Call for Action: Zakaria Zubeidi of Freedom Theatre on hunger strike in PA prison

11 September 2012

CALL FOR ACTION

From The Freedom Theatre
Jenin, West Bank, Occupied Palestine
September 10, 2012

On the 9th of September Zakaria Zubeidi announced that he will embark on a death fast, a complete food and fluid strike, in response to the continuous postponement of his release from Palestinian Authority prison. This effectively means that unless the Palestinian Authority releases Zakaria he will most probably not make it through the week.

Zubeidi, co-founder of The Freedom Theatre and former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, has been imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority for close to four months. No charges have been made against him, no evidence presented and throughout his imprisonment his rights have been severely violated, as described by among others Human Rights Watch (link to www.hrw.org07/27/israelpalestinian-authority-theater-group-hit-both-sides).

Being one of the last survivors of Arna’s Children(1), Zakaria joined the armed resistance during the second Intifada and became one of its leading figures. After co-founding The Freedom Theatre in 2006 Zakaria decided to lay down his weapons in order to join a cultural resistance, which he deemed a more powerful tool against the Israeli occupation. Surviving numerous assassination attempts by the Israeli army and vowing to never again enter an Israeli prison, Zakaria is now instead facing death in a Palestinian prison unless immediate action is taken.

The Freedom Theatre urges all its friends and supporters to:

Contact the local representative office of the Palestinian Authority(2) and demand Zakaria Zubeidi’s release. Since the situation is urgent we also ask you to take more direct actions such as organising protests at PA representative offices.
Contact local or regional human rights offices and organisations such as Amnesty International and urge them to take action.
Contact your local MP and MEP and urge them to take action.
Contact your country’s representative office in the occupied Palestinian territory and urge them to take action(3).
Call these numbers to demand Zakaria’s release: +972 (0)599000011 Abo Mohammad Shadeh, Head of the Palestinian Authority President’s Security Office, +972 (0)2000011 Said Abualheja, Ministry of Interior , +972 (0)-597778887 Majd Faraj, Head of Palestinian IntelligenceSOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS
Twitter: #Freezakaria
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefreedomtheatre, https://www.facebook.com/FreedomForNabilAndZakaria

Loay Ashqar, tortured detainee, rearrested in occupation raid

10 September 2012

Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, reported that at dawn on Monday, September 10, occupation military forces raided the home of Loay Ashqar in Saida, Tulkarem, arresting him and abducting him from his home.

Loay Ashqar has been imprisoned 5 times in the past as an administrative detainee, without charge or trial. He was paralyzed in his lower leg and foot under torture in interrogation in Jalame interrogation centre in 2005, and his brother Muhammad al-Ashqar was murdered in 2007 in Negev desert prison in a so-called “training exercise” of the Israeli army (reported here by Ali Abunimah.)

Loay has been one of the leading activists in solidarity with the prisoners’ hunger strike in his area, and is married and the father of two children.

This image, provided by Addameer, is of Loay’s visit with Khader Adnan upon his release from the occupation prisons.

Addameer: Lawyer blocked from accessing al-Barq and Safadi

10 September 2012

The following report is from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association:

Ramallah, 10 September 2012 — Immediately after receiving confirmation from the Israeli Prison Service that he would be able to meet with all three hunger strikers in Ramleh prison medical clinic yesterday afternoon, Addameer lawyer Fares Ziad entered to find prison authorities telling him he would only be able to meet with Ayman Sharawna, as Samer Al-Barq and Hassan Safadi had just been taken to Assaf Harofeh hospital for unknown reasons. This is not the first time that Mr. Ziad has been told he would be able to meet with them and subsequently told they were no longer present, contributing to the horrific prevention of access to information about these two hunger strikers in most urgent conditions.

Samer Al-Barq is now on his 112th day of renewed hunger strike, while Hassan Safadi is on his 82nd day of renewed hunger strike. Both are at immediate risk of death. Ayman Sharawna is on his 72nd day of hunger strike, and Mr. Ziad noted after seeing him that his condition has become incredibly dire. He is now unable to see out of his right eye, cannot move his right leg, and is throwing up blood.

Urgent intervention is needed to save the lives of these courageous hunger strikers.

***

Click here to take action for Samer al-Barq, Hassan Safadi and Ayman Sharawna.

