The National Assembly of the Republic (Parliament) of Portugal voted on April 17 – Palestinian Prisoners’ Day – to stand in solidarity with imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian and leader Khalida Jarrar, calling for her immediate release. This is the first national parliamentary resolution to call for Jarrar’s release. Earlier, 58 Members of European Parliament issued a letter in support of Jarrar.
At events, demonstrations, forums and actions around the world, international solidarity movements and Palestinian communities in exile and diaspora marked Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on April 17, 2015, taking the streets and raising the images and the names of Palestinian political prisoners in cities across the globe.
The following is an incomplete list of actions. All photos by local event organizers and participants. In order to include your own reports, please email [email protected].
In Toulouse, France, over 150 people took to the streets on April 17 to support Palestinian prisoners and to support local activist Gaëtan, imprisoned for two months for protest activities. Anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup 31 organized the action with BDS France Toulouse, Collectif Palestine Libre, NPA31 and OCML – Voie Proletarienne. Slogans and signs focused on the cases of imprisoned political leader Khalida Jarrar, student activist Lina Khattab, and PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, as well as the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Arab struggler for Palestine imprisoned in French jails for 31 years. Photos:
In Paris, France, as part of the International Week of Action for Political Prisoners, organizers screened Palestinian films on imprisonment, arrest and detention, and invited Yousef Habash to speak about the situation of Palestinian political prisoners, as well as presenting an exhibition of photos of Palestinian prisoners by Yann Renoult.
In Lille, France, activists held a protest on April 15 for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, demanding freedom for Georges Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat, and all Palestinian prisoners:
In Antwerp, Belgium, Antwerp for Palestine organized a flash mob and street theater action on April 17, in which activists portrayed Palestinian prisoners and Israeli soldiers on the Groenplaats:
In South Africa, BDS South Africa announced the results of their campaign – 20 South African companies dropping G4S contracts worth over 7 million Rand as a result of the exposure of G4S’ involvement in the torture and imprisonment of Palestinian political detainees, while in Portugal, the Assembly of the Republic – the Portuguese national parliament – adopted a solidarity vote officially calling for the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar.
In Italy, activists in Firenze held an action in the Piazza de Ciompi on April 17, followed by a solidarity dinner in support of Palestinian political prisoners. In Padova, activists united their work to counter the Milan Expo 2015 with support for Palestinian prisoners, holding a fundraising dinner to support Addameer and the Palestinian Developmental Women’s Studies Association in Gaza, which works with women former prisoners and a solidarity concert, while organizers in Milano welcomed Palestinian lawyer Fadwa Barghouti for a discussion on the campaign to free Marwan Barghouti and all Palestinian prisoners. Photos from Firenze:
Palestinian activists in Berlin, Germany organized a forum, held by the Committee for a Democratic Palestine – Berlin. The event, which included a number of speakers, including Khaled Barakat of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, Charlotte Kates of Samidoun, Doris Ghannam of BDS Berlin, and Majid al-Zeer of the Palestinian Return Centre, among others. Earlier in the day, a sit-in for Palestinian prisoners was also organized by the Palestinian Assembly in Germany in downtown Berlin.
Meanwhile, in Dortmund, Germany, a coalition of Palestinian organizations held an event commemorating Land Day and Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on April 18, including music and presentations by Father Atallah Hanna and Awad Abdel Fattah; performers included singer Buran Saada from Jerusalem. Mohammed Kana’aneh, former Palestinian political prisoner from 1948 occupied Palestine, was prevented by Israeli security actions from traveling to join the event, where he was the keynote speaker. He presented a statement remotely, discussing the situation of 1948 Palestinians and demanding freedom for all Palestinian prisoners:
In Dublin, Ireland, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign organized a protest on April 16 highlighting the numbers and statistics of Palestinians held inside Israeli jails. Protesters, including many members of the Palestinian community, held signs and banners educating the public about Palestinian prisoners. IPSC distributed a leaflet on prisoners to hundreds of passers-by; to read a PDF of the leaflet IPSC handed out, please click here.Photos:
In Glasgow, Scotland, activists with the Revolutionary Communist Group, Fight Racism Fight Imperialism and Palestine solidarity organizations protested for Palestinian political prisoners. They focused on the cases of the Hares Boys, 5 unjustly imprisoned teens; Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian leftist leader and parliamentarian arrested April 2; and Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned PFLP General secretary – and demanded an end to G4S complicity in torture. In addition, protesters demanded an end to the prosecution of activists in Glasgow and Manchester being criminalized for protesting Israel.
On April 18, in Manchester, England, the Manchester Boycott Israeli Group, the Revolutionary Communist Group and Fight Racism Fight Imperialism joined the international day of action to free Palestinian political prisoners and promote the movement to boycott Israel. Protesters also denounced the US attacks on Venezuela and promoted solidarity between Venezuela, Palestine and revolutionary and democratic movements around the world:
In Brighton, England, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign organized an information stall and picket at the Clock Tower on April 17, calling for freedom for Palestinian prisoners and focusing on the case of the five unjustly imprisoned Palestinian teens, the Hares Boys:
In Toronto, Canada, protesters outside the Israeli Embassy on April 17 demanded freedom for all Palestinian prisoners in a demonstration organized by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA). The protesters faced off against Zionist attempts to intimidate and threaten them with counterprotesters identified with the so-called “Jewish Defense League.”
Three days before, in Ottawa, Canada, protesters rallied for the freedom of Khalida Jarrar and all Palestinian prisoners on April 14, with organizers from Independent Jewish Voices, Students Against Israeli Apartheid and other organizations coming together to demand Jarrar’s immediate release:
In Chicago, Illinois, US, activists and the Palestinian community will come together on April 19 for an event and fundraiser with Ahmad Abuznaid and lawyer Michael Deutsch, to support the case of former Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, torture survivor and Palestinian community leader Rasmea Odeh, now facing yet more criminalization, persecution and imprisonment at the hands of the US government.
The Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Art Forces, Eastside Arts Alliance and Critical Resistance in Oakland, California, US, organized an art exhibition and roundtable, “Re-Visions: Black and Brown Confronting State Violence” on April 17, celebrating Black and Brown resistance movements and Palestinian Prisoners Day. Speakers Rachel Herzing; Liz Derias, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement; Sagnicthe Salazar, Xicana Moratorium; Rabab Abdulhadi, AMED/SFSU; Kiwi Illafonte, Mass Bass; Akubundu Amazu-Lott, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party discussed connections between struggles and cultures of resistance to policing and prisons.
At Eastern Mediterranean University, the General Union of Palestinian Students in Turkish-occupied Famagusta, Cyprus held a large event for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, featuring released prisoners Louay Odeh, Amneh Muna and Tayseer Suleiman, who discussed their experiences inside Israeli prisons and the struggle of Palestinian prisoners in the context of the Palestinian national movement:
In San Jose, Costa Rica, activists protested for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on April 17, focusing on the case of the Hares Boys and Palestinian child prisoners:
The Global Campaign to Return to Palestine held its first Latin American congress in Caracas, Venezuela on April 15-17, focusing on the struggle of Palestinian refugees to return to Palestine, but also addressing the struggle for freedom for Palestinian political prisoners. The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and the Brazilian Landless Worker’s Movement participated in the Congress alongside Palestinian and solidarity organizations including the Committees for a Democratic Palestine:
Two events organized by Inminds and by London Palestine Action united in London, England on April 17, protesting G4S, the British/Dutch security firm – largest in the world – that provides security systems and equipment to the Israeli prisons where Palestinian political prisoners are detained, tortured and wrongfully imprisoned. Activists occupied the lobby of G4S, demanding it end its involvement in human rights violations, not only in Palestine, but also in Britain, where G4S has been involved in the mistreatment and death of refugees and asylum seekers. Photos:
Videos:
In Rabat, Morocco, organizers held a protest commemorating Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and also calling for the release of political prisoners in Moroccan prisons, in response to the call by Moroccan human rights organization AMDH:
In Liverpool, England, activists organized a protest and street theatre highlighting the case of the Hares Boys for Palestinian Prisoners Day:
In Barcelona, activists for Palestine held a forum on Palestinian political prisoners as well as the movement to end the blockade of Gaza:
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, activists marked the International Day for Political Prisoners, drawing attention to the struggle not only of Palestinian prisoners, but also Basque and Galician prisoners, Turkish and Kurdish prisoners, Filipino prisoners, Moroccan and Sahrawi prisoners. In particular, the protesters highlighted the cases of Simon Trinidad, Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti, Abdullah Ocalan, Abimael Guzman, Mauricio Norambuena, Alcides Oviedo, Osmar Martinez, Oscar Lopez Rivera, Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Carlos Ilich Ramirez, and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah:
The Movement for the Palestinian People’s Rights, along with the Portuguese Union of Antifascist Resistance, published the following statement (below in English and Portuguese) marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day:
English:
PORTUGUESE SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS
April 17, today, marks another Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, celebrated since 1974, and commemorating the release of Mahmoud Hijazi, the first Palestinian prisoner released by Israel as part of a prisoner exchange. On this day, the Palestinian people recall all their children who continue to pay the price in prison of their commitment to fight for freedom and to resist occupation and the constant framework of repression and systematic violation of basic human rights, occupation, land theft, ethnic cleansing and destruction of cultural identity, that the Palestinian people confront daily. It is not easy to determine the exact number of Palestinian men, women and children imprisoned inside Israeli jails at a given moment. Organizations that follow the situation of Palestinian prisoners estimate that there are at this time over six thousand Palestinian prisoners, including 23 women, 163 children, including 13 under the age of 16. Of these six thousand, there are 484 serving sentences of life imprisonment and 30 imprisoned since before the Oslo accords, signed in 1993. Among the Palestinian prisoners, there are 14 Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. There are 454 prisoners, including 10 PLC members, held in administrative detention without trial or charge, some of them for over two years – the highest number in five years.
The cold reality of the numbers does not sufficiently reveal the gravity of the situation faced by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Under the iron regime of occupation that has lasted for decades, virtually all Palestinian families have a father or a mother, a son or a daughter, a grandson or a granddaughter, a brother or a sister who, at some point in their life, were held in Israeli jails. For patriotic and resistant Palestinians, the daily experience of Israeli jails is marked by torture and ill treatment – accepted, moreover, by the law of the state – including the deprivation of basic rights and needs, including the denial of family visits and disregard for all international conventions regulating international humanitarian law. But this is only one dimension of the problem; the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails is political before it is humanitarian. Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are held under an oppressive system that is occupying their land and which is not, therefore, entitled to condemn them. As is well demonstrated by the recent arrest of MP Khalida Jarrar, chair of the Political Prisoners Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council, board member of Addameer Association for Prisoner Support and Human Rights and a member of several organizations advancing the rights of women; Palestinian prisoners are convicted solely for defending the dignity of their people and struggling for the liberation of their land.
To all the men and women who, anywhere in the world, in the struggle for the rights, emancipation and liberation of the people, have faced imprisonment, torture and humiliation, the situation of the Palestinian prisoners is familiar. It exposes the lie of Israeli propaganda which seeks to label itself “the only democracy in the Middle East.” For those in Portugal who fought fascism, faced the farce of the plenary courts and their notorious security measures, or who were victims of torture and constant humiliation, the daily repression and arbitrariness to which the Palestinian prisoners and their families are subject are too violent to not evoke the days of chains of led of Peniche, Aljube or Caxias. And it is also why those who resisted and fought with courage the most violent and hideous face of fascism, including those in Portugal, support the heroic struggle of the Palestinian people and know the importance of solidarity, fraternal embrace, and even the simplest gestures that convey encouragement and confidence, and of persistent efforts to break the wall of silence, isolation and libel that Israel and its Zionist supporters seek to impose upon the struggle of the Palestinian people, denouncing the crimes of the occupation and advocating the justice of the Palestinian struggle.
