Hossam Association calls for prosecution of G4S

10 November 2013

Hossam Prisoners’ Association in Gaza called upon human rights organizations to take legal action against G4S, a British corporation that provides security systems and services to the occupation prions holding Palestinian and Arab prisoners.

The Association said that it is planning to appeal to organizations and official bodies in Arab and European countries to take the actions necessary to hold G4S corporate officials accountable for their involement in war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinian prisoners.

It emphasized the importance of exposing this corporation and raising awareness of domestic and international involvement in the torture of Palestinian prisoners by providing the security systems and central control systems for the occupation prison in Negev, Megiddo, Ramon and other Israeli prisons, which hold over 5,000 Palestinian prisoners from all areas of Palestine.

Hossam association added that G4S has also installed security systems on the walls surrounding Ofer prison in the West Bank and in the prison’s central control room, which includes Ofer Military Court, where cruel and arbitrary military trials take place daily against Palestinian prisoners.

G4S also has provided security systems to detention facilities and interrogation centers in the West Bank and Jerusalemn, where Palestinian prisoners face interrogation techniques including forms of physical and psychological torture, Hossam said.

Online fundraiser for the Hares Boys

10 November 2013

Please help raise money for the Hares Boys – five Palestinian children abducted from their homes in the village of Hares and caged in a hole in the ground and tortured until false confessions were extracted for stone throwing and are now facing possible life sentences. The aim is to raise 2,000 Euros in 80 days to help all the 5 families to deal with the financial burden associated with having their children imprisoned. The children have already spent 8 months in an Israeli dungeon.

Israel is the only country in the world that charges prisoners for their imprisonment. They have to buy food, soap, toothpaste, and everything else for highly inflated prices in the prison shop, because the Apartheid state does not provide for the people it incarcerates. Not only are such policies designed to break the spirit of the imprisoned and their families – they also intend to ruin them financially. Its costs over 125 euros per month to provide for one child’s basic needs in prison.

The way the fundraising works is that if the 2000 euros target isn’t reached in 80 days (starting 30th Oct) then the families will not get any of the money. Around 6% of the amount raised goes towards administrative and bank fees of namlebee – the hosts of the fundraising.

Please give generously, thank you.

http://www.namlebee.com/?np=proyecto&pro=27

In violation of international law, the Israeli prison system deliberately fails to provide Palestinian prisoners, including children, with basic essentials such as food and hygiene products. Not only are such policies designed to break the spirit of the imprisoned and their families – they also intend to ruin them financially.

This is the story of the Hares Boys – five teenagers who’ve been tortured in an Israeli prison on fabricated charges. Their families struggle to deal with the financial burden associated with having their sons illegally imprisoned. Your contribution can help them lessen this burden and by doing so, fight for justice, human rights, and the boys’ freedom.

The army stormed the village of Hares in the middle of the night in mid-March 2013. Blindfolded and handcuffed, it was the last time the five teenage school friends – now known as the Hares Boys – were allowed to hug their mothers. In violation of international law, in particular the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, they’ve been held in an Israeli adult prison ever since.

The boys were arrested following a car accident on a road close to their village that involved a settler and her 3 small children. They were accused of causing the accident by stone-throwing; they deny any involvement but were forced to sign ‘confessions’ after being subjected to continuous abuse, violent interrogations, beatings, and solitary confinement for up to 3 weeks. International law has a name for such treatment: it’s torture.

The boys are being charged with 20 counts of attempted murder (one for each stone allegedly thrown at passing cars), with no evidence and no real eye-witnesses whatsoever. They are facing 25 years to life imprisonment in the Israeli military court system that convicts Palestinian children at a rate of 99.7%.

