Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates with Manu Pineda, MEP Photo: Izquierda Unida Europa
Last Monday, a European Parliament mission to occupied Palestine was to begin, meaning that an official delegation would observe first hand, from the beginning of the pandemic, the consequences of the apartheid imposed by the Zionist regime specifically focusing on the West Bank, including Jerusalem. A few days before this visit took place, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied entry to Manu Pineda, the chair of the European Parliament’s EU-Palestinian Relations Committee, which has led to the cancellation of the entire delegation’s visit.
This is not the first time that Israel has denied access to representatives of foreign countries or institutions that maintain diplomatic relations with the Zionist state. In August 2019, it did not allow entry to two U.S. Democratic Members of Congress, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The EU Delegation to Gaza was also prohibited and expelled, and for more than a decade they have not allowed access to Gaza for anyone from the European Parliament so as to avoid any report on the situation of Palestinians living there.
It is not by chance that the entry ban comes after Manu Pineda brought the murder of the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the plenary session of the European Parliament. The Zionist entity maintains by all means at its disposal its policy of opacity and enforced silence: it assassinates journalists and international activists, imprisons aid workers and attempts by all means to deny Palestinians the ability to expose Zionist colonisation and apartheid under which they suffer and struggle to bring to an end. Israel seeks complete control of the Palestinian territory to continue its Zionist expansion plan that includes physical control but also information control that operates through concealment, propaganda and whitewashing strategies.
At its core, the Israeli project requires the oppression of the Palestinian people and the control of their land. These are an essential and necessary part of the Zionist system. Therefore, the regime blocks any attempt to investigate its crimes; even if it comes from the same EU which has pampered it since its foundation, that is still a preferential trading partner and which has always looked the other way to the colonial barbarism imposed in Palestine, without daring to impose any sanction against this apartheid state.
From Samidoun we show our full support to all the representatives of the Delegation, to all the groups that have signed the joint statement of rejection and especially to Manu Pineda, who has been fighting for years to raise the voice of the Palestinian people in Europe.
We demand that, in the face of this tacit sanction, the European Parliament urgently push for sanctions and international isolation of the Zionist state. We expect the European Parliament to recognize that it is the responsibility of all the signatory states of the Geneva Convention to take measures to force the outlaw state of Israel to return to international legality, to comply with UN resolutions, to end the military occupation, apartheid and colonisation, to return all stolen lands, to return the Palestinian refugees expelled during the Nakba and to provide justice and reparations.
Despite all this, the Palestinian people remain rooted to their land and are still resisting. We will continue to unconditionally support their legitimate struggle for their liberation.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Japanese internationalist and revolutionary, Fusako Shigenobu, on the day of her liberation in Tokyo, alongside her daughter May and all of the comrades and friends who have stood by this courageous freedom fighter throughout nearly 22 years in Japanese prisons.
Like Georges Abdallah in France, Fusako Shigenobu is and was an internationalist struggler for the liberation of Palestine, deeply engaged in the revolutionary movement that swept the world and found expression through direct engagement in anti-imperialist struggle, particularly the Palestinian struggle. Fusako is a co-founder of the revolutionary organization, the Japanese Red Army (JRA), which struggled for a revolutionary future for Japan as well as working hand in hand with Palestinian revolutionaries in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for a liberated Palestine.
Fusako Shigenobu worked directly with Ghassan Kanafani when she worked with the PFLP’s public and international relations office where Al Hadaf, the Front’s magazine, was published. She facilitated the making of the film, “Red Army/PFLP Declaration of World War” and wrote many reports and calls to action for Japanese leftist newsletters and magazines, urging action for Palestine.
Three Japanese fighters for Palestine took part in a military operation at al-Lydd airport (“Ben Gurion Airport”) and had planned to sacrifice their lives in the operation. One fighter, Kozo Okamoto, however, was captured and imprisoned for decades until being released in a prisoner exchange with the Palestinian resistance.
Fusako was forced to live underground, where she gave birth to and raised her daughter, May Shigenobu, while serving as the leader of the Japanese Red Army. While the JRA engaged in armed struggle, it eventually became an organization engaged in grassroots solidarity organizing in support of Palestinian liberation. Fusako was detained in Japan in 2000 in Osaka and taken to Tokyo; she has been imprisoned since that time, writing books and poetry. She has continued to hold firm to her anti-imperialist principles and her commitment to Palestinian liberation.
Fusako Shigenobu’s legacy of internationalist commitment and sacrifice for Palestinian liberation is an honorable, inspirational life of struggle that reminds all of us of our responsibility to act, to organize and to resist imperialism. On this day of her liberation, we salute her and all those who have struggled alongside her, and we pledge to act to move the day forward of the liberation of all prisoners of the Palestinian cause and the anti-imperialist struggle, from the Zionist jails to the imperialist prisons of the U.S. and France, and beyond.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Read the bio of Fusako Shigenobu below prepared by Fusako’s daughter May and fellow comrades, and follow the Instagram account @freedomfighterfu and the Facebook Fusako Shigenobu page for more details.
Fusako Shigenobu Bio/Story
Fusako Shigenobu (1945- ) is a political prisoner, poet, writer, mother, and revolutionary fighter for the liberation of Palestine. She was imprisoned for 21.5 years after dedicating her life to the fight against global imperialism.
She joined the student movement in the late 1960s while attending night school at Meiji University in Tokyo and gradually became committed to revolutionary politics, and later joined the Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1969. The RAF was a communist party that advocated for revolution against the imperialist governments of the U.S. and Japan. Fusako became one of the senior leaders in 1970 and was tasked with starting an International Relations Bureau.