On this 41st Palestinian Prisoners Day, the Movement for the Palestinian People’s Rights and for Peace in the Middle East, and the Portuguese Union of Antifascist Resistance, express their deep and heartfelt solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people and especially with the Palestinian patriots imprisoned in the jails of the Israeli state. We denounce the illegal and illegitimate nature of their arrest, the brutal conditions to which they are subjected by the prisons and repressive system of Israel, and condemn in particular the arrest of children, the practice of torture, ill-treatment and abuse of Palestinian prisoners; as well as the practice of administrative detention – and we call for their immediate and unconditional release. The MPPM and URAP reiterate their firm willingness to work in the specific context of each organization and cooperate with all public expressions and movements in solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people against the occupation, affirming their inalienable rights to self-determination, independence and the establishment of a free, independent and sovereign state in the territories occupied in 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for a just solution for Palestinian refugees, in accordance with international law and the relevant United Nations resolutions.
Lisbon, April 17, 2015
MPPM- Movement for Palestinian People’s Rights and Peace in the Middle East
URAP – Portuguese Union of Antifascist Resistance
Portuguese:
SOLIDARIEDADE PORTUGUESA COM OS PRESOS POLÍTICOS PALESTINOS
Assinala-se hoje, dia 17 de Abril, mais um Dia do Preso Palestino. Desde que, em 1974, no âmbito de uma troca de prisioneiros, foi libertado Mahmoud Baker Hijazi, o primeiro palestino preso por Israel depois da ocupação dos territórios da Margem Ocidental do Rio Jordão, de Jerusalém Oriental e da Faixa de Gaza, o povo palestino recorda, nesta data, todos os seus filhos que pagam na prisão o preço do seu compromisso com a luta pela liberdade e a resistência à ocupação. Num quadro de repressão constante e sistemática, de violação dos mais elementares direitos humanos, de ocupação, roubo e esbulho, de limpeza étnica e de destruição da identidade cultural, como o que o povo palestino enfrenta diariamente, não é fácil determinar com precisão o número de palestinos, homens, mulheres ou crianças presos em cada momento nas cadeias israelitas. As organizações que acompanham a situação dos presos palestinos calculam que existam, nesta altura, mais de seis mil cidadãos presos, entre os quais se contarão vinte e três mulheres e cento e sessenta e três crianças, dos quais treze com menos de dezasseis anos. Destes cerca de seis mil, existem quatrocentos e oitenta e quatro que cumprem penas de prisão perpétua, e trinta estão presos desde antes dos acordos de Oslo, assinados em 1993. Entre os prisioneiros palestinos, contam-se cerca de dezena e meia de deputados do Conselho Legislativo Palestino (CLP). Existem quatrocentos e cinquenta e quatro prisioneiros, dos quais 10 deputados, na condição de detenção administrativa, quer dizer, sem julgamento nem acusação deduzida, alguns deles há mais de dois anos, o número mais elevados dos últimos cinco anos.
A realidade fria dos números não traduz, ainda assim, a gravidade da situação em que se encontram os palestinos presos nas cadeias israelitas. Sob um regime férreo de ocupação que dura há décadas, virtualmente todas as famílias palestinas têm um pai ou uma mãe, um filho ou uma filha, um neto ou uma neta, um irmão ou uma irmã que, em algum momento da sua vida, conheceu a realidade das prisões israelitas. Para os patriotas e resistentes palestinos, o quotidiano nas cárceres de Israel é marcado pela tortura e os maus-tratos – aceites, aliás, pela própria lei do estado – pela privação dos direitos e necessidades mais elementares, a começar pelo direito a receber visitas dos seus familiares mais próximos, em frontal desrespeito por todas as convenções internacionais que regulam o direito internacional humanitário. Mas essa é apenas uma dimensão do problema. A condição dos presos palestinos nas cadeias israelitas é política, antes de ser humanitária. Os homens e mulheres palestinos encarcerados nas prisões de Israel estão presos por força de um sistema opressivo que ocupa ilegalmente a sua terra e que não tem, por isso, legitimidade para os condenar. Como bem o demonstra a prisão recente de Khalida Jarrar, deputada, presidente da Comissão dos Presos Políticos do Conselho Legislativo Palestino, dirigente da Addameer – Associação de Apoio aos Presos e de Direitos Humanos – e membro de várias organizações de defesa dos direitos das mulheres, os presos palestinos estão condenados pela única razão de defenderem a dignidade do seu povo e lutarem pela libertação da sua terra.
Para todos os homens e mulheres que, em qualquer parte do mundo, na luta pelos direitos dos povos e pela emancipação do povo, tiveram que enfrentar a prisão, a tortura e as humilhações, a situação dos presos palestinos é familiar. De nada vale que a propaganda de Israel insista em qualificar o seu regime como “a única democracia do Médio Oriente”. Para os que, em Portugal, combateram o fascismo, enfrentaram a farsa dos tribunais plenários e as suas famigeradas medidas de segurança, ou foram vítimas da tortura e de humilhações constantes, o quotidiano de repressão e arbitrariedade a que estão sujeitos os presos palestinos e as suas famílias é demasiado violento para não evocar os dias de chumbo nas cadeias de Peniche, do Aljube ou de Caxias. E é também por isso que os que resistiram e enfrentaram com coragem a face mais violenta e hedionda do fascismo, assim como os que, em Portugal, acompanham a luta heróica do povo palestino, sabem bem a importância do valor da solidariedade, do abraço fraterno, dos gestos às vezes os mais singelos que transmitem estímulo e confiança, ou dos esforços persistentes para quebrar o muro de silêncio, isolamento e calúnia que Israel e os seus apoiantes do sionismo erguem sobre a luta do povo palestino, denunciando os crimes da ocupação e divulgando as razões justas da sua luta.