Apart from the immense emotional pain, having a family member imprisoned also puts a heavy financial burden on the family. As reported widely by local and international human rights organisations, the Israeli Prison Service is pursuing a deliberate policy of neglecting its obligations to provide for prisoners’ basic needs. The low quantity and quality of food provided in the prison means that in order to have enough nutrition, the boys have to buy over-priced products in the prison canteen; the same applies to hygiene products, such as toothpaste or soap. The families are only allowed to bring their sons a small package of clothes twice a year – in May and November. Specific requirements apply: no pockets, and only brown, black, red, and white colour clothes. Other clothing and footwear has to be bought in the prison at high prices. Additionally, the families have to pay the travel expenses for court hearings and prison visits. The Hares Boys are currently incarcerated in Megiddo, an adult prison outside the West Bank; transferring prisoners from occupied territory to that of the occupier violates the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Hares Boys – Mohammed Kleib, Mohammed Suleiman, Tamer Souf, Ammar Souf, and Ali Shamlawi – are now 16-17 years old. If the Israeli military get their way, the boys would only return to their homes and families at the age of 41 – at best. If justice prevails, however, they will be home soon.

Until the boys get their freedom, your financial contribution will help their families to deal with the high costs of having their loved ones taken away from them.

You can also help put pressure on the Israeli military court system to apply principles of justice rather than condemn the boys to spend their lives in prison for a crime that never happened: sign the petition to Free the Hares Boys and spread the word about their case. By supporting the campaign for the Hares Boys, you are also helping to raise international awareness about the plight of the hundreds of Palestinian children prosecuted in Israeli military courts every year.

You can contact us: haresboys [at] gmail.com (or send us a message from this page).

THE MONEY WILL BE USED FOR…

2,000 Euros –Equally shared (2,000=5×400) by the five boys’ families to help cover the costs associated with having their sons imprisoned, i.e. travel expenses for prison visits, clothes, food, medicine, hygiene products in the prison, pocket money.

Any surplus raised will be equally shared by the boys’ families.

Moatassem Raddad facing precipitous decline in health

10 November 2013

Palestinian prisoner Moatassem Raddad, suffering from cancer, was moved suddenly from Hadarim Prison to Assaf Harofeh hospital after reports that the cancer has spread throughout his body and his health has declined precipitously, reported the Palestine News Network on November 9.

Raddad, 32, from Saida near Tulkarem, has been imprisoned since 2006, serving a 20-year sentence, and has bowel cancer. His family renewed their ongoing calls to human rights and legal organizations to act to save their son’s life and help him to spend his remaining days among his family.

Raddad’s mother said that his cancer has spread throughout his body and that the treatment he has received every 20 days in Ramle prison clinic is insufficient and has not limited the spread of his disease. She urged action to save his life so that he does not join the fate of the prisoners who were martyred due to medical negligence.

Raddad’s brother said that tests indicate the spread of his cancer and that the treatment he has been receiving is no longer feasible, despite doctors’ decision to increase his dosage of chemotherapy. He said that Raddad also suffers from kidney and heart disease and visual impairments and is bleeding constantly.

His family said they feared he would die due to prison medical negligence like Hassan al-Turabi or Maysara Abu Hamdieh, behind bars in prison rather than surrounded by his family.

Repression in Megiddo prison after death of Hassan al-Turabi

10 November 2013

Palestinian political prisoners in Megiddo prison protested after the death of Hassan al-Turabi, meeting with major repression, said Heba Masalha, Palestinina laywer. In the morning of November 5 and with news of Turabi’s death, prisoners banged on the walls, threw shoes, and expressed anger for the loses of their comrade.

Mohammed Abu Jaber, held in Megiddo, told Masalha that armed special forces entered the prison and clashed with the prisoners who responded by throwing shoes in their direction. Over 100 armed security forces entered the prison, releasing tear gas and accompanied by dogs, pushing the prisoners to the wall, tying their hands, beating them with batons and rifle butts, and returning them to their cells, and then beginning provocative inspections, wreaking havoc in the prisoners’ cells.

8 prisoners were placed in solitary cells; these 8 people were also beaten by police with hands and batons. Section 5 in Megiddo has been hit with a series of collective punishments: removal of electrical appliances, closure of the canteen and preventing the purchase of alternate food, ending daily exercise. Mohammad al-Atrash, another prisoner, told Masalha that prisoners returned meals for 3 days in protest at the sanctions against Section 5, which contains 120 prisoners, and that the situation remains tense inside the prison.

