London: Activists protest in solidarity with Jordanian hunger strikers

6 July 2013

Inminds Palestinian Prisoners Campaign activists in London held their second protest outside the Jordanian embassy in solidarity with the Jordanian hunger strikers on Friday, July 5.

They had issued the following call for the protest. For more information, please see Inminds on Facebook.

“Friday 5th July will mark 65 days of hunger strike for 5 Palestinian political prisoners with Jordanian citizenship in Israeli occupation jails. The prisoners families are asking for the immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners, and in the very least Israel be made to abide by its side of the shameful Wadi Araba normalisation agreement which King Hussein signed with Israel in 1994, under which Jordanian prisoners in Israeli jails should be transferred to Jordan to serve their sentences where at least the families of the prisoners can visit – Israel is at present preventing families of the prisoners from visiting them. The prisoners are also demanding Israel disclose the where about of 20 Jordanian prisoners who are missing, and to return the bodies of the prisoners who have died in Israel custody, which Israel has dumped in numbered graves, back to their families.

It should be noted that Jordanians have consistently demanded their government tear up the treacherous Wadi Araba peace agreement in which King Hussein sold out the Palestinians, and in return gained nothing other than shame for Jordan. Needless to say Israel has been a serial violator of the treaty from day one.. its assassination attempt of Khaled Meshaal in 1997 to its Judaisation of Jerusalem, and its restrictions on access to holy places in Jerusalem..

The five hunger strikers: Abdullah Al-Barghothi, Hamzah Al-Dabbas, Muneer Merei, Alaa Hammad and Mohammad Al-Rimawi have each lost over 18kg in weight. Some of the prisoners have lost their ability to walk and are confined to wheel chairs. Mohammad Al-Rimawi, who suffers from a heart disorder where sometimes his heart beat is 125 and sometimes it drops to 50 beats per minute, is being denied his medicine by the Israeli Prison Service until he agrees to stop his hunger strike. Prisoners are being pressured to stop their hunger strikes with their cells being raided and attack dogs being used in order to intimidate them. As the strike persists the methods employed by Israel are getting more violent. On 26th June 2013 Israeli guards attacked Abdullah Al-Barghouti in the hospital, they dragged him from his hospital bed to the concrete floor and kicked him in the face, causing bleeding.

There have been over 85 demonstrations in Jordan by the families of the prisoners – elderly mothers standing in the burning sun, at several protests each day! Even a 22km solidarity march from one city to another.. All of this falling on deaf ears with the Jordanian government shamefully abandoning the prisoners and according to some accounts even pressuring the prisoners to give up their hunger strike.

Terrified by the iron will of the families and friends of the hunger strikes to relentlessly carry on protesting everyday and the support and respect they garner in wider society and the resulting momentum building up to end the states total submission to every whim of the Zionist enemy, the Jordanian security services have come down very hard on the protesting families. Family members have been threatened with arrest if they persist to champion their loved ones in Israeli dungeons. They dragged away a 16 year old boy, a nephew of one of the hunger strikes, to prison and locked him up for 3 days – his crime was to hand out a leaflet about his uncles’ imprisonment in an Israeli prison. On another occasion, wearing military camouflage uniforms that have never seen service on the enemy front line, the security forces with batons drawn, attacked a peaceful protest with plain cloths security service personnel cowardly targeting hunger striker Muneer Meree’s brother, assaulting him before disappearing back behind the uniform lines.

Its with this backdrop of intimidation, that we made contact with activists in Jordan. The families and campaigners in Jordan courageously, at great personal risk to themselves, asked us to help internationalise the campaign by protesting in solidarity with them in London outside the Jordanian Embassy in a joint protest, with them protesting in Jordan outside the Royal Court (Central Government buildings) on the same day at the same time. That was last Sundays protest, this Friday we build on that success with another protest outside the Jordanian Embassy.”

PFLP prison branch rejects demands that Mohammad Rimawi end hunger strike

5 July 2013

The Israel Prison Services abruptly demanded to meet with the leadership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine prison branch on Thursday, July 4, in an attempt to pressure them to convince PFLP leader and Jordanian hunger striker Mohammad Rimawi to break his open hunger strike that has now continued for 65 days. Rimawi is one of five Palestinian prisoners with Jordanian citizenship who have been engaged in a 65-day hunger strike, along with Abdullah Barghouthi, Muneer Mar’i, Alaa Hammad, and Hamza Othman al-Dabbas.

The IPS demanded the leadership of the PFLP inside the prisons call upon Rimawi to lift his strike, which they inside the prisons rejected, saying they stand fully with the Jordanian prisoners on hunger strike and particularly Rimawi.

The PFLP leadership emphasized their support for the demands of the Jordanian prisoners and the justice of their cause, warning the Zionist prison officials of the consequences of deterioriation in their health and the seriousness of their situation, particularly as some, including Rimawi, suffer from serious diseases.

The Front leadership in the prisons called on the Palestinian, Jordanian and Arab people to engage in the broadest campaign of solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike, and called upon people around the world to pressure their governments to take action to save the lives of the hunger striking prisoners.

There were additional multiple reports that Abdullah Barghouthi’s health is significantly worsening after suffering multiple assaults by his jailors.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee in Nablus visited Beit Rima, the hometown of Mohammad Rimawi and Abdullah Barghouthi, after visiting the homes of imprisoned PFLP general secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and leader Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh. The delegation met with families of the prisoners in Beit Rima and emphasized the importance of supporting all prisoners and their families, especially those on hunger strike.

Palestinian academic Fadi Asideh arrested as he returned to Palestine from completing his Ph.D.

5 July 2013

Israeli forces arrested Al-Najah University lecturer Dr. Fadi Asideh on July 4 on the Karama bridge, as he returned to Palestine from Malaysia after completing his Ph.D. in Arabic language. Asideh is from the town of Tel in Nablus.

Fuad Khuffash, director of Ahrar Center for Prisoners’ Studies and Human Rights, said that Asideh, who left the country in July 2009 for his studies, recently was awarded his doctoral degree in Arabic language from the University of Malaysia, and that as he decided to return to serve his country he was arrested by the occupation and moved to Petah Tikva interrogation center.

Khuffash stated that Israel has been imposing an intellectual siege on the Palestinians through the ongoing arrests of academics and lecturers. The occupation holds in its jails six Palestinian academics. Asideh’s brother, Mohammad, is also held in occupation prisons.

Amnesty International: Stop judicial bullying of Palestinian activist Nariman Tamimi

4 July 2013

Amnesty International issued the following statement on July 4, 2013:

Amnesty International has accused the Israeli authorities of bullying and judicial harassment of Nariman Tamimi, a Palestinian rights activist who was placed under partial house arrest today to prevent her taking part in peaceful protests while she awaits trial next week.

“This is an unrelenting campaign of harassment, the latest in a litany of human rights violations against Nariman Tamimi, her family, and her fellow villagers. These arbitrary restrictions should be lifted immediately and the charges should be dropped,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

Tamimi was arrested along with another activist Rana Hamadi on Friday 28 June, when villagers of Nabi Saleh walk towards a nearby spring in protest against the loss of their land. In 2009 Israeli settlers occupied the Al-Qaws spring near Nabi Saleh village where Tamimi lives. The illegal settlement now enjoys the protection of the military.

During the protest a soldier approached them waving a piece of paper and saying they could be arrested if they did not leave. When they tried to leave the area, more soldiers approached and arrested them. Both women were charged with being in a “closed military zone”.

Following their release on bail on Monday, the court has now put them under partial house arrest. They are not allowed to leave their family homes between 9am to 5pm on Fridays when the weekly protest takes place.

“They have been denied the basic human right to peacefully protest over land illegally seized by Israeli settlers, and the Israeli judiciary has used spurious legal tools to punish them for exercising their basic human right to peaceful protest,” said Philip Luther.

Speaking to Amnesty International following her arrest, Nariman Tamimi described how the two women were kept in conditions that included being held in leg-cuffs, detained overnight in a car, and held in a van carrying male Israeli prisoners who she said shouted verbal abuse at them and intimidated them physically.

Tamimi has already suffered previous arrests and raids on her home. Her husband Bassem has been jailed least twice and held as a prisoner of conscience.

Her brother Rushdi Tamimi was shot in the back with live ammunition by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration last year. He died two days later in hospital. Video evidence shows that Israeli soldiers delayed his family’s attempts to take him to hospital.