Assim, e por ocasião do 41º aniversário do Dia do Preso Palestino, o Movimento pelos Direitos do Povo Palestino e Pela Paz no Médio Oriente e a União de Resistentes Antifascistas Portugueses, expressam a sua mais viva e sentida solidariedade com a luta do povo palestino e em especial com os patriotas palestinos presos nas cadeias do estado de Israel, denunciam a natureza ilegal e ilegítima da sua prisão e as condições brutais a que são sujeitos pelo sistema prisional e repressivo de Israel, condenam, em particular, a prisão de crianças, assim como a prática da tortura, os maus tratos e as sevícias sobre os presos palestinos, assim como a figura da prisão administrativa, e reclamam a sua imediata e incondicional libertação. O MPPM e a URAP reiteram a sua firme disposição de trabalhar no âmbito específico de cada organização, e na cooperação com todas as expressões do movimento de opinião pública, em prol da solidariedade com a luta do povo palestino contra a ocupação, afirmando o seu direito inalienável à autodeterminação e independência e à constituição de um estado livre, independente e soberano nos territórios ocupados em 1967, com Jerusalém Leste como capital, e com uma solução justa para a questão dos refugiados, conforme com o direito internacional e as resoluções pertinentes das Nações Unidas.
Lisboa, 17 de Abril de 2015
MPPM- Movimento pelos Direitos do Povo Palestino e pela Paz no Médio Oriente
URAP – União de Resistentes Antifascistas Portugueses
The US Campaign to End the Occupation issued the following call to action, connecting campaigns against mass incarceration in the United States and Palestine:
Today, April 17, marks Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, a day of solidarity with the thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including children, held in Israeli prisons, many of them subjected to torture. Human rights organizations in Palestine/Israel released this joint statement outlining Israel’s ever-worsening abuses. An excerpt:
“As of March 2015, 5,820 Palestinian political prisoners, including women and children, are being held in prisons located inside Israel, in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel’s policies of detention and imprisonment are used in large part as political tools to suppress and maintain control over Palestinian society. These policies are intended to obstruct the daily lives and social fabric of Palestinians, and undermine their ability to oppose the Israeli occupation by criminalizing basic political affiliation and/or activities and employing methods such as torture and ill-treatment to target and intimidate individuals and communities.”
One of the latest of these prisoners is Palestinian parliamentarian, feminist, and leftist political leader Khalida Jarrar, whose case has garnered widespread international support since her arrest on April 2. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has issued a Call to Action to support Jarrar with 8 actions, including a petition, via this link(scroll to bottom). Please show your support in any way you can!
Jarrar is being held in HaSharon Prison, operated by G4S, a British private security company that runs Israeli prisons. Palestinian civil society has specifically called for international action against G4S. See how you can start or join a G4S or prison divestment campaign: Member group Friends of Sabeel – North America is tracking U.S. G4S contracts to help people like you launch campaigns in your community. Click here to learn how you can take action, as well as find great resources like factsheets and more!
Recently, Durham, North Carolina became the first U.S. municipality to drop G4S — whose contract was worth $1 million! — following an extraordinary interfaith coalition-led campaign, including member group Jewish Voice for Peace. Sign up here to watch a great briefing about how they ran their successful campaign!
Columbia Prison Divest calls for divestment from the private prison industry.
In the United States, G4S operates privatized juvenile detention facilities and works with Homeland Security todetain and deport people across the U.S./Mexico border, and to transport immigrants to detention facilities nationwide. Many divestment campaigns are drawing important connections between corporate complicity in the U.S.’s and Israel’s racist policies of policing and mass incarceration. An example of this is Columbia Prison Divest, which is working to push the university’s board of trustees to divest from the private prison industry. Please follow the campaign — and its many exciting milestones so far — on Facebook and Twitter, and consider sending individual or organizational letters of support. The 2015 National Prison Divestment Week of Engagementis taking place next week, April 19-25! Campus and community organizers will be holding teach-ins, panels, and actions to engage with communities about the interconnected issues of mass incarceration, immigration enforcement, surveillance and policing. Click here for a full schedule of eventshappening online and from coast to coast. There will also be a National Convening in Boca Raton, Florida May 3-5.
Activists worldwide are taking action against prison profiteers like G4S. Over 20 South African businesses recently terminated G4S contracts. Last year on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, people like you called on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to divest from G4S, and the Foundation divested its entire stake.
Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, issued the following statement, marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day:
On Prisoners Day, Addameer calls on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the grave violations against Palestinian political prisoners
17 April 2015
This past year witnessed an unprecedented level of Israeli violence against Palestinians, including killing over 2,000 civilians in Gaza, demolishing 20,000 homes, displacing more than 500,000 Palestinian at the peak of the attack and arresting 8,000 Palestinians across historic Palestine.
Israel is committing nothing short of a modern-day ethnic cleansing before our eyes; in the continuing quest for full annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of Israel’s colonial frontier.
The time is more urgent than ever for the international community to hold Israel accountable for its recurring and blatant war crimes against Palestinians, especially those held captive in the Occupation’s jails.
Addameer calls on ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate these crimes in the preliminary investigation and to bring the accused to trial immediately, in light of the exacerbated and worsening conditions.
ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION
The Occupation legitimizes the use of administrative detention for the “security of the state.” Since 1967, the Occupation Forces (IOF) issued more than 50,000 administrative detention orders, 24,000 (nearly half) of them between 2000 and 2014. The occupation forces use the policy of administrative detention to maintain control over Palestinian society and undermine self-determination. Administrative detention targets all sectors of society including politicians, academics, students, leaders, journalists, doctors, women, children and human rights defenders. The Occupation’s authorities use administrative detention as a bargaining tool for political gain.