Repression also took place in Eshel prison following Turabi’s death, where prisoners also protested. Prisoners in Eshel were denied exercise in the yard, sections of the prison were closed and prisoners moved, and they were threatened with denial of family visits. Prisoners in Eshel returned their meals on Tuesday and Wednesday in protest, and in Ramon prison, prisoners returned their meals for three days, while prisoners in Ramle prison clinic returned their meals on Thursday; prisoners in Negev prison declared three days of morning, while prisoner in Ofer returned meals for one day.

Addameer: Administrative detainee and Addameer accountant Samer Arbeed to be released on 21 November

10 November 2013

Occupied Ramallah – Ofer Military Court ruled to shorten and not renew Addameer accountant Samer Arbeed’s administrative detention order. The court’s decision states that Samer will be released on 21 November 2013, without the possibility of a renewed order, unless the military prosecution can provide the court with concrete evidence that confirms Arbeed’s secret charges.

Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial.

The judge’s decision came after Addameer’s lawyer Mahmoud Hassan argued the credibility of the secret file and information presented in court. Adv. Hassan added that Arbeed’s most recent detention only aimed to obstruct his work.

The IOF arrested Arbeed on the 23 September 2013 after raiding his house in Ramallah and confiscating some of the documents that belong to Arbeed. Arbeed was subjected to 25 days of interrogation at Moscobiyeh interrogation center, after which the Israeli intelligence (Shabak) issued a four-month administrative detention order against him.

This is the third administrative order to be issued against Samer Arbeed. He was previously detained from January 2003 to November 2006; spending 47 months in prison, and was detained a second time from March 2007 to August 2008; spending 17 months under administrative detention.

Arbeed, 38 years old, is married and has a 2 year old daughter.

Currently, there are 135 administrative detainees, 9 of them are Palestinian Legislative Council members.

Palestinian journalist arrested upon return from Egypt

10 November 2013

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Abu Khudair, of the Jerusalem village of Shuafat, was arrested last Wednesday, November 6, as he returned to Ben Gurion airport from a trip to Egypt.

Abu Khudair, 48, who carries Jerusalemite ID, is a correspondent for Al-Quds newspaper. He was initially detained for three days; on Sunday, November 11, his detention was extended until next Wednesday, October 13.

Palestinian journalists have been continually denied freedom of movement, and been subject to arrest and harassment. Sign the petition and learn more about Palestinian journalists’ struggle for rights here: http://972mag.com/editorial-demanding-freedom-of-movement-and-access-for-palestinian-journalists/76997/

25 Palestinian social media activists kidnapped by Israeli forces in Jerusalem

10 November 2013

Israeli police detained 25 social media activists in Jerusalem on November 6, 2013, the Palestinian Prisoners Society reported.

Nasser Qous, head of the Jerusalem branch of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, told official news agency Wafa that Israeli forces raided 25 Palestinian activists, at home, in internet cafes and computer stores in the city, and detained them on charges of “incitement” due to their posts on Facebook, seizing their computers.

Fifteen of the activists were later released and 10 will be brought before an Israeli court, Qous said. He added that seven young women were among the kidnapped.

In October, Haifa resident Razi al-Nabulsi, 23, was arrested and kept under house arrest for a week as a result of Facebook posts Israeli authorities argued constituted “incitement.”

Lawyer Aram Mahameed explained that the charges stemmed from “a number of comments on al-Nabulsi’s Facebook page concerning issues like normalization (with the State of Israel), as well as the Prawer Plan,” a proposed Israeli plan that if carried out with displace 40,000 Bedouins from the southern Negev.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Israel 112th in the world for press freedom in its 2013 report, arguing that while Israeli journalists enjoy freedom of expression, there are major structural barriers related to military control and security issues that prevent a free press more generally.

Halahleh sentenced to 14 months imprisonment in occupation prisons

10 November 2013

Palestinian political prisoner Thaer Halahleh, 35, from Hebron, was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment, a 6,000 shekel fine and a 3 year suspended sentence in Ofer Military Court, for membership in a prohibited organization. Halahleh is suffering from Hepatitis C, with which he is believed to have become infected in a dental operation at Askelan prison during his earlier imprisonment, conducted with unsterilized equipment.

