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Brussels event highlights solidarity with Omar Nayef Zayed, Israeli assassination policy

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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network organized an event on Wednesday, 6 January in Brussels, Belgium, addressing the case of Omar Nayef Zayed, former Palestinian prisoner now pursued for extradition from Bulgaria, and the Israeli policy of assassinations directed against Palestinian leaders and activists.

Palestinian leftist writer and activist Khaled Barakat discussed the case of Omar Nayef Zayed, former Palestinian prisoner living in Bulgaria for the past 22 years, who is now being sought for extradition by the Israeli state. After a police raid on his home, he has taken refuge in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia.

Barakat situated the case within the context of attempts to criminalize Palestinian organizing in the United States and Europe, discussing the case of Rasmea Odeh as another instance of a former Palestinian prisoner pursued years later for prosecution, in Odeh’s case, by the U.S. government. He also noted the attempt to use an extradition treaty that explicitly excludes political offenses and pertains to criminal offenses only as a means of propaganda against the Palestinin liberation struggle, stating that Zayed is a freedom fighter and a struggler for the Palestinian people and not a “criminal.”

He urged the broadest participation in campaigns of solidarity with Zayed as well as the broader movement to free Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, viewing the case as one that represents the Palestinian movement and the struggle of all Palestinian prisoners.

Barakat also addressed struggles of the Palestinian movement in Europe over the years, including the imprisonment of Arab struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah in French prisons for over 30 years, and the assassinations of Palestinian leaders, artists and activists in Europe in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including Naim Khader, who lived and was assassinated in Brussels; Mahmoud Hamshari; Wael Zuaiter; and a number of other Palestinian representatives and activists.

Dr. Fayez Rashid, Palestinian political analyst, spoke on the topic of Israeli assassinations as a policy over decades, which is systematically incorporated into the political and military systems of the Zionist state. He linked assassination as a policy from the massacres at Palestinian villages such as Deir Yassin and Tantura during the Nakba, noting that they represented a policy of elimination against the Palestinian people.

He urged the strengthening of the popular movement for the boycott of Israel and for boycott, divestment and sanctions, including economic, military, academic and cultural boycott.

11 January, Berlin: Protest for Justice for Omar Nayef Zayed

Monday, 11 January
12:00 pm
Bulgarian Embassy, Mauerstrasse 11
10117 Berlin, Germany

Join the Democratic Palestine Committees as part of the Week of Action for Omar Nayef Zayed for a protest outside the Bulgarian embassy to Germany on Monday, 11 January, demanding that the Bulgarian government reject the Israeli request for the extradition of former Palestinian prisoner and struggler Omar Nayef Zayed, who has spent the past 22 years in Bulgaria with his wife and children.

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Occupation forces invade protest tent, seize 2 Palestinian Jerusalemite young organizers

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Two Palestinian youth activists, Samer Hussam Abu Eisheh and Hijazi Abu Sbeih, were seized by Israeli occupation forces who invaded their protest tent outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem. The two had launched their protest tent two weeks ago in rejection of an Israeli occupation military decree ordering them deported from their home city of Jerusalem.

The soldiers who stormed the protest tent were undercover “Mustaribeen” forces, disguised as Palestinians, who then captured the two young men, removing them from the tent. The two refuse to accept their expulsion from Jerusalem, linking it with the ongoing attempts in official Israeli policy to de-Palestinianize the city.

Ha’aretz reported that “The pair…are social activists who are well-known among young Palestinians in East Jerusalem. The two were behind a number of original protests in the east of the city, including a gathering of young people who drank coffee at the Old City’s Damascus Gate in protest of the erection of security barricades there, and an event featuring singing marchers…Their unorthodox approach is reflected in the fact that in the past Abu Sabih was arrested dressed as a tiger and as Mickey Mouse.” Their protest tent – like Khalida Jarrar’s before them – has become a center for activism, community meetings and cultural events for Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Israeli military orders are being issued banning Jerusalemite Palestinians from their home city, under Israeli occupation; as Samer Hussam notes, this month four Palestinian youth have been forcibly displaced from Jerusalem. This displacement follows upon the attempt to displace Khalida Jarrar from Ramallah to Jericho; the displacement of Daoud Ghoul and other young community leaders from Jerusalem; and the displacement ofPalestinian parliamentarians Mohammed Abu Teir, Ahmad Atoun, Mohammed Totah and Khaled Abu Arafah, among a number of other cases.