Over 700 administrative detention orders were issued since June 2014, expanding the number of administrative detainees to 550 at its height, the highest number since 2009. This increase in the use of administrative detention, an internationally condemned practice, can be seen as a direct reaction to a 63-day mass hunger strike among administrative detainees in 2014, in which they demanded the end of the policy.
In April 2015, the Occupation’s authorities issued an administrative detention order against Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) member Khalida Jarrar, which brings the number of elected Palestinian legislators in administrative detention to eight. Jarrar was also recently appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas to the Palestinian National Committee for the ICC.
The policy of administrative detention violates article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and denies administrative detainees their guaranteed right to a fair and speedy trial as stated in Article 75 of the Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention. The policy of administrative detention also violates articles 9, 10 and 14 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
According to the Rome Statue, the systematic use of administrative detention is considered a war crime (article 8) and a crime against humanity (article 7).
EXTRAJUDICIAL MURDERS
In 2014, the occupation forces escalated its unstated policy to extra-judicially murder Palestinians during arrest raids. In the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, the occupation forces killed fourteen civilians during arrest raids into refugee camps, villages and Palestinian cities. All fourteen of those killed during arrest raids were Palestinian youth under the age of thirty.
The extrajudicial murder of civilians is a gross violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention according to Article 147 and a war crime according to Article 8, Item A,I2 of the Rome Statue.
TORTURE
Widespread torture continues to be used against Palestinian detainees. Virtually every Palestinian arrested by the IOF has been subjected to psychological or physical torture or ill-treatment, including severe beatings, stress positions, solitary confinement, verbal abuse and threats of sexual violence. In 2014, Addameer documented two cases of prisoner’s death that resulted directly from torture. Wa’el Mustafa, a 39-year old Jordanian citizen, was killed by brutal physical torture in interrogation in August 2014. He was arrested at a peaceful demonstration in Yafa that called for the end of the war on Gaza. Ra’ed Abd Al Jabari, from Hebron was killed during transfer from Eshel Prison to Be’er Al Sabe’ Prison (Beersheva). There have been 73 Palestinians killed by torture since 1967.
Moreover, during the mass 63-day hunger strike in the first half of 2014, the Israeli Knesset attempted to pass a bill to allow the force-feeding of protesting Palestinian detainees, effectively an attempt to sanction torture on an industrial scale. Torture is considered both a war crime and crime against humanity as outlined in International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Preamble of the Rome Statue, article 7 and article 8, the Geneva Convention I and III article 12, third Geneva Convention 17 and 87 and the fourth Geneva Convention article 32.
FORCIBLE TRANSFER
The transfer of Palestinian detainees by the IOFis an ongoing practice. Transfer of protected persons from occupied territory into the occupying state, categorized as “unlawful deportation or transfer” is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 147) and a war crime as established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 8). At the end of 2014, only 544 of the 6,000 detainees were detained in the occupied territories. Over 800,000 Palestinians have been arrested and the majority of them forcibly transferred to prisons outside of the occupied territory, limiting their access to their families, legal support and communities as well as strips them of their rights under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Considering the summary of the major violations outlined above, Addameer calls on the ICC Prosecutor to immediately open an investigation into the case of the prisoners, and bring those who have tortured, murdered, forcibly transferred and ordered the arbitrary detention of Palestinians to be held to account in the International Criminal Court.
Today, April 17, the United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) joins our people and supporters across the world in calling for international solidarity on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. As noted by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, every year since 1974 we commemorate the liberation of Mahmoud Hijazi, the first Palestinian political prisoner freed in an exchange negotiated by the Palestinian resistance. We come together on this day to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners held in the prisons of both the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Since the Nakba and the establishment of the settler-colonial, apartheid state of Israel, over one million Palestinians have been imprisoned, 850,000 between the 1967 occupation and the present. Right now, close to 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners are in Israeli jails. Two hundred of these prisoners are children, 24 women, and 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council; and at least 500 are being held under administrative detention without charge or trial.
The issue of political prisoners is the most fundamental in all national liberation struggles. We remember and honor Bobby Sands and the other H-Block prisoners from the North of Ireland, and the legendary Nelson Mandela and Robben Island prisoners of South Africa’s anti-Apartheid movement. We also call for the release of important prisoners right here in the U.S.—the last of the Puerto Rican independistas still in jail after close to 34 years, Oscar Lopez; American Indian Movement icon Leonard Peltier; our brother Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose life is in jeopardy because of purposeful medical neglect by the U.S. government; and dozens of other mostly Black Liberation activists and organizers, some imprisoned since the 1960s.
This year is especially important, as we focus on three prominent Palestinian women political prisoners—Rasmea Odeh, Lina Khattab, and Khalida Jarrar. Odeh is facing 18 months in prison in the U.S., along with deportation, because she was convicted last year of immigration fraud for allegedly not disclosing that she had been imprisoned by Israel 46 years ago. That arrest in Palestine in 1969 and conviction in 1970 was based on a confession forced by 25 days of vicious torture and rape by Israeli authorities. She is appealing her conviction and USPCN is a leader in her defense campaign, co-sponsoring a fundraiser April 19 in Chicago.
Khattab is a student leader at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank. She was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison for “ throwing stones” and “participating in an unlawful demonstration.” Ironically, the “criminal” demonstration and march was to Israel’s Ofer prison, which holds Palestinian political prisoners.
And Jarrar is a prominent political leader and parliamentarian with the Palestinian Legislative Council, whose case has garnered widespread international support since her arrest on April 2. Samidoun has issued a Call to Action to support Jarrar, including a petition.