In 1971, Fusako left Japan due partially to her disagreement with Mori Tsuneo, the new default leader of RAF after mass arrests of its leadership. But the main reason for leaving Japan was to seek international solidarity with other ongoing revolutions and struggles against imperialism around the world. She headed to the Middle East after she learned about the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.
Upon arriving in Lebanon on March 1, 1971, Fusako started working with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular Marxist-Leninist organization founded by Palestinian doctor George Habash. Fusako started her solidarity work at the PFLP’s Public Relations office and magazine publication center, Al Hadaf. This was an era with very limited access to media and information, so her main focus was dispersing the information she gained about the Palestinian struggle and about the situation in the Middle East back to Japan by writing reports for Japanese leftist newspapers and magazines, as well as corresponding with different activists, artists, medics, journalists, and other specialists to encourage them to come and volunteer in the Palestinian camps or inform the Japanese public and create grassroots support.
In May 1971, she helped introduce Masao Adachi and Koji Wakamatsu to the Palestinian freedom fighters Fidayeen and facilitated the making of their film Red Army/PFLP Declaration of World War. She accompanied them to Jordan’s Jarash mountain Palestinian camp where they filmed the first-ever footage of Palestinian fighters in the Fidayeen’s daily life. These Fidayeen were massacred only two days after they left.
On May 30, 1972, three Japanese men volunteered to take part in a military operation at Lydda Airport (known to Israelis as Ben Gurion Airport ) that targeted Aharon Katzir, the lead scientist for Israel’s biological weapons. Twenty-five civilians were killed in the crossfire with Israeli security forces. Israel denied access to an international inquiry commission to investigate how so many civilians were killed in the incident. An independent investigation would have revealed who was responsible for killing civilians.
The three Japanese volunteers had planned to sacrifice their lives during the operation by using hand grenades, but one participant Kozo Okamoto survived and was captured. In the Israeli interrogation, it was revealed that he was a Red Army Faction (RAF) member. The three volunteers called themselves the Arab Red Army, and this was leaked to the Israeli media. The Israeli media named them the Japanese Red Army and thus the name existed before the organization came into existence in 1974.
Fusako was forced underground in fear of Israeli reprisal against the Japanese working with the Palestinian liberation movement. Even though Fusako had no involvement in the operation, Israel attempted to assassinate her by bombing the buildings where she resided. I Decided to Give Birth to You Under an Apple Tree, 2001).
Around this time, she became pregnant with her daughter who was born on March 1, 1973. Fusako and her daughter May lived underground for the next 28 years. May was named after the Japanese word for revolution (Kaku-mei) with the Kanji character meaning “life.”（命）
While remaining underground, the Japanese volunteers for the PFLP decided to create a political organization in 1974. Fusako became the leader and spokesperson for this internationalist leftist revolutionary organization that took on the name Japanese Red Army (and Arab-Red Army in its early stages). They conducted several operations against capitalist-imperialist entities such as the Shell corporation in Singapore (1974), as well as demanding the release of political prisoners by occupying the French Embassy in the Hague (1974) and the US Consulate in Kuala Lumpur in (1975).
After the JRA became an independent entity in 1974, it sought to ensure that civilians would not be harmed in any future operations. After a change in policy, all their militaristic operations ceased by the late 1980s. The group decided to continue their work by focusing on grassroots support and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Fusako states, “The reasons we aborted the 1970s-style armed struggle was because along with the UN recognition of Palestinians (and due to the many deaths) my thinking was to cherish life in every struggle.”
Fusako authored 10 books while living underground and in prison, including a book of poetry. In her first book, My Love, My Revolution (1974), Fusako wrote: “I would like to see people brought up to help each other regardless of borders.”
In November 2000, Fusako was arrested in Osaka and taken to Tokyo. On many occasions, Fusako has publicly taken accountability for past JRA actions and apologized to all those unnecessarily harmed. On April 14, 2001, she dissolved the Japanese Red Army and stated she would continue the same work in Japan through legal means. The government charged her with two counts of passport forgery and alleged that she must have “conspired” in the planning of the 1974 hostage-taking operation at the French Embassy in the Hague (an operation that is well known to have been planned by the PFLP Waddie Haddad and led by Carlos, which injured one guard). The prosecution presented no concrete evidence of Fusako’s involvement and relied heavily on forced confession statements taken in the 1970s that were retracted by those witnesses on the stand during the trial. Disregarding such retractions, the judge sentenced her in 2005 to 20 years of imprisonment for possibly conspiring a “attempted manslaughter”.
Akin to other political prisoners, Fusako has been excessively punished because she openly challenges the legitimacy of the Japanese monarchy and government for perpetuating imperial systems of domination and discrimination. From prison, she wrote, “Japan is not a divine nation; we should become a humane nation.” (December 2000)
In 2008, she was diagnosed with colon and intestinal cancer and underwent three surgeries. In a 2017 letter from Hachioji Medical Prison in Tokyo, Shigenobu writes:
“If anti-nuclear protestors and anti-war protestors can join forces, they can change the future. I am hopeful…You could say that the world is ripe for revolution, in material terms. As long as humanity continues to be denied, the global humanist revolution will surely take place in a future generation.”
The Palestinian prisoners Khalil Awawdah and Raed Rayyan have been on hunger strike for 80 days and 45 days respectively. They continue their hunger strike in protest of their adminstrative detention without charge or trial. As part of the Israeli prisons procrastination policy, the trial date of Ahmad Manasra is now on 19th of June meaning he will be in solitary confinement for one more month, making it 6 months in isolation.
We demand freedom for the hunger striking prisoners, Ahmad Manasra, and all Palestinian political prisoners!
Most recently, the Israeli offensive force has shot dead Amjad Fayed 17 year old. Confrontations are happening against the occupation all over Palestine, demolitions are happening everyday, and Shireen Abu Akleh’s death still pains the heart.