The forcible displacement of people under occupation is a blatant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and other international conventions. In addition to the targeted forcible expulsion of Palestinian activists from Jerusalem, Palestinians in Jerusalem have been subject to ongoing racist exclusion and attacks, and collective policies of displacement and ethnic cleansing, including the eviction of longtime Palestinian Jerusalemites from their homes in favor of illegal settlers; the stripping of Jerusalem IDs from Palestinians on individual and collective basis, particularly threatening the Palestinian refugees of Shuafat refugee camp; and the demolition of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem.

 

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike for justice: Support their strikes for freedom!

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50 Palestinian prisoners in Nafha prison have launched a collective hunger strike, protesting mistreatment, frequent transfers and poor conditions, returning their meals beginning Tuesday evening. The strikers are joining currently six Palestinian and Arab prisoners on individual hunger strikes in Israeli jails, protesting their detention.

Mohammed Al-Qeeq (photo above), a 33-year-old journalist from Dura, has now been on hunger strike for over 40 days as medical experts warn of severe danger to his health.  Held in administrative detention without charge or trial, Al-Qeeq launched a hunger strike on 25 November 2015. He is being held in Afula hospital and demanding his release; his lawyer reported that he is refusing medicines and at times water.

Currently, there are 5 ‪#‎Palestinian‬ prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails (Report from Reham Alhelsi of A Voice from Palestine)

1. Mohammed Al-Qeeq: 33 y/o from Dura – occupied ‪#‎Hebron‬, on hunger strike since 25.11.2015 to protest his administrative detention. He was detained on 21.11.2015.11 and is being held in Afula Hospital. Al-Qeeq studied media at Birzeit Uni, and earned a Masters in Contemporary Arabic Studies, he works as a reporter for Al-Majd news channel. He was arrested three times before his recent arrest: in 2003, and in 2004 and sentenced to 13 months, and in 2008 sentenced to 16 months. He is married and has two children.

2. Shadi Mtawi’: 28 y/o from occupied Hebron, held in isolation cells in Megiddo Prison, and on day 23 of open hunger strike demanding an end to his isolation and to be transferred to prisons in the South. He has been held captive since 14.11.2015, and is accused by the occupation of carrying out a resistance operation and shooting a number of Zionists colonists and killing two of them.

3. Hassan Shokah: 27 y/o from occupied ‪#‎Bethlehem‬, held in isolation cells in Megiddo Prison, on day 23 of open hunger strike demanding an end to his isolation and to be transferred to prisons in the South. He has been held captive since 16.09.2015; and was transferred to administrative detention without charge.

4. Issa Abbasi: 30 y/o from occupied ‪#‎Jerusalem‬, on day 17 of open hunger strike in protest against preventing him from meeting his mother Alia Abbasi, who is also held captive in HaSharon Prison. He is married with two children. He was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces on 30.05.2010 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

5. Abed Abdel Muti Abed: 52 y/o from Jabalya refugee camp – ‪#‎Gaza‬, on day 7 of open hunger strike in protest against the policy of deliberate medical negligence practiced by the Israeli Prison Service against him and against Palestinian political prisoners in general. He has been in isolation cells since three months, and has been held captive since 14.08.2002 and sentenced to 20 years.

In addition to Jordanian political prisoner Abdullah Abu Jaber: on hunger strike since 08.11.2011 demanding to be transferred to Jordan to complete the remaining 5 years of his sentence. He suspended his hunger strike after 47 days after promises from the Israeli occupation intelligence to meet his demands, to resume the strike on 31.12.2015 when his demands were not met. He is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and has been detained since 29.12.2000.

Also, university student Mohammed Najdi is on day 11 of open hunger strike in Tulkarem intelligence prison. He was kidnapped by the PA security forces 59 days earlier.

Take Action to support the Hunger Strikers:

1. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area.  Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers 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 atsamidoun@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. Demand they pressure Israel to free the hunger strikers and end administrative detention.

2. 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.

8-15 January, Global Week of Action: Justice for Omar Nayef Zayed!