The essence of our defense of our Palestinian political prisoners and those in the U.S. and elsewhere is a defense of resistance, a defense of organizing for liberation. The criminalization of our organizers, protesters, and leaders by Israel, and even by the PA, is a criminalization of resistance, an attempt to mark illegitimate our movement for our national rights—to return home, to self-determination, to equality, and to freedom. Those who seek to secure those rights, from every social sector of Palestinians society, are subject to imprisonment, whether within the open-air prison of Gaza under siege, the walled-in West Bank, the jails of the occupation and those colluding with it, or even prisons in the U.S.
Odeh, Khattab, and Jarrar are Palestinian heroes and leaders of our movement for return, equality, and liberation. We stand with them on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and everyday.
The following statement on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day was issued jointly by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI):
Joint Statement on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day: Israel must heed international calls to respect human rights of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and end torture of detainees
16 April 2015
On 17 April 2015, Palestinians around the world commemorate Prisoners’ Day in solidarity with thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including minors, held in Israeli prisons, and with those subjected to torture and ill-treatment.
To mark this important day, four human rights organizations – Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel – are issuing this joint statement to call upon the international community to urge Israel to heed international standards and recommendations to guarantee and protect the human rights of Palestinian prisoners and detainees at a time when torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (CIDT) is increasingly reported in Israel. The United Nations in particular has a responsibility to work towards the best interests of the child during conflict, including in preventing torture and CIDT.
Policies of arrest and detention
Since 1967, Israel has detained and imprisoned over 800,000 Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Around 70% of Palestinian families have had at least one relative detained, with vast social and political repercussions. As of March 2015, 5,820 Palestinian political prisoners, including women and children, are being held in prisons located inside Israel, in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Israel’s policies of detention and imprisonment are used in large part as political tools to suppress and maintain control over Palestinian society. These policies are intended to obstruct the daily lives and social fabric of Palestinians, and undermine their ability to oppose the Israeli occupation by criminalizing basic political affiliation and/or activities and employing methods such as torture and illtreatment to target and intimidate individuals and communities.
The recent arrest of Khalida Jarrar on 2 April 2015 and a six-month administrative detention order coupled with an indictment filed against her, reflects Israel’s sweeping use of administrative detention, including against Palestinian elected officials, in violation of basic human rights. Further, the arrest and detention of Gaza residents under Israel’s ‘Unlawful Combatants’ Law is impermissible; the practice falls short of legal safeguards in international law and must be abolished.
Torture and child detainees
This year Prisoners’ Day comes at a time of heightened concern over the drastic rise in torture complaints filed against Israel’s security agency and the increased use of torture that the trend represents. During Israel’s recent full-scale military operation on Gaza, at least 98 Palestinians of Gaza were arrested, with most subjected to torture and CIDT. Dozens other Gaza residents were arrested; and some tortured, at sea or as they were crossing Erez Crossing on their way to hospitals. In 2014, 59 complaints of torture were filed, whereas 16 and 30 complaints were filed in 2013 and 2012. Impunity for torture also continues; of 860 complaints filed between 2001-2014, no investigations were opened.
Palestinian children are the most vulnerable detainees and are subject to psychological and physical harm during relatively brief periods of detention. As of February 2015, 182 Palestinian children were being held as ‘security prisoners’ in Israeli prisons. Between 500 and 700 children are prosecuted in the Israeli military courts each year, most commonly for the ‘security offense’ of stone throwing. A September 2014 military order to reform court requirements to include use of audio-video recordings and standardize language during interrogations does not apply for security offenses.
The international community has highlighted the serious violations of rights against Palestinian minors in Israeli prisons. The European Neighborhood Policy progress report on Israel of March 2015 noted particular concern over reports of “blindfolding, painful hand-ties, physical violence, lack of adequate notification of legal rights, verbal abuse, strip searches and solitary confinement while under interrogation.” The UN Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations in November 2014 that the implementation of reforms by the Israeli government was not effective, and that minors remained exposed to arbitrary arrest and detention and denied full procedural rights.
The international community has repeatedly called on Israel to address these issues faced by Palestinian minors in detention. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture’s report in March 2015: “the unique vulnerability of children deprived of their liberty requires higher standards and broader safeguards for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment.” However, to this day, Israel has no legislation that establishes or prohibits torture as a crime, as obligated in the UN human rights treaties to which Israel is a party.
Recommendations
The four human rights organizations: call upon the international community to demand that Israel incorporate the international recommendations of the UN and EU bodies in order to address the deteriorating human rights conditions of Palestinian prisoners and to end its violations of international law. We demand that Israel cease its systematic use of administrative detention as a mechanism of deterrence and punishment against Palestinian society, and interference with political processes. We demand that Israel end the practice of torture and ill-treatment against Palestinian prisoners, and end the severe tactics of arrest and detention of Palestinian minors, including abuse that amounts to torture and CIDT. We further demand that Israel revokes all discriminatory legislation that target the rights of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and that it ensures transparency and accountability of Israeli security and prison authorities.
Signing organizations:
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I)
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI)
Following a four-month prison sentence and a 2000 NIS ($USD) fine, 15-year-old Khaled al-Sheikh finally walked free from Israeli prison in Ofer yesterday, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, April 17. Greeted by his parents, al-Sheikh recounted his experience in Israeli prisons: “The [Israelis] attacked me with rifle butts on the head and insulted me during the investigation,” he said. “Although I suffer from anaemia, they did not give me any medical help, apart from some painkillers.” He added that it was a “tough” investigation. “I was insulted and beaten and held in shackles for hours in a small cell.” This did not scare him. “This is the [Israeli] occupation. It will not scare us.”
Al-Sheikh was one of 1,200 Palestinian children detained in 2014; there have been another 200 detained so far in 2015. Between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are brought before Israeli military courts each year. Like Khaled, many are charged with throwing stones; his father reported he was throwing stones against a wall in his village of Beit Anan.
