert attention from the fact that this imprisonment remains just as oppressive and unjust as it is under administrative detention. We demand the immediate end to administrative detention as a policy – but also an end to the prosecution of Palestinians for posting political opinions on social media, and an end to the system of occupation, apartheid and oppression that imprisons not only 7,000 Palestinian prisoners but the Palestinian people and land as a whole.

Victory in Toulouse: Court orders BDS support event to go forward

30 May 2016

It was a victory in Toulouse on 30 May against the attempts to criminalize and silence organizing for Palestine and particular the BDS movement in France, as the administrative tribunal ruled that the Mayor must allow Attac and its partners to rent Salle Osete for an event in support of four BDS activists facing prosecution. The event, which will take place tonight, 31 May, in Toulouse at 8:30 pm, features Samidoun’s Mohammed Khatib and writer Eric Hazin.

The Mayor of Toulouse, an opponent of BDS and a supporter of French government efforts to criminalize boycott organizing, had earlier denied access to the room. The tribunal referred to this action as a “serious attack, manifestly illegal to the fundamental right of freedom of assembly,” ordering the mayor to provide the space and to pay 1500 EUR to Attac.

The Comité de Soutien aux inculpéEs BDS toulousains referred to the decision as a “great victory for freedom of expression.”

“This decision has come due to the solidarity and persistence against the oppression of freedom of expression. It is an indication of yet another failure of all attempts to shut down the growing BDS movement in support of the Palestinian people,” said Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun, who will speak at the event. “This victory will also contribute toward organizing to achieve victory for the four activists being targeted for persecution.”

The purpose of the event is to support four Toulouse activists, Bernard, Jean-Pierre, Loic and Yamann, who are facing trial and prosecution for publicly distributing leaflets in support of the boycott of Israeli products, accused of “obstructing the normal exercise of economic activity.” They will face the Toulouse court on 30 June, where organizers are preparing a rally of support. The prosecution of BDS activists in Toulouse comes within the context of ongoing attempts to criminalize actions to boycott Israel and persecute activists, with the active support of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who earlier as Interior Minister intervened to overrule French courts and block the release of imprisoned Arab struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.

The attempts to repress BDS activism, including the prosecution of activists in various cities for distributing leaflets and even the arrest of a young woman for wearing a BDS t-shirt in Paris, have been accompanied by other state attempts to silence Palestine solidarity. The French state has attempted to force Mayor Azzedine Taibi of Stains to remove a banner urging freedom for imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti from his town’s city hall.

At the same time, France is promoting itself as central to a new “peace process,” the so-called “French initiative” to impose a solution in Palestine. The initiative has been rejected by Palestinian forces, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, and others because it fails to implement fundamental Palestinian rights, including the right of return, and urging protests on 3 and 4 June against the initiative.

“We oppose the so-called French initiative not only for its political content, and not only because France is playing a colonialist and reactionary role in the region – but also because of French policies in France. Such policies include attacking the Palestine solidarity movement; criminalizing and prosecuting BDS activists supporting the boycott of Israel; the continued imprisonment of Lebanese Arab communist struggler for Palestine, Comrade Georges Ibrahim Abdallah; and the racist policies of the French state towars African, Arab and other oppressed communities within France. All of these policies and practices discredit the French government and its initiative as any force for justice or peace,” said Palestinian leftist writer Khaled Barakat.

The event in Toulouse will take place tonight, 31 May, at 8:30 pm at Salle Osete in Toulouse; speakers will include Mohammed Khatib and Eric Hazin. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the movement in Toulouse on their victory, urges a large attendance at this event, and reiterates the call to support the four accused BDS activists in Toulouse.

Take Action: Alaa Yasin still in detention. Please call today! #FreeAlaaYasin #ShutDownStewart

30 May 2016

Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is circulating the following action alert in solidarity with the Shut Down Stewart Coalition, Georgia Detention Watch, and Alaa Yassin, a 27-year-old Palestinian student held indefinitely at a United States immigrant detention center in Stewart County, Georgia. On April 17, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Alaa launched a hunger strike, which lasted 26 days, demanding his freedom. Samidoun urges all supporters of Palestinian rights to sign a petition for his release, then take the further steps below.

Alaa Yasin was detained in June 2015 while earning excellent grades at university and helping at his family’s pizza parlor in North Carolina. In April 2016, Alaa went on a 24-day hunger strike at Stewart Detention Center. During the strike, ICE was denied permission to force-feed him. Then, on May 12, Allaa ended the hunger strike only to be punished by being placed in solitary confinement. Now, he is back in general population, but has not been released!

Please help us secure Alaa’s release from Stewart by calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Representative Sanford Bishop’s office! Leave a message if no one answers!

Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Call John Bretz 229-838-1183

Rep. Sanford Bishop’s office: Call Jonathan Halpern 202-225-3631

Sample script:

“Hi, I’m (your name) from (your city) and I’m calling to tell (ICE or Rep. Bishop) to immediately release Alaa Yasin, A#202-090-024. Alaa has been detained for over 8 months without ICE taking action! In the meantime, Corrections Corporation of America profits off his detention at the expense of US taxpayers! It is time to return him to North Carolina with his friends and family.”

Thank you all for your support to #FreeAlaaYasin and #ShutDownStewart.