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Omar Nayef Zayed, Palestinian former prisoner and community leader, is being threatened with extradition from Bulgaria and return to Israeli prisons. After 22 years living in Bulgaria, raising three children with his wife, the Israeli state has requested that Bulgaria extradite Omar – who was sentenced to a life sentence in Israeli military courts in 1986, escaping from custody in 1990 after a 40-day hunger strike, and arrived in Bulgaria in 1994. Join us on 8-15 January 2016 for a global week of action for justice for Omar Nayef Zayed!

Israel has requested Omar’s arrest and extradition from the Bulgarian government under the European Convention on Extradition, to which both states are parties. However, the Convention explicitly excludes “political offenses” from such extradition proceedings – and Omar’s case, tried in Israeli military courts which convict 99.74% of Palestinians, is, like that of all other Palestinian prisoners, a political matter of the struggle for freedom of the Palestinian people, not a “criminal offense.” Indeed, Palestinian prisoners jailed at the same time as Omar have nearly all been freed – not due to their sentences ending, but due to a series of political agreements and exchanges between the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli state – further underlining the political nature of the imprisonment of Palestinians. Sinn Fein parliamentarians from Ireland have urged Bulgaria to reject the extradition request on this basis.

Despite a raid on his home, Omar has taken refuge in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia. He is demanding to stay with his wife and family in Bulgaria, and calling on the Bulgarian government to reject the extradition request. “I must carry on this struggle, on behalf of all Palestinian prisoners, not just myself. It is my responsibility,” Omar said. Indeed, his case has significant repercussions for Palestinians in Europe generally, especially former prisoners and veterans of the struggle.

Please take action to help demand justice for Omar Nayef Zayed! The Global Week of Action for Justice for Omar Nayef Zayed will kick off on Friday, 8 January with a protest in London at the Bulgarian Embassy, calling on Bulgaria to reject the extradition request and protect the rights of Omar Nayef Zayed and his family.

Join in the Week of Action! What You and Your Group Can Do:

1. CALL IN TO THE BULGARIAN EMBASSY IN YOUR COUNTRY.

Key Phone Numbers:
Washington, DC:  +1 (202)387-0174;
London: +44 20 7581 3144
Ottawa: +1 613 789 3215
EU Mission in Brussels: +32 2 2358300

Other Bulgarian embassy numbers available here:  http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/bulgaria

Make the following points:

  • You are calling about the case of Omar Nayef Zayed, a Palestinian in Bulgaria facing extradition to Israel.
  • Bulgaria should not extradite Omar Nayef Zayed to Israel and should stop all efforts and cancel all warrants for his arrest, imprisonment or extradition
  • Omar was a former Palestinian political prisoner. Omar’s case is a political matter that is excluded from the European Convention on Extradition.
  • Omar’s wife and children have the right to life with their husband and father. Bulgaria should not be ripping apart a family to send their father to be a political prisoner again.

2. ORGANIZE A LETTER DELIVERY TO THE BULGARIAN EMBASSY OR CONSULATE IN YOUR COUNTRY OR CITY.

Go with other members of your Palestine solidarity group, prisoner justice advocates, or concerned residents of your area to the Bulgarian embassy as a delegation to deliver a letter calling on Bulgaria not to extradite Omar Nayef Zayed.

3. PROTEST OUTSIDE THE BULGARIAN EMBASSY OR CONSULATE IN YOUR COUNTRY OR CITY
Inminds in London is organizing a protest outside the Bulgarian embassy in the UK on Friday, 8 January – kicking off the week of action. Events like these in cities with Bulgarian consulates are very important.

  • You can do this with a small group or a large group – even a small picket will be noticed. Please take pictures and send them to samidoun@samidoun.net!
  • You can also combine this with a letter delivery – send in a delegation to deliver your official letter before or after your picket/protest.
  • The more events like this around the world at various embassies and consulates, the more the Bulgarian government will realize that Omar’s case has international significance and support and must be taken seriously.

4. CONTINUE TO SEND EMAILS AND LETTERS AND SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Hundreds of you have already emailed the Bulgarian government urging them to reject the extradition of Omar Nayef Zayed. Thank you, and please continue to do so here: https://samidoun.net/2015/12/urgent-action-stop-extradition-of-omar-nayef-zayed-former-palestinian-prisoner-from-bulgaria/

The events above are very important – visible contact, physical letters and audible phone calls make an even stronger impact. But all of your emails are also critically important to make it clear that Omar has support and friends around the world who want to see him free and safe with his family.