Photos of Khaled’s release:
Al-Sheikh’s parents were denied family visits throughout his detention; they were granted a permit for a visit for May, weeks after he would be released. Patrick Strickland reported in the Electronic Intifada that:
These are not isolated cases. Research by Defence for Children International-Palestine indicates that three-quarters of Palestinian children detained by Israel in 2014 endured some form of physical violence between the period of their arrest and interrogation. Half of them were also strip searched.
Between 2012 and 2014, Israel also held 54 children in solitary confinement before charging them with any offense.
Israeli interrogators often blindfold, bind and threaten children, according to various human rights groups. A report published in August 2013 by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem paints a horrifying picture of the systematic abuse Palestinian children face during Israeli detention.
From November 2009 until July 2013, B’Tselem investigated dozens of cases of abuse in a police station in Etzion, a Jewish-only settlement in the West Bank. From fifty-six child detainees, at least twelve reported that interrogators threatened them or female relatives with rape, genital injury or other forms of sexual violence.
A recent report by UNICEF, the United Nations children’s fund, reaches similar conclusions. From 208 affidavits that UNICEF collected in 2013, at least 163 children reported not being adequately notified of their legal rights, especially the right to a lawyer and the right to remain silent.
Other high-profile cases of imprisoned Palestinian children, including teens, include the Hares Boys, who have been held for over two years, since they were 15 to 17 years old. To take action for their freedom – and all imprisoned Palestinian children – visit the Campaign to Free the Hares Boys and Defense for Children International Palestine.
Palestinian Prisoners Day, marked on April 17, commemorates the first liberation of a Palestinian political prisoner – Mahmoud Hijazi – by an exchange conducted by the Palestinian resistance. Since 1974, Palestinians and their supporters have taken action, marched, demonstrated and come together to demand freedom for all of the Palestinian prisoners held in the prisons of the Israeli occupation on this annual occasion. Take action this year to demand freedom and justice for the prisoners of freedom behind Israeli bars.
Today, there are nearly 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails; 500 of them held under administrative detention without charge or trial. There are 200 child prisoners, 24 women prisoners, and 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council behind bars. There are 85 prisoners, released in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange of 2011, targeted for re-arrest and persecution by the Israeli occupation. There are 1500 sick prisoners, including 16 severely ill in the Ramle prison clinic, 24 with cancer, and 80 with other severe illnesses.
All sectors of Palestinian society are targeted for political imprisonment. Since 1967, 850,000 Palestinians have been detained and imprisoned by the Israeli state – over 1 million since 1948. 40% of Palestinian men in the West Bank have spent time in Israeli prisons, and 25% of the total population. Palestinians from the West Bank, including Jerusalem; from Gaza; from 1948 occupied Palestine; Palestinian refugees – all are and have been political prisoners, imprisoned for their struggle for freedom and liberation. Palestinian prisoners are workers, farmers, teachers, engineers, doctors, community organizers, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and freedom fighters.
Palestinian refugees outside Palestine – members of the Palestinian diaspora – are also Palestinian political prisoners: the cases of the Holy Land 5, Sami al-Arian and Rasmea Odeh in the United States demonstrate the transnational nature of the repression of Palestinian struggle and organizing. Arab struggler Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has served over 30 years in French prison for his commitment to the Palestinian cause.
Mass imprisonment of Palestinians is part and parcel of the colonial settler project of the Israeli state and the Zionist movement in Palestine. It is a mechanism of colonial control, meant to disrupt and repress political organizing, divide and destabilize communities and families, and terrify the population. 90% of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel have reported experiencing physical or psychological torture. When Palestinians are arrested, they are subject to administrative detention – arbitrary imprisonment without charge or trial, on secret evidence; or they are brought before the military courts, where 99.74% of Palestinians brought before them are convicted.
In the case of Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian political leader, leftist, parliamentarian and feminist, arrested April 2, she is facing both administrative detention without charge or trial, and charges in the military court explicitly seeking to imprison her for her political activity, including and in particular her activism to free Palestinian political prisoners.
Despite the overwhelming oppression of the colonial system of imprisonment, apartheid and occupation brought against Palestinians, Palestinian prisoners have created what has been termed “a revolutionary school” inside the prisons, passing on education in struggle and resistance, even when the occupier blocks all access to university education. Palestinian prisoners’ political activity, statements and leadership galvanize and inspire not only their fellow Palestinians, but international liberation, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist, and social justice movements by their leadership, commitment to principles and self-sacrifice.
Imprisoned Palestinian political leaders, like Ahmad Sa’adat, Khalida Jarrar, Marwan Barghouti and Aziz Dweik, are leaders not only inside the prisons, nor even only among Palestinians – but are symbols of justice, liberation and the struggle for freedom.
This Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, it is essential to build our international activism and support for Palestinian prisoners – to demand their case be taken up in international arenas, including the International Criminal Court; to insist on their freedom; to struggle to end the use of administrative detention, to free child prisoners, to end isolation; to refuse to allow Israel to isolate and silence the political leaders and resistance strugglers of Palestine behind the walls of occupation prisons.
And, most centrally, to escalate our activity and struggle at all levels – through boycott, divestment and sanctions and all forms of international solidarity – to support the struggle for which these thousands of Palestinians have sacrificed so much, the return of Palestinian refugees and the liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian people.
Take Action:
Demand freedom for Khalida Jarrar and an end to administrative detention. Khalida Jarrar is an exemplary Palestinian political leader – a PLC member, a longtime leftist, an advocate for Palestinian prisoners, and a member of the Palestinian follow-up committee for the International Criminal Court. She is being targeted both for administrative detention without charge or trial, and charged for her political activity by Israeli military courts. Take action to free Khalida and to end the system of administrative detention holding 500 Palestinians indefinitely in occupation prisons.