Take Action: Professor Imad Barghouthi not released – military prosecutor files “incitement” charges

29 May 2016

Imad Barghouthi, a Palestinian astrophysicist and professor at Al-Quds University, was suddenly denied release from Israeli prison on Sunday, 29 May, after “incitement” charges were filed against him by a military prosecutor. Barghouthi’s release had been ordered by an Israeli military court last Thursday, following an international outcry by prominent scientists, physicists and other academics.

Barghouthi is now being charged with “incitement” over alleged Facebook posts in support of Palestinian resistance. Barghouthi’s lawyer, Jawad Boulos, said in Electronic Intifada that at the hearing on Thursday, the military prosecution had stated they had “insufficient evidence” to charge Barghouthi, saying that the case “demonstrates to anyone who still needs proof that all of the ‘legal’ procedures established by the occupation forces … are flimsy and fake and give no heed to legal principles.”

Barghouthi had been held under administrative detention – Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial by military order – since he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 24 April. He was first ordered to three months, then two months detention, before his release was ordered Thursday at his appeal hearing. At the appeal, Boulos submitted the several petitions from international academics urging Barghouthi’s release. There are approximately 750 Palestinians held without trial under administrative detention; in addition, over 150 Palestinians have been arrested over allegations of “incitement” on social media.

Barghouthi was detained once before under administrative detention in December 2014; he was released early then due to another international outcry in the scientific and academic community.

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. There is nothing more legitimate about military charges than there is in administrative detention. Both are part of one mechanism with one goal – controlling the Palestinian people at all costs and silencing those who resist and challenge occupation, racism and oppression.

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.

Take Action: BDS event with Samidoun speaker censored in Toulouse!

28 May 2016

In another example of the crackdown on BDS organizing in France, an event in defense of the four activists from Toulouse, France, facing charges for flyering and leafleting to promote the boycott of Israeli goods to support Palestinian rights, has been censored by the Mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc. The event, to take place on Tuesday, 31 May, features Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network’s Mohammed Khatib and editor and writer Eric Hazin, speaking on the Palestinian struggle and the suppression of BDS and Palestine activism in France. Click here to take action and defend the right to boycott Israel.

In a letter dated 26 May, the Mayor of Toulouse denied the space rental to Attac France for the meeting, citing the notorious Court of Cassation decision of October 2015 being used to prosecute civil activists urging the boycott of Israel in response to the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. The organizers of the meeting, Attac and the Comité de Soutien aux inculpéEs BDS toulousains, will seek an injunction to allow use of the meeting space in administrative court on Monday; the meeting will go on, whether in the room itself or as a public rally in the street, organizers vowed.

The letter denying the space:

This is not the first time that the Toulouse municipality has sought to use its power to silence BDS organizing in the city. On March 31, the Mayor of Toulouse denied access to a municipal hall to the local BDS campaign, and on March 18, the Mayor promoted a resolution in the municipal council to condemn BDS activities. Moudenc represents the right-wing Republicans, but the French Socialist Party has been equally keen on the suppression of BDS at a national level, with Prime Minister Manuel Valls a leading spokesperson in attempts to silence the Palestine solidarity movement.

Take Action!

If you are in or near Toulouse, attend the event on 31 May at 8:30 pm at Salle Osete near Metro Capitole. The event will go on, and it is important to show public support not only for this event, but for the Palestinian people – and of course, the four accused activists.
Send the letter below to the Mayor of Toulouse and call upon the city to change its decision and allow the event to go forward.

Use the sample below and sign with your name, or write your own message and send to:

To: contact@TMEnsemble.fr, marie-helene.mayeux-bouchard@mairie-toulouse.fr

Subject: Contre l’interdiction d’une salle municipale au Comité de soutien aux inculpés de la Campagne BDS

Mr le Maire de Toulouse

En tant qu’organisation participante au comité de soutien, nous élevons une vive protestation devant votre refus d’accorder une salle municipale pour tenir une réunion publique de solidarité aux 4 inculpés de la campagne BDS le MARDI 31 MAI.

Il s’agit là d’une atteinte grave à la liberté de réunion et d’expression.

Votre lettre de refus évoque l’arrêt de la Cour de Cassation du 20 octobre 2015. Cet arrêt est désormais contesté devant la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme, mais en l’occurrence, il n’a pas valeur de loi et il appartient au juge et à lui seul de l’interpréter.

En l’espèce, votre refus revient à vous substituer à la justice et à déclarer les poursuivis coupables alors que le procès n’a pas encore eu lieu. Nous estimons pas conséquent que votre décision est un cas d’abus de pouvoir, qui en outre constitue une pression sur la justice par un agent d’autorité.

Du point de vue de la défense des droits humains, des organisations de défense des droits de l’Homme comme Amnesty International et la FIDH se sont exprimées sur la légitimité de la campagne BDS et contre la criminalisation de ses militants. En Europe, se sont 354 organisations de droits de l’Homme, associations religieuses, syndicats et partis politiques qui viennent de demander à l’UE de défendre leur droit au BDS1. Après la Suède, les Pays Bas viennent de rappeler qu’il s’agit d’un droit fondamental.

Nous vous demandons donc de bien vouloir revenir sur votre décision qui constitue, à nos yeux, un manquement grave à l’exercice des droits démocratiques garantis par la constitution.

Formule de politesse

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