Supported by:
Youth Front For Palestine,
Manchester Palestine Action,
Manchester PSC,
United 4 Palestine
People for Palestine Manchester,
Manchester Youth for Palestine,
Manchester Stands,
BDS UoM,
Arthur Solutions,
Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine,
Palestinian Forum In Britain, Manchester,
Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition,
Greater Manchester Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Khalil Awawdeh, father of 4 has been on hunger strike for over 80 days.
Raed Rayyan has been on hunger strike for over 44 days.
Ahmad Manasra has been imprisoned since the age of 13. He is now 21.
We are calling for their immediate release!!!
Looking forward seeing you there. Please share this message around 📨 #FreeThemAll 🇵🇸
🖊 Any questions contact @essad_48 via Instagram or 07340540498 via WhatsApp.
Join the Palestinian Youth Movement in Montreal in demanding the immediate release and freedom of Palestinian political prisoners who are under administrative detention — Khalil Awawdeh and Raed Rayyan. Refusing to comply to Zionists’ attempts to silence and repress, Awawdeh has been on hunger strike for 81 days (as of May 23rd) and Rayyan has been on hunger strike for 46 days (also as of May 23rd).
We will be gathering on Wednesday May 25th, at the intersection of Guy Concordia and Maisonneuve at 6:30pm to amplify their voices of resistance.
There are currently over 4,500 Palestinian political prisoners detained by the Zionist Occupation forces. This mass incarceration — with no release date in sight, consistent psychological abuse, denial of family visit, and excessive use of solitary confinement — is a collective punishment to repress all attempts at Palestinian Liberation. In these conditions, hunger strikes are often the only available forms of protesting imprisonment.
MONTRÉAL:
Rejoignez le Mouvement de la jeunesse palestinienne à Montréal pour demander la libération immédiate des prisonniers politiques palestiniens qui sont en détention administrative – Khalil Awawdeh et Raed Rayyan. En refusant de se soumettre aux attaques des sionistes pour les réduire au silence et à la répression, Awawdeh est en grève de la faim depuis 81 jours (en date du 23 mai) et Rayyan est en grève de la faim depuis 46 jours (également en date du 23 mai).
Nous nous rassemblerons le mercredi 25 mai, à l’intersection des rues Guy Concordia et Maisonneuve à 18h30 pour amplifier leurs voix de résistance.
Il y a actuellement plus de 4 500 prisonniers politiques palestiniens détenus par les forces d’occupation sionistes. Cette incarcération massive – sans aucune date de libération en vue, avec des abus psychologiques constants, le refus des visites familiales et le recours excessif à l’isolement – est une punition collective visant à réprimer toute tentative de libération de la Palestine. Dans ces conditions, les grèves de la faim sont souvent les seules moyens disponibles pour protester contre l’emprisonnement.
On the 22nd anniversary of the Lebanese Resistance’s liberation of the south of Lebanon from 22 years of Israeli occupation, we are republishing our report on the liberation of Khiam prison, the infamous site of torture of Lebanese strugglers for liberation. Khiam was liberated two days before the complete liberation of South Lebanon (excepting the Shebaa Farms). In July 2021, the Ghassan Kanafani Samidoun brigade to Lebanon visited Khiam prison and met with former prisoners as well as the Mleeta resistance landmark, honoring the achievements and sacrifices of the Resistance. Today, Lebanon continues to resist, and the Lebanese Resistance continues to stand with the Palestinian Resistance toward total liberation.
**
25 May not only marks the anniversary of the liberation of South Lebanon from 22 years of Israeli occupation and oppression by the Lebanese Resistance, but also the liberation of Lebanese political prisoners from the infamous Khiam prison. On 23 May 2000, 144 Lebanese prisoners were liberated from Khiam, 2 days before the complete withdrawal of the occupation forces.
3,000 Lebanese stormed Khiam, the site of infamous torture of Lebanese resisters, breaking the locks with axes and crowbars. “Set up by the Israelis in 1985 on a hill in the village of Khiam in the South Lebanon Governorate, the Khiam prison was considered to be one of the most ruthless detention and interrogation centers in the Middle East. While the Israelis governed the prison, which included 67 cells and more than 20 solitary confinement cells, they used the South Lebanon Army (SLA), an Israeli proxy militia made up of Lebanese nationals, to execute their orders,” wrote Rana Harbi in Al-Akhbar.
Over 5,000 Lebanese, including 500 women, were imprisoned in Khiam prison over the years. Lebanese who participated in all forms of resistance to the occupation and its proxy forces were tortured brutally inside the notorious prison. The prison after its liberation became a museum and symbol of the torture of the occupiers and the victory of the Lebanese people and their resistance, of their freedom obtained through struggle and years of resistance.
In 2006, when Israel attacked Lebanon, it bombed the Khiam site, leaving a pile of rubble at the site of the prison, as if attempting to destroy the memory of its torture, brutality – and its defeat – preserved by the Lebanese people. However, the memory and commitment to resistance of the former prisoners – many of whom continue to struggle and play leading roles in Lebanese movements and parties, including Hezbollah and the Lebanese Communist Party – and of the people, cannot be erased by the bombing of the prison site, just as they could not be erased by torture, solitary confinement, and years of imprisonment.
The liberation of Khiam prison was not merely symbolic; it was central to the liberation of South Lebanon, just as the liberation of Palestinian prisoners is central to the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. The Lebanese people and Resistance continue to struggle against Israeli occupation of the Shebaa Farms; and the Palestinian people and their Resistance continue to struggle for the liberation of Palestine – its land, its people and its prisoners after over 74 years of occupation. The victory in South Lebanon and the liberation of Khiam remains an anniversary of liberation and a promise for future victories over torture, oppression and occupation.