“Old Prisoners” plan to launch hunger strike on Oslo anniversary

9 September 2012

The “Old Prisoners,” Palestinian prisoners held in occupation prisons since before the Oslo accords in 1993, have announced that they intend to launch an open-ended hunger strike on September 13, 2012, the nineteenth anniversary of the Oslo accords, demanding their release.

They pointed out, in a statement, that they will go on an open hunger strike under the slogan “freedom or martyrdom” on the nineteenth anniversary of the Oslo agreement, demanding their release, reported the Palestinian Information Centre.

Oslo agreement was a big shock especially that it did not mention the prisoners’ liberation at all, but it left them as a prey to the Israeli occupation, forgetting the prisoners’ role in struggling for the freedom and independence of their country and their people, the statement said.

PLO leaders had stated at the time that our release would be soon, 19 years have passed since the signing of that fateful agreement, and nothing was achieved, they said in the statement, stressing that they suffer a state of neglect and disregard.

There are 121 Old Prisoners, who have collectively served over 3500 years in occupation prisons. Demands for their release have been raised from time to time as potential conditions for negotiations by the Palestinian Authority.

The prisoners held PLO leaders, the PA, and the national and Islamic factions, particularly Fatah and the PA president Mahmoud Abbas responsible for their release and their lives.

@Palhunger on Twitter will provide regular updates and calls to action on the strike of the Old Prisoners.

Ameer Makhoul message to CIVICUS World Assembly in Montreal

9 September 2012

Statement on behalf of imprisoned Palestinian activist Ameer Makhoul at the CIVICUS World Assembly, Montreal, Canada, 6 September 2012

It is a great honour for me to be able to address you from the confines of an Israeli jail through my wife Janan Abdu, who is an ardent campaigner for the protection of human rights.Today, please join your colleagues at the CIVICUS World Assembly in showing your solidarity for Palestinan civil society activist Ameer Makhoil. He couldn’t attend the World Assembly in person as he is imprisoned in Israel, but his wife attended to make the following statement on his behalf.

I have now spent 40 months out of the nine years in an Israeli jail.

Dear friends of CIVICUS, you are on my mind. Being a human rights defender is very costly for Palestinians under Israeli domination. Exercising my basic right to free speech and free expression, assembly and association by communicating with Palestinian refugees outside Palestine and with Arabs is considered a crime and an act of terror under Israeli law.

One of the most powerful feelings of a Palestinian political prisoner is the knowledge that one is not alone. I have received thousands of letters and postcards from concerned citizens and organisations all over the world, in different languages but with a common message, which says, “you are not alone.” It sounds the same; it feels the same. It is a language of solidarity. This is the language of CIVICUS.

I am fortunate to be part of CIVICUS and to be supported by CIVICUS. Your support means a lot to me, as well as to all Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israel. It is a great support for me, and all victims of oppression, occupation, colonialism, racism and state-sponsored violence and terror: for all victims of injustice all over the world.

Solidarity is much more than sympathy. It involves commitment to taking responsibility and action to combat violations of human rights. Solidarity is based on human values and sharing of responsibility to neutralise violence that is the outcome of the structures of power.

A few years ago at the CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow, I was privileged to address the closing plenary and highlighted the difficulties we face within the Palestinian community and the fact that our movements are severely restricted.

But CIVICUS provides the space irrespective of the distance and jail walls. Even from the confines of jail in Israel I can join colleagues from all parts of the world in solidarity for human rights.

I would like to bring to your attention the fact that the popular campaign for my freedom is to organise a solidarity exhibition. This will include letters, postcards, posters, press releases and protests and demonstrations. This will highlight the power of solidarity and will amplify the responsibility of citizens as a tool for change and for `making the future together’, using CIVICUS’ approach.

I believe that solidarity as a value and as an ingredient of global movements is a major requirement for defining and renegotiating a new social contract.

I quote Martin Luther King when he says, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” But I also have to add this: “Solidarity anywhere is a basic component of a new social contract everywhere.”

Finally dear friends, being in an Israeli jail as a victim of vengeful and unjust political system is extremely painful and hard for me and my family, but when you add your solidarity to my belief and steadfastness, we will surely make a difference. And for this I am very proud.