“This shows the sustained brutality of the military and the Israeli authorities’ determination to target and harass those prepared to stand up for their rights. They use every tool in the box to intimidate activists and their families into silence,” said Philip Luther.

Since 2009, Israel has banned Palestinians, including landowners, from access to their spring and surrounding land while settlers enjoyed free access to the spring and were allowed to continue building in its vicinity.

The weekly protests are characterized by unnecessary and excessive use of force by the Israeli military, including live fire, rubber coated metal bullets, stun grenades thrown at protestors, pepper spray, batons, and the misuse of teargas.

Israeli forces have killed two protesters at Nabi Saleh, and have injured hundreds of others in the last four years. The subsequent military investigations have not met international standards of independence or partiality.

Soldiers regularly raid the village, conducting house searches and arresting people including children late at night.

Nariman Tamimi and Rana Hamadi have been charged with being in a “closed military zone”. The trial is scheduled for Tuesday 9 July.

19 Palestinians seized by occupation forces in raids across the West Bank

4 July 2013

silwann IMEMC reported that dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded various districts in the occupied West Bank, and kidnapped 19 Palestinians, clashes have been reported.

Soldiers kidnapped Hasan Breijiyya, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall In Bethlehem. as they attacked a nonviolent protest against a visit of the Israeli Transportation Minister to the southern entrance of the town as part of plans for a settler road.

Local sources in the Al-Jalazoun refugee camp, east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, have reported that the army invaded the camp, broke into and searched several homes, causing damage, and kidnapped three residents.

The three have been identified as Noureddeen Oleyyan, 25, Ma’rouf Bajes Nakhla, 23, and Tahreer Al-Araysha, 20.

Soldiers also invaded Bodrus village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and kidnapped eight Palestinians identified as Abdullah Shokry Awad, Ahmad Shokry Awad, Sa’adat Shabaan Awad, Kamal Hasan Ali, Nasser Marar, Asrar Yousef Ibrahim, Mohammad Naim Marar, and Mohammad Abdul-Karim.

Furthermore, several Israeli military jeeps invaded the village of Ya’bod, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and kidnapped Majdi Ghazi Harzallah, 23, Ezzeddeen Farouq Harzallah, 20, and Mohammad Tawfiq Abu Baker.

Dozens of soldiers also invaded the Al-Khader town, near Bethlehem, and kidnapped one resident identified as Yousef Aref Salah, 24. Soldiers also invaded the home of Kamel Harzallah and violently searched it.

Clashes have been reported between local youths and Israeli soldiers after the army violently searched the homes of the kidnapped Palestinians.

Soldiers fired gas bombs and concussion grenades; several residents have been treated for the effects of teargas inhalation.

In Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, the army kidnapped one Palestinian identified as Wael Ahmad At-Tabouq, 20, after violently breaking into a home and searching it causing property damage. The soldiers claimed to be looking for weapons; no weapons were found.

Dozens of soldiers also invaded Tal village, west of Nablus, and kidnapped one resident identified as Sameh Zeidan.

In related news, soldiers invaded Al-Yamoun town, west of Jenin and broke into the home of former political prisoner, Imad Najeeb Sammoudy, searched the property and interrogated him.

July 7: Ramallah protest in solidarity with prisoners

4 July 2013

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the Higher Follow-Up Committee for Prisoners are calling for a sit-in in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike and struggling for freedom on Sunday, July 7 at 12 noon in Manara Square in Ramallah, calling on all to attend to support the prisoners’ struggle and their battle of the empty stomachs.

Palestinian prisoners in Ofer refuse lawyers visits in protest of shackling

4 July 2013

Palestinian prisoners held in Ofer prison declared their refusal of Palestinian lawyers’ and external delegation visits, demanding an end to the prison administration’s policy of shackling Palestinian prisoners’ hands and feet during legal visits.

The prisoners said that this is a humiliating, arbitrary and unprecedented policy intending to break their will and humiliate them, and that they will escalate protest if the prison administration does not step back from these repressive measures, in a statement on July 4, 2013.