The following testimonies of former prisoners held in Khiam prison were collected and published in Al-Akhbar by Rana Harbi in 2014:
Degol Abou Tass
In 1976, at the age of 16, I was arrested in a village in occupied Palestine for the first time. I told the Israelis that I trespassed by mistake. They knew I was lying but released me anyway. My parents packed my bags and forced me to leave the country. I found out later that I was the first Lebanese citizen to get arrested by the Israeli forces.
I came back to Rmeish [a village on the borders in South Lebanon] in the 1980s after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The civil war was still raging in Beirut but in the south different resistance movements, such as the Lebanese Communist Party, the Amal Movement, Syrian Social Nationalist Party and many other factions, united against the Israelis. A few months after my arrival, the SLA knocked on my parents door. I had to leave the country, again.
I was miserable. I couldn’t stay away for long. In the early 1990s I came back to Rmeish. All the armed groups were long gone. Hezbollah dominated the resistance scene. I tried to reconnect with old militia leaders but in vain.
One day, an old childhood friend pulled into my driveway. “Are you willing to fight with us?” he asked. I looked uncertain. “Us … Hezbollah,” he added. I climbed into his car and we drove away. In 1998, one of my neighbors ratted me out.
“A Christian with Hezbollah? Now thats something,” the Israeli officer interrogating me said. “How much are they paying you? We will pay double, no triple. What is your price? We can work something out,” he continued. I remained silent. “Okay then Jesus, welcome to Khiam prison.”
We were caged and treated like animals. Believe me, it wasn’t so much about the pain, but the humiliation.
On the morning of May 23, 2000, the guards were talking and walking outside, as usual. Suddenly, complete silence. You could hear a pin drop. We heard the daily UN airplane fly by so we knew it was 9:30 am. “Where did they go?” one prisoner asked. We had no idea.
“They are moving us to occupied Palestine,” yelled a prisoner in a cell right next to ours. I put my feet on the shoulders of two of my cellmates so that I can reach the small window right under the ceiling. “All of us?” I asked. “They will execute half and take half … this is what we heard,” replied another prisoner. Before I could even reply I heard a noise coming from a distance. I couldn’t see anything. The voices grew louder and louder.
“Looks like our parents are clashing with the SLA guards as usual,” one prisoner said. “I bet my mother is still trying to bring me food,” another exclaimed. And then we heard gunshots. People were screaming. More gunshots.
“They are shooting our parents!” said one frightened detainee. “No, the mass execution began. They will execute half of us remember!” replied another. Panic attacks. Anxiety. Fear.
I put my ear against the door. I heard ululations. I heard prayers. I heard women. I heard children. Suddenly, the door opening through which food was usually served broke wide open. “You are liberated, you are liberated!” I fell on my knees. I thought I was hallucinating. I put my fist out. Two men grabbed my fist. “Allah akbar, Allah akbar (God is the greatest) … you are liberated!” My cellmates were all kneeling on the floor in disbelief. The locks were getting smashed from the outside. I cried aloud and the door broke wide open. I don’t really remember what happened next.
I was the first prisoner to get caught on camera. My parents watched the liberation of Khiam on TV because Rmeish was still under occupation at the time. They didn’t recognize me though. My hair and beard were too long and well, I was screaming “Allah akbar!”
Fourteen years later, I’m living with my wife and children in Rmeish, and every morning I drink my coffee while looking over occupied Palestine.
Adnan al-Amin
In November 1990 I was picking up photos from a store in Marjeyoun, a city in south Lebanon, when I got arrested. I was 19 at the time.
They put a tight black cover over my head and made me strip naked. Suspended from my bound wrists from a metal pole, hot and cold water was thrown on me consecutively … hot cold hot cold until I was completely soaked. Then they attached electrodes to my chest and other particularly sensitive areas of my body and electrocuted me, repeatedly.
In the 70 day interrogation period, I was tortured three times per day. I used to lose consciousness and wake up to find myself stumbling blindly in a pitch-black, 1m by 80cm by 80cm solitary confinement room.
We were tied to window grills naked for days in painful positions, freezing water thrown at us in the cold winter nights. We were whipped, beaten, kicked in the head and the jaw, burned, electrocuted, had ear-shattering whistling in our ears, and deprived of food and sleep …it was hard, very hard.
I endured the pain. With time, I became numb. I survived it all without saying a word. I was winning, I thought.
One morning, they dragged me into the interrogation room. “You didn’t tell me your sister was this beautiful,” one of the SLA officers said. My whole world came crashing down. “Wait until you see his mother,” said another. Handcuffed, I threw myself on him from across the table. It costed me 14 hours in the “chicken cage,” a 90-cubic-centimeter enclosure used for extra-severe punishment.
The SLA used to bring in the wives, sisters and daughters of the prisoners and treat them in a vulgar manner like taking off their head scarves, groping them and threatening to rape them. For me, the mere thought was intolerable. “Your sister will pay you a visit tomorrow. You miss her don’t you?”
“I’m a Hezbollah fighter,” I confessed.
Up to 12 prisoners were crammed in a tiny room. We were buried alive. The cells were like coffins. Light and air hardly penetrated through the small, barred windows located near the ceiling. We could barely breathe. We used to relieve ourselves in a black bucket placed in the corner. The heavy odor of human sweat and wastes was intolerable. We showered every three or four weeks. Once a month, we were allowed into the “sun or light room” for 20 minutes only.
One night in 1991 I woke up to the deafening screams of a detainee being tortured in the yard. The louder he screamed, the harder he got whipped. His cries were unbearable, beyond anything I had ever heard before. “You are killing him, you animals,” one of my fellow cellmates shouted.
