October 22, Vancouver: Prisoners of the Occupation

15 October 2014

Prisoners of the Occupation:

Presentation and discussion on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails

Wednesday, October 22
7:30 – 9:30pm
@ 439 Dunlevy (between Hastings and Pender)

Please join us for a presentation and discussion in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.

Presentations:
Charlotte Kates (via Skype) – update on the situation for the more than 6,200 Palestinian prisoners – including more than 200 children, 18 women and more than 500 ‘administrative’ detainees – in occupation jails.

Aiyanas Ormond – the case of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and the connection between terrorist designations and the incarceration and criminalization of Palestinians.

Discussion:

How can we raise consciousness of the use of incarceration and administrative detention as an instrument for repressing the Palestinian struggle for liberation?

How can we demonstrate meaningful solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, their families and their communities?

How can we expose and oppose the Canadian government’s complicity in the criminalization and incarceration of Palestinians who resist occupation and oppression?

Event organized by Red Sparks Union and supported by Canada Palestine Association and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

Contact: info@redsparks.org

October 17, London: Protest denial of family visits to Palestinian prisoners

15 October 2014

The following protest is organized by Inminds:

DATE: Friday 17th Oct 2014, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
LOCATION: The Peak, 5 Wilton Road, London SW1V 1LL (across the road from Victoria Station next to Apollo Theatre)
FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1494180447518441

In contravention of Article 116 of the Fourth Geneva Convention Israel is denying Palestinian families the right to visit their loved ones in prison.

Following the 2006 election victory of Hamas, Israel collectively punished the population of Gaza by denying family visits to all Palestinains from Gaza. One of the main demands of the April 2014 hunger strike by administrative detainees was for Israel to reinstate family visits to Gaza prisoners and whilst Israel agreed to resume the visits on conclusion of the strike it soon reneged on its promise and since July all visits from Gaza are banned. Also vindictively Israel punished the 125 administrative detainees who participated in the hunger strike by banning their families from visiting for 4 months.

Now Israel has started to issue 3 month banning orders on family visits, to the families of prisoners with links to organisations opposing the occupation. On September 14th 2014, Ahmad Sa’adat, Member of Palestinian Parliament and Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, received orders banning his family from visiting for 3 months. Hundreds of other prisoners, especially those affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP, have similarly received banning orders against family visits.

Israel’s use of family visits as a weapons to punish prisoners and their families must be opposed. Please join us on friday as we join the call by the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners including Ahmad Sa’adat.

The protest will be outside the offices of the CEO of G4S (not outside G4S HQ) at The Peak on Wilton Road. G4S secures the prisons and interrogation centres where Israel cages and tortures Palestinians.

Addameer factsheet on Families and Family Visits:
http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=728

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat:
http://freeahmadsaadat.org/

In particular we will be raising the case of Mona Qa’adan, who has been denied family visits for 2 years.

MONA QA’ADAN

Palestinian woman university lecturer Mona Qa’adan was abducted 2 years ago in November 2012. She has not been allowed a single family visit in 2 years.

Her entire family – four sisters and three brothers, have all been labelled a “security threat” and prevented from talking to her for even a single minute in two years. Mona’s illegal detention has been extended 16 consecutive times since her abduction without any trial. In the meantime she her health is suffering with problems in her gallbladder, stomach and high blood pressure.

She is caged at the notorious G4S secured HaSharon womens prison. At HaSharon prison Palestinian women prisoners have to endure beatings, insults, threats, sexually explicit harassment and sexual violence, and humiliation at the hands of Israeli guards. They are often forced to undergo degrading strip searches during the middle of the night – forced to squat naked and subjected to intrusive internal body searches, for no reason other than as a punitive measure. Women have been beaten and left tied to their bed for a day and a half and not allowed to go to the toilet as punishment for spilling water. The cells at HaSharon prison are overcrowded, dirty and infected with rodents and cockroaches. There is a total absence of basic hygiene, women have even been denied sanitary pads when menstruating. The heat is unbearable, the windows are closed and covered so that hardly any air or daylight can enter. The food is insufficient, and of inferior quality & dirty, often containing insects & worms, at times there are not enough portions for all the women.

This is the third time Mona has been imprisoned by the occupation. Her first arrest was on August 2 2007, she was released on June 20 2008, then she was kidnapped again on May 31 2011, and was released on November 18 2011 as part of the Shalit prisoner swap deal only to be abducted again a year later.

October 20, Derry: Picket in support of Palestinian Prisoners

14 October 2014

eirigi, the Irish republican socialist organization, will be protesting for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners in Belfast on October 19, and will also be taking action in Derry on October 20 with a Whiteline Picket:

Monday, 20 October
7:00 PM
Assemble at the Free Derry Corner

October 25, Manchester: Protest to free Palestinian political prisoners

14 October 2014

Rolling Picket – Free all Palestinian political prisoners!
Manchester, UK
Saturday, October 25
12:00 noon
Picadilly Gardens
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/309319402594797/

Saturday 25 October is a Global day of action in solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners called by the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned leader of the PFLP. He along with hundreds of other Palestinian prisoners have been denied family visits since the beginning of September. In Manchester we call on people to gather in Piccadilly Gardens at 12 noon for a rolling picket of shops and banks that in one way or another support the apartheid state of Israel.

