October 3, London: Protest G4S complicity in torture

2 October 2014

DATE: Friday 3rd 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/736066089774779

*Please note change of venue – the G4S management are based in The Peak so we will be protesting there this week.

COMPLICITY IN TORTURE

G4S secures Israel’s prisons and interrogation centres where Palestinian children are being caged and tortured. These include the notorious Al Jalame interrogation centre in northern Israel where children are caged three floors below the surface in filthy 3m x 1m holes in the ground, in solitary confinement for up to 65 days. Their only escape being the interrogation room where the children, shackled by their hands and feet, are abused and tortured for 6 hours at a time. G4S also secures the “Russian compound” of Jerusalem prison where Palestinian women, as punishment for refusing to strip naked, have had their bodies attached to an electrocution device which burns them from inside.

Having discovered that the top G4S management, including their CEO, are not resident at G4S HQ but are hiding in plush offices up the road on the top floor of The Peak (across the road from Victoria Station next to the Apollo Theatre), this week we will take the protest to them and demand G4S stop its complicity in Israel’s crimes against Palestinian prisoners.

COMPLICITY IN ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION

The Palestinian prisoners rights group, the Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies, revealed that Israel is now ( as of 26th Sept 2014) holding 540 Palestinians in administrative detention – the highest number since 2008.

Administrative detention is an illegal practice used by Israel to imprison Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial.

Prisoners are given rolling detention orders which can be anything from 1-6 months, renewable indefinitely. This is against international law. For example administrative detainee Mazen Natsheh has been locked up cumulatively for nearly 10 years without charge or trial.

Detention orders are based on so called “secret information” which never needs to be produced, either to the detainee nor their lawyer.

Administrative detention is often used to arbitrarily jail Palestinians where there is no evidence for a trial, or for punishment as in the case of Palestinian MPs. 30 MPs and two ministers are currently locked up – many of them under indefinite administrative detention.

Israel had on average issued over 2000 detention orders every year (2007-2011). That figure has now shot up and today there are 540 administrative detainees.

Palestinian prisoners rights group Addameer have documented “many cases where the detainees themselves will say that administrative detention is actually far worse than a fixed sentence, be that five years, ten years, 20 years, or whatever and why. With a fixed sentence, you know when you’re going home, a prisoner knows when he goes home. It could be ten years or 15 years down the line, but they know when they’re going home. Not with an administrative detention..” They have documented “many cases where prisoners or detainees have been literally leaving the prison, walking out of the prison with their bags in their hand after their administrative detention order has expired and the Israelis have handed that detainee another administrative detention order and they have to go back into the cell to recommence another administrative detention order. Now, this is a form of psychological torture for not only the detainee and their families.”

To protest Israel’s illegal system of administrative detention Palestinian administrative detainees have launched many mass hunger strikes over the years, and there are reports of another imminent hunger strike.

Figures reveal that the vast majority of administrative detainees – 86% – are locked up in G4S secured prisons, most of them having been transferred from the West Bank into Israel in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

On Friday we will demand the immediate release of all administrative detainees and demand the British security company G4S stop its complicity in Israel’s illegal practice of administrative detention.

LIVE UPDATES DURING PROTEST

We will, inshAllah, be tweeting live from the protest with live photos being uploaded to our twitter and facebook page. So if you can’t join us on the day, please help us by sharing the photos as they get uploaded.

https://www.facebook.com/inmindscom

https://twitter.com/InmindsCom

If you support this activity please share this alert widely, thank you.