We started banging on the door of the cell, kicking it with our feet, yelling and asking them to stop. Other prisoners in other cells joined us, but the lashes kept falling and the cries continued. And then … silence. Youssef Ali Saad, father of eight, died under torture on that cold January night. One month later, Asaad Nemr Bazzi died because of medical neglect.
Do you know what the worst part was? Fellow Lebanese citizens did this to us. I almost died on the hands of a man named Hussein Faaour, my neighbor in Khiam. Abu Berhan, another torturer I remember was from Aitaroun. The SLA members were all Lebanese, mostly from the south. Family members, neighbors, childhood friends, classmates, teachers … Lebanese who decided to sell their land and people for cash.
Lebanese who are now living among us like nothing happened, as if they did nothing! It breaks my heart that our former tormentors have escaped punishment so easily.
Fourteen years later, I’m still waiting for justice.
Nazha Sharafeddine
In 1988, I was in Beirut purchasing medicine for my pharmacy in al-Taybeh (a village in South Lebanon) when the SLA forces, aware of my role in transferring arms to Hezbollah fighters, first came looking for me. They stormed into our house again a week later but my mother told them I was in Bint Jbeil. It was the truth but they didn’t believe her.
I remember opening the front gate that afternoon and seeing my mother waiting, weeping and trembling on the doorstep. “They took away your sister and your sister-in-law along with Hadi (her five-month-old baby.) My daughter, my grandson!” she cried. I put on my clothes and waited for the SLA on the front porch. My sister was 20-years-old at the time and I was 26. My mother begged me to run away, but I didn’t.
My mother collapsed on the ground next to the SLA vehicle. I sat in the backseat and they took me away.
Blindfolded I was shoved into the interrogation room. Boiling water was thrown on my face, and my fingers and ears were electrocuted. I didn’t say a word. This went on for a month.
“I heard Hadi is sick,” one of the Israeli officers told me one morning. He wasn’t lying. My sister in law got infected and breastfeeding her child was not an option anymore. Psychologically, I suffered greatly. I wished they would just beat me up instead. I struggled, but I remained silent. Two months later Hadi and his mother, along with my sister, got released. They were of no use to the Israelis anymore.
Women detainees, like men, were severely tortured. You see, gender equality is not always a good thing [she laughs]. Let me tell you how the torture stopped.
After spending 15 days in solitary confinement, I found out upon my return to the cell I shared with six other women that one of my fellow prisoners had an extremely disgusting skin rash. I examined her and as a pharmacist I knew that her rash was contagious. As planned, I got infected. Soon, my skin started changing and I looked like an acid attack victim.
Clearly disgusted by my deteriorating skin, the SLA guard dragged me by my hair into yet another torture session. The torturer, a woman, was waiting for me. With my hair still trapped between the guards fingers, he forced me down to my knees. Before the torturer’s fist reached my jaw, I told her that my skin condition was contagious. The guard instantly let go of my hair and they both took a step back. I tried to keep a straight face but I couldn’t hide my smile. Nobody laid a hand on me after that day.
Fourteen years later, I made peace with the past. My three years in Khiam were tough, but now I feel blessed. I really do.
Two Palestinian prisoners are currently on long-term hunger strikes to end their administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, in the colonial prisons of the occupation regime. Khalil Awawdeh has been on hunger strike for 83 days and Raed Rayan has been on hunger strike for 48 days. They are among up to 600 Palestinians held in administrative detention and 4,500 total political prisoners in occupation prisons, putting their bodies and lives on the line to end their arbitrary detention.
Awawdeh, 40, from Ithna, near al-Khalil in the West Bank of occupied Palestine, is the father of four daughters. His health has deteriorated rapidly, and he has been repeatedly transferred to civilian hospitals, only to be returned to the infamous Ramle prison clinic where he is currently held. This frequent transfers put further pressure on his already fragile condition, as he is unable to stand or walk, suffers from severe pain and has lost a significant amount of weight after nearly three months without food.
Awawdeh originally intended to pursue medical school abroad but enrolled in an engineering course in al-Khalil at Palestine Polytechnic University before his studies were interrupted in 2002. Jailed for five years by the Israeli occupation, he was released in 2007. Later that year, he was once again seized and held without charge or trial under administrative detention for nearly three years. He has since been repeatedly detained. He launched studies at economics at Al-Quds Open University, which were again interrupted on 27 December 2021, when he was thrown in administrative detention without charge or trial once again.
He launched his hunger strike to demand an end to his detention without charge or trial. Transferred to the Ramleh prison clinic from Ofer prison after two months of hunger strike, he has been repeatedly taken to civilian hospitals only to be returned to the Ramleh prison, notorious for poor treatment and negligent healthcare. According to his lawyer, Ahlam Haddad and the Palestinian Prisoners Society , he is currently suffering from severe fatigue and exhaustion, severe headaches, severe pain throughout his body, and vision and concentration problems. This was combined with severe vomiting which prevented him from drinking water for several days.
His transfer to a civilian hospital is conditioned by the prison administration on taking food supplements and medical examinations, which he refuses.
The prison administration put pressure on him and his conditions of detention are very harsh and subjected to repeated demands to end his strike. He was denied access to wash or shower for 40 days of his hunger strike, and he has lost over 20kg since the start of his hunger strike.
Rally of support with Khalil Awawdeh
Raed Rayan, 27, has been on hunger strike for 48 days. From the village of Beit Duqqu, northwest of occupied Jerusalem, he has been imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 November 2021. He was seized only months after his release from a previous period of administrative detention; he was arrested for the first time in June 2019 and jailed without charge or trial until April 2021.
Originally ordered detained for six months, his detention was extended for an additional four months in April 2022, sparking him to launch his hunger strike in protest. To protest against this decision, and to demand his release, he started a hunger strike on April 6, 2022. Since the beginning of his hunger strike, he has not received a medical examination. He suffers from headaches and pains all over his body and has difficulty walking.