Palestinian prisoner Iyad Abu Fannoun displaced to Gaza

4 July 2013

Palestinian prisoner Iyad Abu Fannoun will be deported to the Gaza Strip today, July 4, reported Fuad Khuffash of Ahrar Centre. Abu Fannoun, 35, agreed to this through his lawyer on June 20, under threat of his former 20-year sentence being imposed upon him if he did not agree.

Abu Fannoun was released from occupation prisons after serving 9 years of his original 29-year sentence in the prisoner exchange of October 2011. He was re-arrested by the Israeli military on April 20, 2012. He was threatened to be sentenced to his original sentence period to serve another 20 years in Israeli prisons.

When Abu Fannoun, who was accused of membership in Hamas and its military wing, threatened to go on hunger strike, he was presented by the Ofer court with two options: deportation to Gaza for 10 years or imprisonment for 20 years.

Khuffash said that Abu Fannoun was released from Eshel prison and will arrive in the Gaza Strip within hours.

Long-term hunger striker Ayman Sharawna was forcibly deported to Gaza in March 2013, following upon forced deportations to Gaza in the prisoner exchange of October 2011 and the deportation of hunger striker Hana Shalabi.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has highlighted examples of forced deportation practiced against Palestinians, including “the deportation of 40 Palestinian prisoners to other countries, and 163 others to the Gaza Strip in the context of the prisoners swap deal between Palestinian resistance groups and IOF, under which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released, in exchange for the release of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who had been captured by Palestinian resistance groups.” Forcible deportation is a form of collective punishment and reprisals prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly Article 49 which prohibits “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or nott,” notes PCHR, which has repeatedly called for deported or displaced Palestinian former prisoners to return to their homes.

Hadeel Abu Turki, youngest woman Palestinian prisoner, to be released today

4 July 2013

hadeel-abuturki Palestinian prisoner Hadeel Talal Issa Abu Turki, 18, is scheduled to be released today, July 4, from occupation prisons. She was arrested on July 26, 2012 from the Ibrahimi Mosque area and sentenced to a year in prison. She was a minor, 17, and sentenced as an adult.

This was not her first arrest – she was arrested first on February 25, 2009 at the age of 14, held for one month and released, but a suspended sentence was imposed upon her. During her detention, she was held in solitary confinement and interrogated repeatedly at Kiryat Arba illegal settlement before being imprisoned in Hasharon prison for one month. Her 15-year-old sister, Jihad, was imprisoned for seven months, as they were arrested together; Jihad was sentenced to 15 months but was released in a prisoner exchange.

hadeel-arrest She was arrested again on November 14, 2010 at the Ibrahimi Mosque and held for two months, released on January 27, 2011.

Um Fuad, Hadeel’s mother, said in an interview that Hadeel was arrested again on the Israeli check point near the Ibrahimi Mosque campus in July 2012. The Israelis claimed that she had pepper spray and that she was planning to spray it on a soldier’s face. She was sentenced for a whole year and a bail of 1000 shekels. During all of Hadeel’s arrests, she was a minor, and she was currently the youngest woman prisoner held in Israeli jails.

Palestinian prisoner Motassem Raddad suffering ill health as prisoners in Etzion and Eshel protest abuse

4 July 2013

The health condition of the patient prisoner Motassem Raddad has noticeably deteriorated after being transferred from Meir hospital to Ramle prison hospital to conduct medical tests, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said on Wednesday, Julu 3.

PPS lawyer Jawad Boulos stated that Raddad’s health situation has deteriorated seriously after he received a cortisone injection, that caused difficulty in moving his leg and hand.

The hospital’s doctors stressed the need to conduct urgent medical tests to check on Raddad’s health situation after the serious complications that have emerged lately, Boulos said.

Raddad suffers inflammatory bowel disease and acute abdominal pain which caused him to bleed profusely, in addition to vision and heart problems.

Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners in Etzion detention center confirmed that they were subjected to severe beatings amid an acute shortage in basic necessities.

The detainees confirmed that they were subjected to severe beatings during their arrests in addition to attacks against their family members.

Similarly, Palestinian prisoners in Eshel detention centre noted that they were subjected to constant night raids, cell inspections and searches, which included violence and destruction of prisoners’ personal property. Raghab Abu Diak of PPS said that these raids inside the prisons were meant as a provocation and an attack on the prisoners.

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