JazakAllah,

Abbas Ali

Palestinian Prisoners Campaign
www.inminds.com/caged

Israeli Occupation Forces Re-arrest Ayman Nasser, Legal Unit Coordinator at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

18 September 2014

Occupied Ramallah, 18 September 2014 – In the early hours of this morning Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) re-arrested Ayman Nasser (44) from his home in the West Bank village of Saffa. Nasser is the legal unit coordinator at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

Nasser’s wife reported that “at 1:30AM, a large number of IOF raided our house while we were sleeping. We woke up to the sounds of heavy knocking on the front door and my husband, Ayman, rushed to open the door. Around 15 soldiers raided the house and started yelling at me and my children, demanding us to move to the living room. Six soldiers, including one female soldier, pointed their weapons at us while we waited in the living room. Half an hour later, a military officer identified Ayman and took him outside the house. Ayman returned with the officer after ten minutes, and said goodbye to us.”

Addameer utterly condemns the re-arrest of its legal unit coordinator which is clearly a continuation of the systematic targeting of Palestinian human rights organizations by Israeli forces which aim to criminalize their work, silence their voices and prevent them from carrying out their work in supporting all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees.

Nasser is a human rights defender and actively works on human rights issues and prisoners affairs. Nasser’s arrest is a clear violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Human rights defenders are formally defined as persons who work peacefully for any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Nasser clearly falls within the category, in that his activities are peaceful in nature and aimed at the promotion of human rights.

Nasser has previously been imprisoned by IOF on two separate occasions. He was previously arrested on 15 October 2012 and spent 39 days under interrogation in Al-Moskobiyeh detention center in Jerusalem. He subsequently received a 13 months sentence and a 15 month suspended sentence for four years, in addition to 4000 NIS fine. Nasser was released on 21 October 2013. Nasser was also arrested in 1992 and received a six year sentence. He was released on 27 October 1997.

Nasser holds a masters degree in Social Psychology of Education and previously lectured at Al-Quds Open University. He is also the founder on Handala educational center in his village of Saffa, which is an educational center established in 1999 and is based on voluntary work that focuses on arts, athletics and education. Nasser was also elected chairperson of Saffa Athletic Club twice since 2003. He was also elected as a member in the Municipal Council in Saffa village while he was still in prison. Nasser is married and has four children.

Addameer demands that the international community take serious measures to ensure that the Israeli policy of arbitrary detention ceases and that all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees are released from occupation prisons.

Take Action: Hands Off Palestinian Civil Society!

16 September 2014

The arrest and persecution of Palestinian human rights defenders and civil society leaders and organizations has been a persistent practice of the Israeli military occupation – a practice which is continuing and escalating today. At 5:00 am on September 15, Eteraf Rimawi, Executive Director of Bisan Center for Research and Development, was taken from his home by Israeli soldiers. He has been detained five times before, most frequently in administrative detention, without charge or trial. Bisan Center for Research and Development is a critical social research organization, doing groundbreaking work around donor aid and domination in Palestine, industrial zones and economic exploitation and oppression, and the situation of Palestinian refugee youth.

Take action to demand freedom for Rimawi and an end to the attacks on Palestinian civil society!

In a statement, Bisan Center noted that the detention of its executive director is “an attempt from the occupation’s authorities to injure or stop the work of the civil society organizations in Palestine that serve the actual needs of people.”

In addition, human rights defenders like Palestinian lawyer Shireen Issawi, whose work to defend Palestinian political prisoners and speak publicly in defense of her imprisoned family members such as former long-term hunger striker Samer Issawi, have been held for months without trial. Bushra al-Tawil, 21, a journalist and prisoners’ rights advocate, has been imprisoned and held on secret evidence.

Human rights defenders like Dr. Yousef Abdulhaq, 73, co-founder of the Tanweer Center, are being held in administrative detention without charge or trial; hundreds of Palestinians have been administratively detained in just the past few months.

Attacks on human rights defenders violate international human rights law. These arrests directed at Palestinian civil society reveal an agenda to undermine Palestinian civil society organizations that serve the needs of the Palestinian people, and suppress those who work for Palestinian human rights.