What Is Administrative Detention?
Administrative detention was first used in Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then adopted by the Zionist regime; it is now used routinely to target Palestinians, especially community leaders, activists, and influential people in their towns, camps and villages.
There are currently approximately 600 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,450 Palestinian political prisoners. These orders are issued by the military and approved by military courts on the basis of “secret evidence”, denied to both Palestinian detainees and their attorneys. Issued for up to six months at a time, they are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians — including minor children — can spend years jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.
Palestinian administrative detainees have been boycotting occupation military courts for 144 days. Under the slogan “Our decision is freedom – no to administrative detention” , they protest against their incarceration and their conditions of detention. Today, 24 May, they refused to stand for roll call in further protest of their arbitrary imprisonment.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine to take action to support these Palestinian hunger strikers and all Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom, for their own lives and for the Palestinian people. They are confronting the system of Israeli oppression on the front lines, with their bodies and their lives, to bring the system of administrative detention to an end. Take these actions below to stand with the hunger strikers and the struggle for liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!
TAKE ACTION:
Join the Social Media Campaign!
There is a growing social media campaign to #FreeRaed and #FreeKhalil. Use these hashtags and to post on Twitter and Instagram. Post in all languages! Take action and join the social media outrage and break the isolation imposed upon Raed and Khalil by the Israeli occupation!
Protest in your city or country!
Join the many protests taking place around the world — confront, isolate and besiege the Israeli embassy or consulate in your city or country of residence. Or take to the streets in your neighborhood, on your campus or at a government building in your area. Make it clear that the people are with Palestine! Send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net. One such demonstration is taking place on Wednesday, 25 May in Montreal at 6:30 pm at Guy-Concordia. Click here for details.
Boycott Israel!
The international, Arab and Palestinian campaign to boycott Israel can play an important role at this critical time. Local boycott groups can protest and label Israeli produce and groceries, while many complicit corporations – including HP, G4S, Puma, Teva and others, profit from their role in support Zionist colonialism throughout occupied Palestine. By participating in the boycott of Israel, you can directly help to throw a wrench in the economy of settler colonialism.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its strongest support and solidarity to Fusako Shigenobu, internationalist prisoner of the Palestinian liberation struggle. She has been jailed in Japan for over 21 years as a political prisoner for her role as a founder of the revolutionary organization the Japanese Red Army (JRA), which struggled for a revolutionary future for Japan as well as working hand in hand with Palestinian revolutionaries in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for a liberated Palestine. On May 28 in Japan (May 27 in the Americas), Fusako Shigenobu will be liberated from imprisonment, and her daughter, May Shigenobu, is working with comrades and supporters around the world to welcome her liberation.
We are republishing the press release and biography of Fusako Shigenobu below and urge all supporters of Samidoun, the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian struggle to view the livestream, organize group gatherings for the livestream and show your solidarity for Fusako, welcoming a struggler for Palestine home after decades of injustice.
The livestream will take place on the channels below at 3:30-6:30 pm Pacific time on May 27, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Eastern time on May 27, 11:30 pm May 27 – 2:30 am May 28 in central Europe, 00:30 am to 3:30 am in Lebanon and Palestine and 7:30 to 10:30 am in Japan.
Japanese Political Prisoner Fusako Shigenobu will be released on May 28, 2022
PRESS RELEASE
Fusako Shigenobu, political prisoner and founder of the leftist revolutionary organization the Japanese Red Army (JRA), will be released on May 28, 2022, in Tokyo after 21.5 years of unjust imprisonment. Fusako and the JRA struggled for the Palestinian cause and their liberation since the early 1970s.
We as an international support collective would like to share with you the creation of an information source for Fusako Shigenobu and her writings for the first time in English. For over 50 years, her writings have been limited to Japanese, so we want to expand a readership base and tell the true story that has been suppressed by the state-sponsored narrative and media spin.
For the last two decades, the Olive Tree（オリーブの樹), a support group for Fusako in Japan, has published 157 newsletters sharing her writings from prison. We are the international branch supporting Fusako called the Olive Tree International Collective. Working alongside her daughter, May (Mei) Shigenobu, our goal is to tell the true story of Fusako’s life and legacy and to correct the corporate media’s use of racist terminology, and state-sponsored narratives to frame the actions of the JRA while ignoring their humanitarian work to support Palestinians.
Help us celebrate her long overdue freedom and to spread information from her and about her. To do that please support us by:
Sharing this information with your network as widely as possible and sharing this flyer/banner on your website (Flyer and banner below this text and before the bio of Fusako).
Write messages that mention Fusako Shigenobu on your individual social media. These are the hashtags: #Fusako_Shigenobu #FreedomFighterFusako #Freedom_Fighter_Fusako #Fusako_Liberation
Fusako Shigenobu (1945- ) is a political prisoner, poet, writer, mother, and revolutionary fighter for the liberation of Palestine. She was imprisoned for 21.5 years after dedicating her life to the fight against global imperialism.
She joined the student movement in the late 1960s while attending night school at Meiji University in Tokyo and gradually became committed to revolutionary politics, and later joined the Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1969. The RAF was a communist party that advocated for revolution against the imperialist governments of the U.S. and Japan. Fusako became one of the senior leaders in 1970 and was tasked with starting an International Relations Bureau.
In 1971, Fusako left Japan due partially to her disagreement with Mori Tsuneo, the new default leader of RAF after mass arrests of its leadership. But the main reason for leaving Japan was to seek international solidarity with other ongoing revolutions and struggles against imperialism around the world. She headed to the Middle East after she learned about the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.