Share the Justice for Omar Nayef Zayed facebook pages (English) and (Arabic) and this alert – spread the word to your colleagues and comrades. The more voices that are heard, the louder Omar’s call for justice becomes.

Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net with information about your actions, events, protests and letter delivery delegations, or with any questions or requests for materials.

8 January, London: Protest for Justice for Omar Nayef Zayed – Demand Bulgaria reject Israeli extradition pressure!

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8TH JAN 2016 – JUSTICE FOR OMAR ZAYED – DEMAND BULGARIA NOT BOW TO ISRAELI PRESSURE TO EXTRADITE FORMER PALESTINIAN POLITICAL PRISONER

DATE: Fri 8th January 2016 1:30pm
LOCATION:
1:30 pm: Embassy of Bulgaria, 186-188 Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5HL
3:00 pm: Travel to PA Mission (Gloucester Road tube to Ravenscourt Park tube on district line)
3:30 pm: Protest outside Palestinian Mission, 5 Galena Road, London W6 0LT
WEB: http://inminds.com/article.php?id=10695

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/462496970611154/

Omar Zayed, a Palestinian former prisoner and hunger striker who escaped the clutches of the illegal Israeli occupation forces over 25 years ago and settled in Bulgaria for the last 22 years with a Bulgarian wife and 3 Bulgarian children, is being hunted down by Israel who are demanding Bulgaria extradite him. His home has been raided and his son arrested for a day. To escape extradition Omar has taken refuge in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia. The PA is pressuring him to leave the embassy and Bulgarian prosecutors are calling his imprisonment and quick extradition to Israel.

This is a collective political attack on all former Palestinian prisoners, an attempt by Israel to continue its persecution of Palestinian prisoners outside its borders, essentially an attack on all Palestinian communities in the diaspora. We must vigorously defend Omar Zayed’s right to live in peace with his family free from Israeli persecution.

Please join us outside the Bulgarian Embassy in Kensington on 8th Jan 2016 at 1:30pm to demand Bulgaria doesn’t buckle under Israeli pressure, and recognises that this is a political case and not a criminal one, and as such is not party to any extradition law. Then at 3pm we will move to the Palestinian Mission for a short demonstration at 3:30pm reminding the PA of its obligations towards Omar Zayed and all Palestinians who seek refuge in its diplomatic missions around the world.

MORE INFO:

Samidoun Call To Action:

https://samidoun.net/2015/12/urgent-action-stop-extradition-of-omar-nayef-zayed-former-palestinian-prisoner-from-bulgaria/

https://samidoun.net/2015/12/take-action-omar-nayef-zayed-being-pressured-to-leave-palestinian-embassy/

https://samidoun.net/2015/12/reports-palestinian-authoritys-foreign-affairs-ministry-assigns-crisis-team-to-omar-nayef-zayed-case/

Take Action: Alie Kabba, supporter of Palestine, imprisoned in Sierra Leone

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The US Palestinian Community Network – Chicago issued the following action alert on 3 January.

ACTION ALERT: Alie Kabba, close friend of USPCN-Chicago, sent to prison in Sierra Leone!

Dr. Alie Kabba, an African Muslim from Sierra Leone, who is former Executive Director of the Chicago-based United African Organization (UAO), and former board president of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), and has consistently called for the liberation of Palestine as a speaker and participant in dozens of protests in Chicago over many years, now needs our help!

The Sierra Leone Telegraph reports that Alie has been denied bail in what is clearly a politically-motivated prosecution in his home country.  Alie recently moved back to Sierra Leone, and announced that he would be running for president there in 2017.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Add your name to this petition to Free Dr. Alie Kabba.  He is a political prisoner, a prisoner of conscience, and he needs our support.

2. His colleagues at the UAO are also asking supporters to call the U.S. Department of State hotline at 202.647.4000.  Choose option 4 for the operator, and ask to speak to the Overseas Citizens Duty Officer.

Sample script: “Alie Kabba, an United States citizen and presidential aspirant of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), has been arrested and detained by the government of Sierra Leone. We need your help to free Alie immediately.  I would like to know what the U.S. government is doing about this citizen of our country.”

You can also email the U.S. embassy in Sierra Leone: consularfreetown@state.gov.