Take action to demand the immediate release of Eteraf Rimawi, Shireen Issawi, Bushra al-Tawil, Yousef Abdulhaq and all Palestinian human rights defenders held in Israeli prisons, and an end to the ongoing attacks on Palestinian civil society leaders and organizations.

TAKE ACTION!

1. Click here to send a letter to occupation officials and demand the freedom of these human rights defenders and an end to the attacks on Palestinian civil society. It is critical to ensure the occupation is aware of international support for Palestinian civil society under attack!

2. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy. Bring posters and flyers to your next community protest in solidarity with Palestine about Palestinian political prisoners. Hold a community event or discussion, or include these cases in your next event about Palestine and social justice.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.

Take Action: Ghassan Najjar’s detention extended – sign petition, write British consulate

16 September 2014

A call to action from Solidarity Movement for Free Palestine:

Yesterday, September 14, an Israeli Military Judge inside Petah Tikva interrogation facility renewed Ghassan Najjar’s detention order for the third time. He still has had no access to a lawyer. Ghassan is due back in Court again on Sunday 21 September where, without your help, his detention could be renewed for a fourth time.

Please, please, please take the few minutes it takes to sign and share our online petition and to write to the British Consulate in Jerusalem (suha.zeidan@fco.gov.uk) that they take action on behalf of Ghassan.

PETITION: http://www.change.org/p/israeli-chief-military-prosecutor-s-office-immediately-release-dr-yousef-abdul-haq-and-ghassan-najjar?utm_source=guides&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_created

We thank all those that have already emailed with kind messages of support for both Ghassan and Dr. Yousef’s families. They both stood firmly, and suffered as a result, for a free Palestine and freedom for all political prisoners. Now we must stand firmly with them and all Palestinian prisoners until freedom.

Complaints submitted to the United Nations concerning the Israeli detention of two female Palestinian human rights defenders: Ms Shireen Issawi and Ms Bushra al-Taweel

16 September 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Joint Public Statement

Complaints submitted to the United Nations concerning the Israeli detention of two female Palestinian human rights defenders: Ms Shireen Issawi and Ms Bushra al-Taweel

London and Ramallah 16 September 2014 – Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR) and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association (Addameer) have submitted two joint complaints to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders (UNSR) concerning the arrest and continued pre-trial Israeli detention of two female Palestinian human rights defenders: Ms Shireen Issawi and Ms Bushra al-Taweel.

Ms Shireen Issawi and Ms Bushra al-Taweel are both devoted to promoting and protecting the human rights of Palestinian prisoners. Both their cases raise serious concerns that Palestinian human rights defenders are being targeted by Israeli authorities for arbitrary arrest and detention due to peacefully and legitimately exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression on the significant human rights issue of Palestinian prisoner conditions and rights.

Ms Shireen Issawi is a human rights lawyer and prominent advocate for Palestinian prisoner rights from occupied East Jerusalem who has participated in monitoring, documenting and advocacy on human rights violations committed by Israeli authorities against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Ms Issawi was arrested by Israeli authorities on 6 March 2014 and has since been held continuously in pre-trial Israeli detention. She has been charged with three offences relating to cooperating with actors working against the state of Israel. The trial date for Ms Issawi has been set for three days of hearings on 23 October 2014, 28 October 2014 and 30 October 2014.

LPHR and Addameer have expressed serious concerns in their joint complaint submission that Ms Issawi has been specifically targeted for arbitrary arrest and continuous pre-trial detention because of her prominent human rights advocacy on behalf of Palestinian prisoners. We call for the evidence relied upon by the Israeli authorities to substantiate the charges against Ms Issawi be subjected to rigorous examination and testing, in accordance with Israel’s duty under international human rights law to protect Ms Issawi’s right to a fair hearing.

Ms Bushra al-Taweel is a 21 year old female student and journalist who performs voluntary work for the Aneen Al-Qaid news organization which publishes information about Palestinian prisoner issues. She also performs voluntary work for the Prisoners Club and is a participant in a European Union sponsored project on documenting human rights violations specifically relating to human rights defenders.