Upon arriving in Lebanon on March 1, 1971, Fusako started working with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular Marxist-Leninist organization founded by Palestinian doctor George Habash. Fusako started her solidarity work at the PFLP’s Public Relations office and magazine publication center, Al Hadaf. This was an era with very limited access to media and information, so her main focus was dispersing the information she gained about the Palestinian struggle and about the situation in the Middle East back to Japan by writing reports for Japanese leftist newspapers and magazines, as well as corresponding with different activists, artists, medics, journalists, and other specialists to encourage them to come and volunteer in the Palestinian camps or inform the Japanese public and create grassroots support.
In May 1971, she helped introduce Masao Adachi and Koji Wakamatsu to the Palestinian freedom fighters Fidayeen and facilitated the making of their film Red Army/PFLP Declaration of World War. She accompanied them to Jordan’s Jarash mountain Palestinian camp where they filmed the first-ever footage of Palestinian fighters in the Fidayeen’s daily life. These Fidayeen were massacred only two days after they left.
On May 30, 1972, three Japanese men volunteered to take part in a military operation at Lydda Airport (known to Israelis as Ben Gurion Airport ) that targeted Aharon Katzir, the lead scientist for Israel’s biological weapons. Twenty-five civilians were killed in the crossfire with Israeli security forces. Israel denied access to an international inquiry commission to investigate how so many civilians were killed in the incident. An independent investigation would have revealed who was responsible for killing civilians.
The three Japanese volunteers had planned to sacrifice their lives during the operation by using hand grenades, but one participant Kozo Okamoto survived and was captured. In the Israeli interrogation, it was revealed that he was a Red Army Faction (RAF) member. The three volunteers called themselves the Arab Red Army, and this was leaked to the Israeli media. The Israeli media named them the Japanese Red Army and thus the name existed before the organization came into existence in 1974.
Fusako was forced underground in fear of Israeli reprisal against the Japanese working with the Palestinian liberation movement. Even though Fusako had no involvement in the operation, Israel attempted to assassinate her by bombing the buildings where she resided. I Decided to Give Birth to You Under an Apple Tree, 2001).
Around this time, she became pregnant with her daughter who was born on March 1, 1973. Fusako and her daughter May lived underground for the next 28 years. May was named after the Japanese word for revolution (Kaku-mei) with the Kanji character meaning “life.”（命）
While remaining underground, the Japanese volunteers for the PFLP decided to create a political organization in 1974. Fusako became the leader and spokesperson for this internationalist leftist revolutionary organization that took on the name Japanese Red Army (and Arab-Red Army in its early stages). They conducted several operations against capitalist-imperialist entities such as the Shell corporation in Singapore (1974), as well as demanding the release of political prisoners by occupying the French Embassy in the Hague (1974) and the US Consulate in Kuala Lumpur in (1975).
After the JRA became an independent entity in 1974, it sought to ensure that civilians would not be harmed in any future operations. After a change in policy, all their militaristic operations ceased by the late 1980s. The group decided to continue their work by focusing on grassroots support and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Fusako states, “The reasons we aborted the 1970s-style armed struggle was because along with the UN recognition of Palestinians (and due to the many deaths) my thinking was to cherish life in every struggle.”
Fusako authored 10 books while living underground and in prison, including a book of poetry. In her first book, My Love, My Revolution (1974), Fusako wrote: “I would like to see people brought up to help each other regardless of borders.”
In November 2000, Fusako was arrested in Osaka and taken to Tokyo. On many occasions, Fusako has publicly taken accountability for past JRA actions and apologized to all those unnecessarily harmed. On April 14, 2001, she dissolved the Japanese Red Army and stated she would continue the same work in Japan through legal means. The government charged her with two counts of passport forgery and alleged that she must have “conspired” in the planning of the 1974 hostage-taking operation at the French Embassy in the Hague (an operation that is well known to have been planned by the PFLP Waddie Haddad and led by Carlos, which injured one guard). The prosecution presented no concrete evidence of Fusako’s involvement and relied heavily on forced confession statements taken in the 1970s that were retracted by those witnesses on the stand during the trial. Disregarding such retractions, the judge sentenced her in 2005 to 20 years of imprisonment for possibly conspiring a “attempted manslaughter”.
Akin to other political prisoners, Fusako has been excessively punished because she openly challenges the legitimacy of the Japanese monarchy and government for perpetuating imperial systems of domination and discrimination. From prison, she wrote, “Japan is not a divine nation; we should become a humane nation.” (December 2000)
In 2008, she was diagnosed with colon and intestinal cancer and underwent three surgeries. In a 2017 letter from Hachioji Medical Prison in Tokyo, Shigenobu writes:
“If anti-nuclear protestors and anti-war protestors can join forces, they can change the future. I am hopeful…You could say that the world is ripe for revolution, in material terms. As long as humanity continues to be denied, the global humanist revolution will surely take place in a future generation.”
UPDATE: Palestine Actionists in London were released, but two Palestine Action detainees – Ronnie Barkan and Stavit Sinai, were denied bail on Monday, 23 May. We will provide updates — in the meantime, please send messages of solidarity to palactprisoners@protonmail.com
In the past week, the campaign by Palestine Action in Britain to #ShutElbitDown has grown with five actions that have caused significant damage to the Israeli arms manufacturer, which profits from the manufacture and sale of weaponry “battle-tested” on Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Currently, three activists are being remanded in British prison for their participation in these direct action protests after prosecutors noted that Palestine Action’s activities had forced the closure of Elbit’s arms factory in Oldham.
On Sunday, 15 May — Nakba Day — 9 Palestine Action activists stormed Elbit’s Bristol headquarters, smashing equipment and windows, and “destroying the building’s interior, dismantling offices and equipment, and barricading themselves inside, while others blocked road access to the site.”