Organized by the Revolutionary Communist Group Manchester and Fight Racism Fight Imperialism

Audio: Sumoud Sa’adat on Palestinian Prisoners with Voice of Palestine Radio

14 October 2014

The Voice of Palestine radio program, hosted by Hanna and Marion Kawas, has been broadcasting from Vancouver since 1987. Each week, the program hosts interviews and discussions with activists, organizers, writers and thinkers for Palestine. This week, Voice of Palestine talks with Sumoud Sa’adat from Addameer about the upcoming week of action Oct. 17-25 to free Ahmad Sa’adat, her father, and all Palestinian political prisoners. The week of activities also emphasizes on the denial of family visits and the struggle and conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Sumoud also updates us on Addameer’s work and programs as a prisoner support association.

Download an audio file of today’s entire show to listen at home on your computer:

VOP_Oct13_2014 1.mp3

Family members of Palestinian prisoners protest against denials of visits

14 October 2014

Families of Palestinian prisoners protested in Tubas on Tuesday, demanding action by Palestinian officials and institutions of the international community to ensure their right to visit their children, husbands, wives, and parents in Israeli prisons. Some of the participants have been denied family visits for years due to being denied permits on the pretext of “security,” while others have been barred from visiting since last June.

The demonstration was organized by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in Tubas, whose director, Mahmoud Sawafta, said that in the past few months, the occupation has escalated its policy of repression against the prisoners, including denying family visits, denying them access to Arabic satellite channels, restricting access to the canteen, in addition to the ongoing policy of medical neglect and delay in treatment. He noted that the denial of family visits is a form of collective punishment of Palestinian families.

Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for 24 days

14 October 2014

From Ma’an News:

A Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail has been on hunger strike for 24 days in a row in protest against being held without charge or trial for nearly a year, a rights group said in a statement.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society in Jenin said in a statement that 35-year-old Raed Moussa was detained in Jenin on Nov. 29, 2013 and sentenced to six months of administrative detention.

Moussa’s detention was then extended for four more months, the PPS statement said.

The prisoner then started an open hunger strike for 34 days, until he was promised there would be no more extensions to his administrative detention.

He restarted his strike in September when the Israeli Prison Service re-sentenced him for another four months of administrative detention.

Moussa is now being held in solitary confinement in Ktziot prison in the Negev desert.

October 17, Copenhagen: Evening of Solidarity with Palestine

14 October 2014

As part of the Days of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Palestinian community in Denmark will hold an evening of solidarity with Palestine. Abdel Bari Atwan (UK), Kenneth O’Keefe (Ireland), and Jamal al-Khodeiry (Gaza) will speak at the event, as well as Danish members of Parliament. A Palestinian folkloric dance group will perform, with Palestinian songs for the prisoners and for the right of return.

The event will take place on Friday, October 17 at 5:00 pm at Korsgade 29, 2200 København N.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/748350768560216/

Dozens of Palestinians arrested by occupation troops

14 October 2014

Dozens of Palestinians have been arrested in the West Bank and Jerusalem in the last several days in a campaign of arrests and raids throughout the area.

8 Palestinians were arrested early by Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday, October 14, including former prisoner Ihsan Dababseh, 30, who was imprisoned for 2 years beore her release in 2009. She had previously been summoned four times by the security services, and her home invaded and computer and cell phone taken by occupation forces last Friday.

On Monday morning, at least 17 people were arrested in raids throughout the West Bank, in Hebron, Bethlehem, Jenin and Jericho.

Over the weekend, at least 25 young men were arrested by occupation forces, particularly in Jerusalem and Shuafat, amid occupation soldiers and settlers invading al-Aqsa mosque and clashing with Palestinian protesters.

In addition, Al-Najah University lecturer, Dr. Islam Khalil Abdul Jawad, 42, was arrested by occupation forces, who invaded his home in Nablus, breaking down the door and confiscating his computers and mobile phones, reported Fouad Khuffash of the Ahrar Center. Khuffash noted that Abdul Jawad is only the latest of several lecturers at the university who have been arrested recently, including lecturer Abdul Rahman Rehan, currently held for interrogation at Petah Tikva, and Palestinian-French law professor Dr. Raed Abubadawia, released recently, and lecturer Dr. Yousef AbdulHaq, as well as Dr. Mohammed Ghazal, one of the oldest professors at the university. He called on the university administration to take action to free its imprisoned and detained faculty and staff.

Boycott activist and Hebron city council member held in administrative detention

14 October 2014

The Israeli army arrested Hebron city council member Dr. Faruk A’shur on October 8, later placing him in administrative detention for three months, reported the Alternative Information Center.:

An optician, A’shur is a leading activist in local committees promoting the boycott of Israeli products by Palestinians in Hebron and the West Bank more generally. A’shur is also renowned for his selfless efforts to provide the best possible services to residents of the poor and marginalised neighbourhoods of Hebron, particularly those exposed to ongoing settler violence and Israeli military attacks. These efforts are particularly crucial in assisting families in these areas to remain steadfast in their homes despite the enormous difficulties of daily life there.

The Hebron Defense Committee, a coalition of social movements and political parties acting to defend Hebron and its residents against Israeli colonial policies and practices, has called for A’shur’s immediate release, as well as the release of all 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners.

In addition to issuing an administrative detention order against A’shur, in the last few days Israeli authorities have issued an additional 41 administrative detention orders for periods between two to six months. These orders are both news, as in the case of A’shur, and extensions of previously existing orders. Over 480 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention, imprisonment without charges or trial.

The Hebron Municipality denounced the occupation authorities’ sentencing of a member of its municipal council to administrative detention. A’shur was arrested at a flying checkpoint on the road to Jericho after meeting his father coming from the Karama border crossing.

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