Ms al-Taweel was arrested by Israeli military authorities on 2 July 2014 and has since been held continuously in Israeli military detention. She is being detained under Article 186 of Israeli Military Order 1651, which enables a special Israeli military committee to cancel a reduced sentence that was previously awarded to a prisoner and to require them to serve the remainder of that sentence. A decision made under Article 186 of Military Order 1651 is made on the basis of secret evidence which is not disclosed to the prisoner or his/her lawyer. Ms al-Taweel is still awaiting a date for a court hearing to take place to review the decision to detain her under Article 186 of Military Order 1651.

LPHR and Addameer have expressed serious concerns in their joint complaint submission that Article 186 of Military Order 1651 is impermissibly being used against Ms al-Taweel as grounds to arbitrarily re-arrest and detain her. We further take the firm position that as a result of the unfair Article 186 procedure, Ms al-Taweel’s right to a fair hearing will be unlawfully impaired. This is because the evidence being relied upon by Israeli military authorities to detain Ms al-Taweel is not available to her or to her lawyer, prohibiting her from preparing an effective defence. It is a basic principle of a fair hearing under international human rights law that a person must know the evidence against him/her.

Ms Shireen Issawi’s and Ms Bushra al-Taweel’s peaceful work to promote, protect and realise human rights and fundamental freedoms means they are entitled to the human rights protections outlined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

LPHR and Addameer have therefore requested in their complaint that the UNSR undertake an urgent examination into both these significant cases and take appropriate action through urgent contact with the government of Israel to ensure that Ms Shireen Issawi’s and Ms Bushra al-Taweel’s treatment by Israeli authorities is consistent with fundamental rights guarantees contained within international human rights law.

LPHR and Addameer have further requested that the UNSR considers liaising with other appropriate United Nations Special Rapporteurs and human rights organisations in undertaking an investigation into the Israeli military authorities use of Article 186 of Military Order 1651. We request that the outcome of this investigation and any recommendations about bringing Article 186 of Military Order 1651 into compliance with international human rights law should be communicated to the state of Israel and subsequently followed-up.

Contact information:

Tareq Shrourou, LPHR, London | contact@lphr.org.uk

Gavan Kelly, Addameer, Ramallah | gavan@addameer.ps

About Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR)

LPHR is a lawyer-based legal charity in the United Kingdom that works on legal projects aimed at protecting and advancing Palestinian human rights.

About Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association (Addameer)

Addameer is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons.

Victory for Khalida Jarrar!

16 September 2014

With steadfastness and resistance, and the campaign of thousands in Palestine and around the world who have stood with Khalida Jarrar, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Jarrar today achieved victory and the end of the expulsion order to Jericho placed upon her by Israeli occupation authorities.

Announced in Ramallah on September 16, the occupation military courts declared that the expulsion decision was revised to a one-month term (it was initially issued for a six-month term) and, therefore, that the month expired last night, September 15 and thus is no longer in place against Jarrar, a prominent political leader, feminist and leftist representing the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The order was delivered to Jarrar on August 20 by an invading force of 50 occupation soldiers in her Ramallah home. Jarrar refused the order and set up a permanent protest and solidarity tent outside the Palestinian Legislative Council building in Ramallah, which became a center for Palestinian organizing, youth activities, and delegations of international activists and parliamentarians. In Palestine, Khalida and her comrades worked tirelessly not only to bring the expulsion order to an end but to fight the ongoing occupation oppression of Palestinian political leaders, members of parliament, and thousands of Palestinian political prisoners.

Thousands of people and organizations around the world signed the open letter in support of Khalida Jarrar, and sent letters and messages to the Israeli occupation officials, demanding an end to the expulsion order, including political parties, labor organizations, lawyers’ groups, human rights organizations, solidarity groups, members of parliament around the world, writers and activists.