What is sure is that we shall overcome. One day we shall meet again and continue to walk to freedom for all victims of oppression.

Much love

Ameer Makhoul

We ask all our members, partners and stakeholders to join with delegates at the 2012 CIVICUS World Assembly in Montreal, Canada on Thursday 6 September to show your support for and solidarity with Ameer by sharing this information on your websites and Facebook pages, and by tweeting as follows:

Support Ameer Makhoul: 3 years for “violating security and espionage against Israel”: now a prisoner of conscience! #freeAmeermakhoul

Thank you

More information:
https://www.civicus.org/en/get-involved/take-action/civil-society-behind-bars/290-take-action-free-ameer-makhoul

Ahmad Sa’adat refuses to recognize legitimacy of Israeli court, “a tool of repression against Palestinian prisoners”

9 September 2012

Imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa’adat reiterated his position that he does not recognize the authority of the Israeli occupation courts over Palestinian prisoners at the Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem on Sunday, September 9, 2012. “I will not recognize the legitimacy of this court which is attempting to perpetuate the occupation of our Palestinian land, and is itself one of the fronts of Zionist terrorism against our Palestinian people, and a tool of repression against Palestinian prisoners,” said Sa’adat.

Sa’adat was brought to the court for international proceedings in a private lawsuit filed in the United States by Shurat Ha-Din (the Israel Law Center), a Zionist legal organization committed to “lawfare” against Palestinians. This lawsuit seeks to hold all major Palestinian institutions financially accountable for deaths of Israelis who also hold Western nationalities. This lawsuit has earlier sought to bring other Palestinian prisoners and national leaders, including Marwan Barghouthi, to its Jerusalem hearings and compel them to testify.

Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, had been held in isolation for over three years, since March 16, 2009 and was returned to the general prisoner population only after the May 2012 agreement that ended the mass hunger strike in occupation prisons. His isolation was one of the major sparks of the earlier September-October 2011 hunger strike, which included hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Mahmoud Hassan, director of Addameer’s legal unit, said that the Prison Service Guards transfered Sa’adat from Shata prison to the court against his will, and that Sa’adat continued his rejection – stated multiple times during his own trial – that he did not recognize occupation military courts as a legitimate authority.

Sa’adat refused to answer when asked by the judge to state his name or answer any further questions. “I say nothing to this court, as I earlier said nothing to this court, which is known to have my name,” said Sa’adat. The judge asked him about his opinion on the October 2011 prisoner exchange agreement and whether he was frustrated about not being included, to which Sa’adat replied that “the freedom of the homeland is more important and more dear than my personal freedom, which is inevitably coming.”

At the close of the hearing, Sa’adat directed a number of statements to the judge, calling for Israeli and American war criminals to be tried for their crimes against the Palestinian people. He said that the practitioner of terrorism in the region is the occupation, while Palestinians have a just cause and will obtain their rights. “If the United States is so interested in human rights and fact-finding they should carry out their investigations into finding the murderers of American solidarity martyr Rachel Corrie who was killed by the forces of the Occupation, instead of attacking the resistance and calling it ‘Terrorism’…terrorism, is the practice of the Occupation and the forces of Occupation. The resistance is legitimate, will continue, and will grow as long as the occupation exists. I trust the Palestinian people,” said Sa’adat.

Saadat said that “The Palestinian people will continue to resist until freedom, liberation and independence, and the return of all the Palestinian people to their homeland, Palestine. The justice of our cause and the steadfastness and determination of our people are stronger than the occupation, and its mockery of courts and legality, no matter how severe the restrictions on the freedom of our people, freedom is inevitable.”

Sa’adat’s wife, Abla, his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter came to see him at the court; the Prison Services guards prevented him from touching his granddaughter, Mayar.

Addameer, speaking about the Shurat Ha-Din case, said that “these trials are part of Western and Israeli efforts to criminalize the legitimate resistance to the occupation and label it as ‘terrorism,’ and constitute blatant transgression of international law and the principles of international humanitarian law.

Via numerous sources including Addameer and Translators for Palestine.