Halahleh, who was earlier released in June 2012 after a 77-day hunger strike conducted with fellow administrative detainee Bilal Diab, was re-arrested in April 2013. Halahleh has been arrested eight times and served six and one half years in Israeli Occupation prisons. This is the first time he has been charged or tried; at all times he has been held without charges or under administrative detention.

The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Studies said that Halahleh’s sentence is one of slow death for the prisoner who suffers from serious health cnditions. He was transferred two weeks ago to Soroka hospital due to the deterioration of his health, and necessary treatments are not made available to him inside prison. He has also been denied examination by an outside doctor to follow up on his treatment.

The Center urged international institutions to act to save the health and life of Halahleh, before it is too late.

18 Palestinian fishers seized by Israeli forces in 2013

10 November 2013

The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies reported on November 10 that Israeli warships kidnapped two Palestinian fishers from Gaza, brothers Saddam Abu Warda, 23, and Mahmoud Abu Warda, 21, to Ashdod port for interrogation. The two were the latest of 18 fishers kidnapped off the coast of Gaza by Israeli warships in 2013.

This is part of the ongoing harassment and persecution of Palestinian fishers in Gaza, said the center, noting that they approached the imaginary fishing border of six nautical miles imposed by the occupation on Palestinian fishers. Numerous fisherss have been injured and boats destroyed by attacks by massive Israeli warships on fishing boats. Fishers are interrogated harshly at Ashdod and are often subject to pressure to work as collaborators with the occupation.

Most are released within hours or days, after extended interrogation and following, in many cases, the loss or damage of their fishing boats. Over 110 assaults on fishers have been carried out during the year, from firing on fishing boats, forcing fishers to undress or jump into the sea despite harsh weather conditions, arrests, and confiscation and destruction of their fishing boats.

The Center said that the ongoing attacks on fishers are part of a deliberate and systematic policy of blockade on Gaza, urging real international action to protect the Palestinian fishers of Gaza from attacks by occupation forces.

USPCN strongly condemns the arrest of Rasmea Yousef Odeh and demands charges be dropped

5 November 2013

The United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) strongly condemns the arrest and indictment of Rasmea Yousef Odeh by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She is a founding member of the Chicago chapter of USPCN and a mentor to all of its organizers, and we pledge to fight this injustice with all of our strength.

Rasmea has dedicated her whole life to Palestine and Palestinian communities across the world, from her case management and social services work with internally displaced refugees after the 1967 Israeli occupation to herlegendary status as an advocate for women’s rights and empowerment in Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and now Chicago. Her career spans close to five decades and her influence spans continents.

Early morning Tuesday, October 22nd, Rasmea was awakened at her home by a number of federal law enforcement agents, and then taken to federal court in Chicago, where she was charged with Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization for allegedly lying on immigration application questions back in 1994. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Detroit, Michigan (which has jurisdiction because that is where she applied for citizenship), Rasmea failed to mention an arrest from over 40 years ago. That arrest was ordered by an Israeli military court, the same system that allows almost no right to due process, and today holds hundreds of Palestinians without charge, under “administrative detention,” amongst over 7,000 political prisoners, including 179 children, in total. That arrest was by an army in Palestinian territories that even the U.S. government says is illegal for Israel to militarily occupy. And that arrest led to Rasmea being subjected to years of unspeakable, inhumane, and illegal torture by Israeli prison authorities.

USPCN unequivocally rejects all the charges against Rasmea, as they are nothing but a pretext to criminalize her and her continued work on behalf of our community, including the leading role she played in helping to organize both USPCN national popular conferences in 2008 and 2010, each attended by over 1,200 people. This arrest proves, as in the cases of the Holy Land 5, Sami Al-Arian, Muhammad Salah and Abdelhalim Ashqar, and countless others, that yet again, federal law enforcement in the U.S. is working in coordination with Israel and its Occupation Army to harass, repress, and sow fear in Palestinian communities and their supporters here.