The Campaign in Solidarity with Khalida Jarrar says that this is “a triumph for the Palestinian national position, the steadfastness and willpower of the people in all sectors and everywhere…it shows that rejection and resistance can bring down the occupation and foil its plans.”

Congratulations to Khalida Jarrar, her family and the Palestinian people on this moment of victory.

Thank you to all of the supporters, organizations and individuals, Palestinians and internationals, who have stood with Khalida Jarrar. Onward to continue to resist the occupation, free Palestinian political prisoners, and free Palestine and the entire Palestinian people!

Palestinian civil society leader Eteraf Rimawi seized by occupation forces

16 September 2014

Addameer reported that on Monday, September 15, Eteraf Rimawi, director of Bisan Center for Research and Development, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces at dawn in his home.

He was arrested five times previously – held for two months in 1995, for over a year in 1996, and in 2000 and 2003 he spent 6 months and 4 months, respectively, in administrative detention without charge or trial. In 2008, once again he was held in administrative detention for over a year before his release on October 7, 2009. Rimawi was born on April 30, 1976, is the father of three children, and lives in Ramallah.

Profile of Eteraf Rimawi from his prior administrative detention (in English, via Addameer): http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=169

Bisan Center issued a statement condemning the detention of their director:

“The general assembly, administrative board, executive staff, and all friends of Bisan Center for Research and Development condemn the Israeli action early this morning, Monday September 15th, where it broke through the house of Itiraf Rimawi, executive director of Bisan, who was arrested and taken to unknown place.

Bisan sees the occupation’s step as yet another within the series of arrogant procedures against Palestinians wherever they are. Bisan sees the arrest of its executive director as an attempt from the occupation’s authorities to injure or stop the work of the civil society organizations in Palestine that serve the actual needs of people.

At the time Bisan condemns the unjustified practice of the occupation, it calls upon the Palestinian Authority to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities to pressure the occupation in order to protect Palestinians in general and the civil society organizations’ activists in particular. Bisan calls upon United Nations agencies and human rights organizations to act immediately to stop the Israeli practices against Palestinians and their institutions. Bisan calls for strengthening the efforts to solve the question of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails where thousands of Palestinians are still arrested in clear violation of international human rights instruments and treaties as well as violating the agreements between the Israeli government and PNA themselves.
Free Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails
Towards a concrete solution of prisoners’ question.
Bisan Center for Research and Development
September, 15th, 2014”

Solidarité Socialiste, a Belgian organization that partners with Bisan on projects in Palestine, also issued a statement condemning the detention of Eteraf Rimawi and the dawn raid on his Ramallah home, noting that this arrest is an attack on Palestinian civil society and its support for the Palestinian people, and calling for international action, particularly by the Belgian government, to address the issue of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners held with disregard for international law and human rights.

Video of Eteraf Rimawi (mostly in Arabic):

Dozens of French organizations, parties and labor organizations stand with Khalida Jarrar

16 September 2014

The following statement by French organizations, social movements, political parties and labour organizations, in solidarity with Khalida Jarrar, was released September 6:

A l’attention des autorités israéliennes

Les organisations, signataires ci-dessous, membres du Collectif national pour une paix juste et durable entre Palestinien et Israélien, demandent le retrait immédiat de l’ordre d’expulsion de la députée palestinienne Khalida Jarrar.

Mme Khalida Jarrar refuse catégoriquement cet ordre illégal, soutenu en cela par l’ensemble du conseil législatif palestinien.

Paris le 6 septembre 2014.