Demand justice for Jaafar Awad and freedom for sick prisoners.Jaafar Awad, 22, died on April 10 two months after his release from Israeli prison. His illness began in prison; he was shackled hand and foot while receiving treatment after initial denials of a problem. He was denied access to an Israeli hospital with more advanced treatment before he died. 54 Palestinian prisoners have died of medical neglect inside Israeli jails, and scores more shortly after their release, like Jaafar. There are dozens of critically ill Palestinian prisoners. Take action to demand their freedom.
Demand an end to isolation and solitary confinement for Khader Adnan and all Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian activist Khader Adnan captured the attention of millions around the world in 2012, when he won his freedom from administrative detention without charge or trial. Today, he has been imprisoned – once again, under administrative detention without charge or trial. He is being isolated for speaking out against the medical abuse that killed Jaafar Awad. Ending isolation and solitary confinement is a long-time demand of Palestinian prisoners – and a commitment that Israel has repeatedly broken.
Demand freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti and Palestinian political leaders. Political leaders like Sa’adat, Barghouti – and Jarrar – are being imprisoned for their political leadership among Palestinians. 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are imprisoned. These political leaders are being imprisoned in an attempt to silence their voices and isolate them from the Palestinian people.
Over 20 South African businesses have terminated their contracts with G4S Security over its involvement in Israeli prisons and human rights abuses. The SA businesses terminated their contracts, totalling more than R7 million per year, after approached by representatives of the human rights and Palestine solidarity organisation BDS South Africa as well as the KZN Palestine Solidarity Forum. BDS South Africa makes this announcement on the eve of the international Palestine prisoners day due to be commemorated on 17 April.
In 2007 G4S was contracted to provide and maintain Israeli prisons, torture centres and detention facilities. In 2010 Palestinian prisoners and prisoner support organziations called for a boycott of G4S as part of the larger international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign. Last year the Methodist Church together with Amnesty International and the European Union were among some of the organisations that terminated their contracts with G4S. In June 2014, Bill Gates withdrew his R1.9 billion stake from G4S after being called on by BDS South Africa and the larger BDS movement. Locally in South Africa the Trauma Centre in Cape Town ended its relations with G4S in 2013. This was followed by South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC, in November 2014 resolving that G4S (among other companies that do business in the Israeli occupied territories) be excluded from doing business with the South African Government.
The over R7 million worth of cancelled G4S Security contracts include contracts for more than 140 sites across the country ranging from restaurants, factories, supermarkets and other stores.
Piet Modiba, representing a nationwide manufacturing company said on the cancelling of their G4S contracts: “We come from a very dark and painful past, part of the pain was inflicted by companies that insisted on aiding the apartheid regime. G4S today is doing the same by maintaining relations with the Israeli Government.”
Moosa Sabir, general manager of a chain of hardware stores said: “We were contacted by customers and the general public who saw G4S vehicles at our store. They complained that G4S was complicit in Israel’s torture and illegal detention of Palestinian children. When we investigated the matter we found that G4S was guilty and we could not continue the business relationship in good faith. All and any businesses complicit with Israeli Apartheid should be shunned by peace and justice loving people. We hope more businesses follow our lead.”
Nkosikona Madikizela, a manager of one of the stores that ended their G4S relations said: ” We are fed up with the attitude of Israel and multi national companies like G4S that think they can act with utter impunity. The BDS Movement is proving to hold these international companies accountable for their trade and involvement with Israel. Companies such as G4S, Woolworths and others choosing to trade with Israel, in violation of the nonviolent BDS boycott, must realise that there is a price to pay. “
Aziz Ismail, owner of a Limpopo hardware store in Polokwane said: “Palestine needs us now more than ever, we must intensify the non-violent boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. If we are being called by the BDS movement to boycott Woolworths, we should. If we are being called to end relations with G4S we should. The strategic and focused boycott of Apartheid South Africa contributed to our liberation, we can do the same now in the BDS boycott of Israel.”
Welcoming the announcement by BDS South Africa of the G4S boycott victories were the Palestinian Embassy in South Africa as well as the anti-Apartheid icon, Ahmed Kathrada:
Tamer AlMassri of the Palestinian Embassy said: “ In 2012, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights added G4S as one of the international companies that should be boycotted for their illegal involvement in Israel, Israeli settlements and prisons. We welcome the announcements of these South African companies ending their relations with G4S and supporting the BDS campaign. It is also encouraging that South Africa’s ruling party the ANC has called for G4S to be excluded from Government and State contracts.”
Ahmed Kathrada and his Foundation, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, said: “That the annoucenment of cancelled G4S contracts comes on the eve of the international Palestinian political prisoner day should not be understated. We hope to see the release of all political prisoners such as Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prisons secured by G4S. Over 750 000 Palestinians (roughly 40% of Palestinian men) have been imprisoned by Israel at one point in time. About 100 000 Palestinians have been held by Israel in “administrative detention” (the equivalent of Apartheid South Africa’s “Detention without trial”). Similar to the experience of Black families under Apartheid, almost every Palestinian family has been affected by the Israeli imprisonment of a relative.”
Currently, there are over 6000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel; 454 of them are being held under Israel’s “administrative detention” (Apartheid South Africa’s “Detention Without Trial”) and 163 of them are children. In the last 11 years alone, more than 7500 Palestinian children have been detained in Israeli prisons and detention facilities (including being held in solitary confinement) with Muhammad Daoud Dirbas, at the age of six, being the youngest Palestinian child to have been detained by Israeli soldiers. Last year Ahmed Kathrada together with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Novelist Alice Walker; Linguist, philosopher and author Noam Chomsky; Author and Activist Angela Davis; Poet, painter and former South African political prisoner Breyten Breytenbach; Actor Miriam Margolyes; Author John Berger; and various others wrote an open letter to the Management of G4S calling on the company to end its Israeli contracts including those contracts with Israeli prisons holding Palestinian political prisoners.
ISSUED BY KWARA KEKANA ON BEHALF OF BDS SOUTH AFRICA
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