Hassan Safadi’s administrative detention renewed for additional four months

9 September 2012

Palestinian hunger striking prisoner Hassan Safadi, who has been held under administrative detention without charge or trial, once again had his detention renewed by four months in an administrative order from the Israeli military court in Ofer. The court had delayed for more than two weeks in making this order, stating that “the issue was complex,” according to Palestinian Prisoners Club lawyer Jawad Boulos. This decision reaffirmed a preliminary decision of June 29, 2012.

In the decision, Boulos said, the judge rejected Safadi’s argument pointing out that his release was called for in the agreement between the Palestinian prisoners and Israel Prison Services in May 2012, which ended the mass hunger strike of thousands of prisoners and included a pledge to not renew the administrative detention of existing detainees, as well as particular note on this topic for long-term hunger strikers, of which Safadi was one, having struck for 74 days at the time.

Instead, Boulos noted, as expected and as is the norm in Israeli military courts, all claims of the military intelligence were accepted due to alleged secret evidence. Safadi’s health situation is deeply precarious as he is now on hunger strike for an additional 81 days. He began his strike when he was not released as promised in June 2012. His detention is scheduled for a new review on October 29, 2012, but he is demanding his immediate release.

Safadi’s mother is also suffering medically, having been hospitalized. She suffers from multiple serious health conditions. Safadi wrote the following letter to his mother, published in the Electronic Intifada on July 29, 2012:

“First I want to thank you dear mother for your wonderful letter, whose every word penetrated my heart and immersed me in happiness, love and tenderness. I am blessed to have a mother like you. Please thank everyone who stood in solidarity and prayed for me.

What increased my happiness and contentment was you writing that you raise your head up proudly because of me…I hope your head will always be lifted high and your spirits elevated oh loved one. As for waiting for my release, I remind you mother we are believers.

We are waiting for God’s mercy with patience…as Prophet Muhammad related God’s words, “I am as my slave thinks…” As you await my release, think positively and God willing, God will not leave you and your work and He will not disappoint your expectations.

Thank God I have a mother like you, a patient believer who prays for me from her heart, and I thank you dear mother for the beautiful song you wrote that warmed my chest as I read the lyrics..

Congratulations to Nelli’s [his sister] twins…I pray to God they will be attributed to Muslims and to Islam and for them to receive the best upbringing, and for their time to be better than our time.

Say hello and salute Abu Jamal and thank him for his efforts and say hello to Ayah and Amir and tell them I miss them, tell everyone who asked about me I say hello, and pray for them.

How beautiful the last line in your letter is! “God is with you, may He protect you and take care of you…I leave you in His safe hands.”

Please mother, always pray for me using those words especially in the month of Ramadan, happy holidays.

Your son”

Via Ma’an Arabic.

Click here to take action for Hassan Safadi and his fellow hunger strikers.

Sa’adat to appear in occupation court September 9

8 September 2012

Imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is scheduled to appear in an occupation court on Sunday, September 9 in Jerusalem, Addameer stated.

This will be Sa’adat’s first appearance in public in over three years, since he was released from isolation in May 2012 following the prisoners’ hunger strike. He had been held in solitary confinement since March 2009. Addameer reports that Sa’adat will be speaking about the latest hunger strike of April-May 2012, and the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails following the strike.

Solidarity hunger strike continues at American University in Washington, DC

8 September 2012

Students at American University in Washington, DC continued their open-ended solidarity hunger strike with Palestinian prisoners over the weekend, planning to continue to set up a solidarity fast in the Quad over the week to come. The students have set up a facebook page for promotion and solidarity: https://www.facebook.com/events/304594476314407

The action was organized by Students for Justice in Palestine at American University, a student group that works to build solidarity for Palestinian rights, and called for freedom for hunger strikers Samer al-Barq, Hassan Safadi and Ayman Sharawna. The students also encouraged supporters to write to Israeli officials urging their release.

One of the student hunger strikers was interviewed in the following video:

Student hunger strikers also spoke with Spanish-language HispanTV:

London, Sept. 9: Protest for hunger strikers and imprisoned footballers

8 September 2012

A protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners will take place in London on Sunday 9th September 5-7pm
by St Martin in the Fields, London WC2N 4JJ [near Trafalgar Sq and the Mall’s Paralympics Marathon]. The protest will call for the release of the 4 Palestinian hunger strikers: Safadi (150 day), Barq (141 day), Sharawna (68 day), and Issawi (37 days), imprisoned without charge or trial.

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork