To mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day 2016, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign is inviting Palestinian lawyer Aouda Zbidat from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association to provide a first-hand account of the human rights violations experienced by Palestinian political prisoners in occupied Palestine.

LIMERICK: Mon 18 April, 7.30pm – Pery’s Hotel, Glentworth St Limerick Event on Facebook
CORK: Tuesday 19 April, Time/Venue TBC
DUBLIN: Wed 20 April, 7pm – The Academy Plaza Hotel, 10-14 Findlater Place . Dublin Event on Facebook

Some of the issues that Ms Zbidat will address in her talk will be:

– The issue of child prisoners and the abuse of children within the system – UNICEF has stated that Israel’s child prisoner “practices are in violation of international law”
– The issue of torture in Israeli prisons.
– Hunger strikes in Israeli prisons.
– Denial of prisoners rights and violations of international law in Israel’s prison system.
– Administrative detention – A form of internment without trial, which Amnesty says is used “to suppress the legitimate and peaceful activities of activists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
– The 99.7% conviction rate for Palestinian security prisoners, tried before Israeli military (non-jury) courts “whose proceedings do not meet international standards for fair trial”, according to Amnesty.
– The detention of Palestinian parliamentarians and civil society leaders.

The Israeli prison system – a central part of the architecture of Apartheid.

Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, it has maintained a mass detention policy targeting, among others, human rights and political activists, children and elected politicians. Some 800,000 Palestinians have been detained by the Israeli military, approximately 40% of the total male population in the occupied Palestinian territories.  Israel’s torture, ill treatment and other violations of human rights and international law in regards to political prisoners is widespread and systematic. As of February 2016, the number of Palestinian political detainees held in Israeli prisons is 7000, 406 of which are children and 670 are administrative detainees, indefinitely interned without charge or trial.

The issue of prisoners, particularly child prisoners, is one that is often overlooked in discussions around the Palestine-Israel issue, usually only mentioned when Israel releases prisoners as a so-called ‘goodwill gesture’. Yet the prisoners issue goes to the very heart of Israeli policy in Palestine – the decapitation of political movements, the criminalisation and ‘securitisation’ of young people who resist occupation, not to mention the psychological and traumatic effects detention and abuse has on young people who go through the prison system. Even NGOs who work with prisoners are targets of Israeli policy, with offices being raided and advocates themselves detained.

Through providing legal aid, documentation of the violations and local and international advocacy and lobbying Addameer works to end the policy of mass arbitrary detention and the gross violations of Palestinians’ rights and aspires to build a free and democratic Palestinian society.

About the speaker

Aouda Zbidat is a Palestinian lawyer at Addameer (Arabic for conscience), a human rights organization based in occupied Palestine who campaign for the rights of Palestinian Political Prisoners. Aouda has, for the past three years, worked in Israel’s military courts representing Palestinian detainees and has closely worked on Addameer’s various campaigns to end policies of arbitrary administrative detention, and campaigns in support of hunger striking detainees.

About Addameer

Addameer is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. Established in 1992 by a group of activists interested in human rights, the center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international level, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns. Addameer believes in the importance of building a free and democratic Palestinian society based on justice, equality, rule of law and respect for human rights within the larger framework of the right to self-determination. Addameer’s work is based on a belief in the universality of human rights as enshrined in international law.

Addameer has been actively involved in the development of Palestinian civil society since its establishment. In particular, in its role as an executive member of the Palestinian NGO Network and the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations, Addameer plays an important role in structuring the response of civil society to human rights violations, as well as directing strategies for increased community awareness. This has also placed the association in a unique position because of its strong commitment and relationship to the local community. Community involvement remains the backbone of the organization, in the form of volunteerism and support for all activities of the association and its campaigns. Addameer strives to be more than a service-oriented association, but rather a resource for the local and international community to address human rights violations. In that regard, Addameer also works closely with international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, OMCT and FIDH to provide regular information on the situation of Palestinian political detainees.

Organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day 2106 (17th April) – the international day of solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners

Friday, 15 April
7:00 pm
Centro Occupato Autogestito T28
Via dei Transiti 28
Milan, Italy

Sunday, 17 April
7:00 pm
Cox18
Via Conchetta 18
Milan, Italy

There is no support for the resistance without support for the prisoners!

Both events feature the following program:
7 pm food and drinks
8:30 pm Discussion focused on Solidarity Campaign with Palestinian Prisoners
10 pm Militant music performances featuring Liam Vik, ZASTA NCF, HAF-X and ROMIO-X, Alex Schiavi

Organized by Fronte Palestina

Posters below:

Sunday, 17 April
3:00 pm
Stephansplatz
Vienna, Austria
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/970907623024968/

On 17 April, the world commemorates Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails. In Vienna, the Palestinian Youth in Austria will organize a gathering at 3:00 pm at Stephansplatz on Sunday, 17 April, and we call on all to attend.

Sunday, 17 April
4:00 pm
Academy of Arts and Culture of Kurdistan
16 rue d’Enghien
Paris 10th
Metro: Bonne Nouvelle or Strasbourg Saint-Denis
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1607141246277563/

In 2004, the First International Conference on Political Prisoners in Donostia (Basque Country) adopted a declaration of April 17 as the International Day of Political Prisoners. This date, selected in reference to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day established in 1975, is a date for public advocacy about people who remain detained for their politics.

On this occasion and in the framework of the Week of International Solidarity with Political Prisoners, the Collective to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is organizing an event in solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners.

Featuring speakers:
Mohammed Khatib, European coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, about the campaign to free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners

Jean-Louis Chalanset, lawyer for Georges Abdallah

30 minute film, “Prison, visages de Palestine,” with the participation of director Anna Riche

Statement by a representative of the Campagne BDS France

Participation of the Palestinian Association of Ile-de-France

En 2004, réunies à l’occasion de la Première Conférence Internationale sur les Prisonniers Politiques à Donostia (Euskal Herria), plusieurs organisations ont adopté une déclaration faisant du 17 avril la Journée Internationale des Prisonniers Politiques. Cette date, choisie en référence à la Journée du Prisonnier Palestinien instituée en 1975, permet de rappeler à l’opinion publique que des femmes et des hommes sont encore détenus-es pour leurs idées politiques.
A cette occasion et dans le cadre de la Semaine internationale de solidarité avec les prisonniers-ères politiques ( http://prisonniers-politiques.samizdat.net/), ce 17 avril 2016, le CLGIA organise un hommage à Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, à Ahmad Sa’adat, et à tous les prisonniers palestiniens à l’Académie des Arts et Culture du Kurdistan, 16 rue d’Enghien, Paris 10e, Métro : Bonne Nouvelle ou Strasbourg-Saint-Denis de 16h à 20h.

☞ Débat avec
– Mohammed Khatib, responsable de Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Europe, au sujet de la campagne Free Ahmad Sa’adatet tous les prisonniers palestiniens
– Jean Louis Chalanset, avocat de Georges Abdallah

☞ Film (30′) de Anna Riche “Prison, visages de Palestine” en présence de la réalisatrice

☞ Intervention d’un membre de la Campagne BDS France – Boycott Désinvestissement Sanctions contre Israël

☞ Et la participation de l’Association de Palestiniens en Ile de France (traduction et chants)

Friday, 15 April
4:00 pm
G4S Office – NYC (19 W 44th St)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1042793672451086/

On 17 April each year, Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian people, and the world mark the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners.

Commemorated since 1974, when the first Palestinian prisoner, Mahmoud Hijazi, was freed in a prisoner exchange with the Palestinian Resistance, 17 April is a day of protests, rallies, marches, forums and more to commemorate the struggle of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli occupation jails and demand their freedom.

We join with the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in calling on organizations and people of conscience around the world to take action to to express solidarity and call for freedom for Palestinian political prisoners.

Over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in Israeli jails. More than 700 of them are held in administrative detention without charge or trial. The others face military courts which convict over 99% of the Palestinians that appear before them. Over 400 Palestinian children as young as 12 years old are held in Israeli prisons.

Every night, Israeli occupation forces conduct violent armed invasions of Palestinian villages, cities, refugee camps and homes, ransacking them and arresting dozens of Palestinians. This comes amid near-daily killings and extrajudicial execution of Palestinians by occupation forces, the demolition of the homes of the families of Palestinian prisoners, new racist laws targeting Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship, and further escalating repression.

International action has seen some response: G4S, the British-Danish security corporation targeted for a global boycott because of its role in providing security systems, control rooms and equipment to Israeli prisons, has announced it is selling off its Israeli subsidiary and leaving the market entirely. However, it’s critical to keep the pressure on G4S until their equipment and security systems are no longer being used to imprison Palestinians, block their movement at checkpoints, or besiege Gaza.

G4S doesn’t only profit on the imprisonment of Palestinians, of course. Black student movements at Columbia University, the University of California and Cornell University have led in building campus boycotts and divestment against G4S because of its role in private imprisonment in the United States, especially of youth, and have won significant victories. Organizing with movements confronting imprisonment and racist oppression, including the Black movement and the prison divestment movement, is particularly crucial in confronting common oppressors.

Palestinian Prisoners’ Day this year also comes amid international repression of Palestinian organizing – for example, the attacks on BDS in France and the arrest and prosecution of BDS activists – and the imprisonment and persecution of Palestinians and fellow strugglers in international prisons, as in the cases of Georges Ibrahim Abdullah, the Holy Land Five, and Rasmea Odeh. Confronting racism and oppression of all forms comes hand in hand with confronting Zionist settler-colonial racism in Palestine.

After a regular, weekly protest of G4S on Friday, join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as we rally with CUNY Prison Divest and NYC Students for Justice in Palestine on Sunday, 17 April to demand freedom for Palestinian political prisoners and an end to private, for-profit incarceration in the United States:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1718091051808038