Please join us in supporting our brother and colleague, Dr. Alie Kabba.  He has been a stalwart and principled leader in the African, Black, immigrant, and social justice communities in Chicagoland for years.  He needs our urgent attention.

USPCN-Chicago

January 3rd, 2016

Ramallah protest urges support for detained hunger-striking journalist

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Palestinians in Ramallah gathered today, 4 January, in solidarity with hunger-striking imprisoned journalist Mohammed Al-Qeeq. Al-Qeeq, who has been on hunger strike since 25 November. A reporter for Al-Majd news channel, Al-Qeeq has been detained since 21 November by Israeli occupation forces.

Speakers at the protest included former hunger striker and freed prisoner Muhammad Allan. Al-Qeeq’s wife spoke at the event, saying that interrogation they asked him constantly about his journalistic activities and reporting. Participants criticized Palestinian official institutions and the Journalists’ Syndicate for their lack of public involvement and advocacy to free imprisoned journalists, especially Al-Qeeq, whose hunger strike in protest of his detention has lasted for over a month.

Photos by Palestinian writer Reham Alhelsi of A Voice from Palestine.

Former hunger striker and freed prisoner Khader Adnan re-arrested by occupation forces

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Occupation forces have recaptured freed administrative detainee and former hunger striker Khader Adnan, according to Quds News Network, as of Monday afternoon, 4 January. Adnan was arrested near the town of Silwad near Ramallah.

Adnan, a baker and prominent political activist from the town of Arraba near Jenin, has been arrested 10 times and spent six years in Israeli prison, all in administrative detention without charge or trial. In 2012 and 2015, he carried out 66-day and 56-day hunger strikes, respectively, winning his liberation from arbitrary Israeli imprisonment.

He has become a Palestinian and international symbol of steadfastness within the prisons and inspired widespread international solidarity. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Khader Adnan and will announce further actions as we receive more news and information from Palestine on Adnan’s arrest.

Addameer: Jerusalem martyrs’ families refuse conditions on returning bodies

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Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association released the following statement on 3 January.

Families of Jerusalem Martyrs Refuse Any Conditions on Returning their Son’s Bodies 

Addameer’s lawyer, adv. Mohammad Mahmoud, reported that the families of four martyrs from Jerusalem refused imposing any conditions on returning the bodies of their sons by Israeli occupation forces. Mr. Mohammad Alayyan, speaking on behalf of the families stated that they refuse imposing any conditions on returning the bodies of their sons especially requesting the payment of guarantee money so as to receive the bodies, knowing that families of West Bank martyrs similarly rejected imposing all conditions. Israeli occupation has been holding the bodies of dozens of Palestinians shot by Israeli occupation in the past three months.

Officers from the Israeli occupation’s intelligence agency met today with the families of the martyrs Ishaq Badran (16 years old), Mohammad Said Mohammad Ali (19 years old), Ahmad Hamada Qneibi (22 years old) in the presence of Adv. Mohammad Mahmoud. The family of martyr Khalid Manasra (16 years old) were also informed about the meeting. The occupation’s intelligence agency agreed to hand the families their son’s bodies under the conditions of burials on the West Bank side of the apartheid wall naming Kufr Aqab and Anata as places where the families can bury their sons, immediate burial after receiving the bodies and paying a 5,000 shekel (1,300 USD) guarantee money that the families will abide by these conditions.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association stresses the families’ right to receive the bodies of their sons without any conditions and considers the occupation’s policy of holding the bodies of martyrs to be an inhumane measure of collective punishment that targets Palestinian families. Holding the bodies and preventing their burials for such a long period is an insult to the religious norms of the Palestinian society. Holding the bodies and imposing a burial place far from the family’s residence after returning is an extreme measure meant to make the families suffer and constitutes a form of psychological torture that corresponds to Israel’s discriminatory laws and practices and policies of ethnic cleansing and collective punishment against Palestinians.

Addameer further believes that holding the bodies of the martyrs and rejecting to open investigations into the circumstances of their death aims to impede justice and prevent revealing the true circumstances of the killings. In the past three months, Israeli occupation forces and settlers have been practicing a form of extrajudicial executions against Palestinians whereby lethal force is being used against Palestinians without justification and under the protection and complicity of the Israeli occupation’s political and judicial authorities.

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