In addition, the lead prosecutor in the Holy Land 5 case, and career anti-Palestinian ideologue and racist, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas, was present at Rasmea’s hearing on the morning she was arrested. This proves beyond a doubt that this case is not about any alleged immigration violation, but rather a witch-hunt against another community leader who has dedicated her life to organizing for the Right of Return and Palestine’s decolonization.

Rasmea Yousef Odeh is a living legend in the eyes of thousands across the world. In the past 9 years in Chicago, she has been a leader in defending the rights of immigrants and promoting equality and legalization for all. She is the founder of the Arab Women’s Committee, which provides social services, English language and civics instruction, organizing training, and social, personal, and leadership development to over 600 Arab immigrant women in Chicagoland. She advocates for the civil, economic, and political rights of Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims, Africans and African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and all other immigrants, communities of color, and marginalized people. And she is one of our precious elders, a 65 year-old woman who still leads by example and organizes block to block and house to house.

In the U.S., witch-hunts, FBI raids, phony “material support for terrorism” charges, and other attempts to silence Palestinian community members, students, academics, organizers, and activists, as well as our supporters, are not working. The Palestinian-led Boycott Divestment Sanctions Movement is in full swing, gaining more support and strength across the world everyday. National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) just wrapped up its largest conference ever at Stanford University in the Bay Area of California. The Presbyterian Church in the U.S. is poised to pass a divestment resolution next year. Israel’s supporters and apologists for its Apartheid policies are confronted everywhere they try to spew their racist propaganda. USPCN held a successful national strategic planning meeting just two weeks ago. And, of course, our heroic people in all of historic Palestine, as well as our refugees in surrounding Arab countries, are courageously resisting capitulation, occupation, and colonization in the belly of the Israeli beast. Israel and its U.S. patron are reeling and on the ropes. Keep the pressure on!

If convicted, Rasmea faces up to 10 years in prison, being stripped of her U.S. citizenship, and probable deportation. We cannot allow this to happen! USPCN calls on all people of conscience everywhere to support Rasmea and all Palestinians in our fight against these charges. We are asking our members and supporters to:

Call Barbara McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, at 313.226.9501 or313.226.9100, or email barbara.mcquade@usdoj.gov, to demand that she Drop the Charges Now!

Example script and talking points to use:

“Hello, my name is ________ and I am calling from _________. I am calling to demand that U.S. Attorney McQuade drop the immigration charges against Rasmea Yousef Odeh. She is a beloved leader in the community and has worked tirelessly to serve and help empower Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim families throughout the Chicagoland area.

Rasmea is a community icon and was recently awarded an “Outstanding Community Leader” award from the Chicago Cultural Alliance for her over 40 years of dedication and service to people across the Arab World and the U.S.

These charges are a political attack on her as an individual, and on Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities across the U.S. as a whole. I stand in unequivocal support of Rasmea and demand that these charges be dropped immediately!”

Send statements of support and solidarity to cppr@aaan.org.
Join us to pack the courtroom on either November 13 or 14 for Rasmea’s first hearing in Detroit. And if you cannot make it to Detroit, participate in a national day of action to support Rasmea wherever you are. Stay tuned for the specifics.
Like this Facebook page and tweet with the hashtag #justice4rasmea.
Send us your pictures holding up the following message:

“I am ________ and I support Rasmea!”

You should fill in the blank with a self-identifier: your name, your occupation, or any other description. Some examples are “I am a stay-at-home dad and I support Rasmea!” ”I am a youth organizer and I support Rasmea!” and “I am a supporter of Palestinian human rights and I support Rasmea!”

Hold the sign up and snap a selfie, then send it to cppr@aaan.org. Put it up as your Facebook/Twitter profile pic, Google Account image, or anything else! Just remember we may use your image in future publications and informational pamphlets that get published online or distributed as hard copies.

Stay tuned to www.stopfbi.net for updates on the case, and for more information about our work upholding Palestinian rights to Equality, Self-Determination, and Return, and defending Rasmea and other Palestinians under attack, go to www.uspcn.org.

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