Associations :
Agir Contre le Colonialisme Aujourd’hui (ACCA) – Alliance for Freedom and Dignity (AFD) – Alternative Libertaire (AL) – Américains contre la guerre (AAW) – Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins de France (ATMF) – Association des Tunisiens en France (ATF) – Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) – Association Nationale des Elus Communistes et Républicains (ANECR) – Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l’Action Citoyenne (ATTAC) – Association pour les Jumelages entre les camps de réfugiés Palestiniens et les villes Françaises (AJPF) – Association Républicaine des Anciens Combattants (ARAC) – Association Universitaire pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine (AURDIP) – Campagne Civile Internationale pour la Protection du Peuple Palestinien (CCIPPP) – Cedetim / IPAM – Collectif des Musulmans de France (CMF) – Collectif Faty Koumba – Collectif interuniversitaire pour la coopération avec les Universités Palestiniennes (CICUP) – Collectif Judéo-Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine (CJACP) – Collectif Paix Palestine Israël (CPPI Saint-Denis) – Comité de Vigilance pour une Paix Réelle au Proche-Orient (CVPR PO) – Comité Justice et Paix en Palestine et au Proche-Orient du 5e arrt (CJPP5) – Droit-Solidarité –– Fédération des Tunisiens pour une Citoyenneté des deux Rives (FTCR) – Génération Palestine – La Courneuve-Palestine – le Mouvement de la Paix – les Femmes en noir – Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (LDH) – Ligue Internationale des Femmes pour la Paix et la Liberté, section française de la Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) (LIFPL) – Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples (MRAP) – – – Organisation de Femmes Egalité –Participation et Spiritualité Musulmanes (PSM) – Une Autre Voix Juive (UAVJ) – Union des Travailleurs Immigrés Tunisiens (UTIT) – Union Générale des Etudiants de Palestine (GUPS-France) – Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP)

Partis politiques :
– Ensemble – Europe Ecologie les Verts (EELV)- Gauche Unitaire (GU) -– les Alternatifs – Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France (MJCF) – Mouvement Politique d’Emancipation populaire (M’PEP) – Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA) – Parti Communiste des Ouvriers de France (PCOF) – Parti Communiste Français (PCF) – Parti de Gauche (PG)

Syndicats :
Fédération Syndicale Unitaire (FSU)- Union Nationale des Etudiants de France (UNEF) – Union syndicale Solidaires

September 16, Ramallah: Press Conference with Khalida Jarrar

16 September 2014

TODAY: 10:00 AM, Ramallah, solidarity tent with Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian Legislative Council building: Press conference; Khalida will speak about the latest developments concerning the expulsion order to Jericho against her by occupation military courts.

Khalida Jarrar appeal hearing September 8 as international support grows

8 September 2014

Khalida Jarrar’s appeal of the expulsion order against her will be presented in an Israeli occupation military court at Ofer on Monday, September 8 at 1:30 pm. In Ramallah, a solidarity and support gathering will take place at the permanent protest tent erected outside the Palestinian Legislative Council demanding the immediate cancellation of the order.

Evidence of the international support for Jarrar, including the over 2500 international signatures, including Members of European Parliament, political parties, social movements and organizations, on the open letter in support of Khalida Jarrar, and the Brazilian statement of solidarity, will be introduced as part of her appeal.

This appeal takes place amid growing popular and official international support for Jarrar. Anne Brasseur, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, delivered a strong statement on September 7 denouncing the expulsion order against Khalida, noting that such an order against a parliamentary deputy is counter to the “values of democracy and freedom.”

A European parliamentary delegation of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) to Palestine, visited Jarrar’s tent and expressed their solidarity and support for the demand to cancel the expulsion order. Spanish parliamentarians introduced a resolution calling for the government to demand the cancellation of the order and an end to the persecution of Palestinian parliamentarians.

Take action and learn more: Visit samidoun.net/khalidajarrar for all updates and news on the Campaign in Solidarity with Khalida Jarrar, and action items you can take.

Members of European Parliament Martina Anderson (Sinn Fein, Ireland), Neoklis Silikyotis (AKEL, Cyprus) visit with Khalida Jarrar in her protest tent in Ramallah

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COMPLICITY IN ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION

LIVE UPDATES DURING PROTEST

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