As Palestine Action noted, “This action takes place on the 74th annual Nakba Day, which commemorates the atrocities perpetrated by Zionist militia, against Palestinians, during the establishment of the modern day State of Israel. In 1948, armed Zionist extremists forcefully displaced more than half the indigenous population of Palestine, massacring many thousands who remained. Palestinians call this historical event the Nakba, which means ‘catastrophe’. Israel’s violent policies of ethnic cleansing, land theft, occupation and siege continue to this day, underpinned by an apartheid system.
Despite Israel’s many documented war crimes, including the recent assassination of the beloved journalist, Shireen Abu Aqleh, the apartheid state has consistently received unwavering support from Western governments. British complicity dates back to the British Mandate over Palestine and the subsequent signing of the Balfour Agreement, in 1917, which put the land of Palestine in the hands of Zionists. Britain continues to support the apartheid regime today via the export of weapons made by Elbit Systems on British soil. Today, we say: it ends now.”
Photo: Palestine Action
Following this action, 9 were arrested and remanded. While six activists have since been released, three more, including anti-Zionist Israelis Ronnie Barkan and Stavit Sinai and a third Palestine Action activist, will face a new bail hearing on Monday, 23 May, and we urge all activists for Palestine to support the Palestine Action political detainees in Britain and demand their immediate release.
The London headquarters of Elbit at 77 Kingsway was twice targeted by activists. They locked themselves to the doors, dousing the building in red paint and preventing business as usual from taking place. On two more occasions, the landlords that provide space to Elbit, JLL, was hit with red paint and broken windows, highlighting that renting to apartheid arms profiteers is unacceptable.
One activist from the London actions is also detained and needs support in court on Monday, 23 May (details below!)
Palestine Action’s direct actions to confront war profiteers are sending a clear message that there is a price to be paid for continuing to produce, manufacture and profit from the death and destruction targeting the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli occupation. As Palestine Action notes: “74 years of British-backed occupation – it’s time to end complicity. ‘Resistance until victory’ means non-stop action until we’ve Shut Elbit Down.”
To date, multiple attempts to prosecute Palestine Action activists have ended with dropped charges and other victories for the activists, while other cases have so far been delayed. The British prosecutor’s statement urging imprisonment for Palestine Action activists is the first official admission that Palestine Action’s direct action activities forced Elbit’s Oldham factory to close, a fact obvious to all observing the costly damage inflicted by people of conscience determined to put an end to the manufacture of death. As Palestine Action noted, “The [Crown Prosecution Service] is using the success of Palestine Action as a reason to imprison activists.”
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses our strongest solidarity with Palestine Action and joins the demand for the immediate release of the detainees. Here are some actions that you can take to support Palestine Action and the campaign to #ShutElbitDown:
Court Support Needed!
Support activists facing legal action, including 3 of the Bristol 9 who have been imprisoned after their action:
Bail hearings:
Monday 23rd May at 10AM (Tomorrow!) Bristol Crown Court, 9 Small St, Bristol, BS1 1DB
Monday 23rd May at 9.30AM (Tomorrow!) Westminster Magistrates Court, 181 Marylebone Rd, London, NW1 5BR
Plea hearing: Monday 23rd May at 9.30AM (Tomorrow!) Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, 51 Holloway Rd, London, N7 8JA
Send your letters and messages of support to the 3 activists who remain in prison. Email them to the Palestine Action support committee at: palactprisoners@protonmail.com
Protest to Shut Elbit Down! Join a protest in your area, or join local activists outside Elbit’s factory, UAV Engines in Shenstone, on Tuesday from 11AM at UAV Engines Ltd, Lynn Lane, Shenstone, WS14 0DR
The six Palestinian prisoners, heroes of the Freedom Tunnel — Mahmoud al-Ardah, Mohammed al-Ardah, Yaqoub Qadri, Ayham Kamamji, Munadil Nafa’at and Zakaria Zubaidi — were sentenced by an occupation court in Nazareth to an additional five years in prison for their escape from the high-security Gilboa prison in September 2021. They liberated themselves from the prison by digging a tunnel with the use of small materials on hand over a long period of time. Through their daring escape, they inspired Palestinians and people around the world with their ingenuity and willingness to sacrifice for freedom, and exposed the myth of the impenetrable Israeli occupation security systems. The symbol of the metal spoon — one of the implements used to dig the tunnel — has become a symbol of Palestinian steadfastness, creativity and unbreakable will to freedom.
After they were seized again by occupation forces, the six have been subjected to torture, physical abuse and solitary confinement, which was confronted by mass protests of the prisoners’ movement as a whole. All six were today ordered to 5 additional years of imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 NIS ($1488 USD), in addition to an 8-month additional suspended sentence for a period of three years.
This comes in addition to the imposition of four-year sentences on Mohammed Abu Bakr, Iyad Jaradat, Ali Abu Bakr, Mahmoud Shreim and Qusai Marei for assisting their fellow Palestinian prisoners.
In response to the sentences, Yaqoub Qadri affirmed: “We do not care what the sentence is. The important thing is that we made the impossible possible; we were able to break through the Israeli security services and dealt a blow. We were able to achieve something that was unthinkable for Israel and its security mechanisms.”
Even the judge in the court essentially affirmed Qadri’s comments that the sentence is a form of revenge for exposing the fragility of colonial domination in Palestine, noting that their self-liberation, “paralyzed the nation for days” and caused large financial expenditures, imposing additional costs on the occupation.
The sentence came only a week after occupation forces killed Daoud al-Zubaidi, Zakaria Zubaidi’s brother, a former Palestinian prisoner and a longtime struggler of the Palestinian resistance in Jenin. Occupation forces have repeatedly invaded Jenin refugee camp in an attempt to suppress the growing resistance movement there; it was in one such raid where the occupation military assassinated beloved Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.
The Palestinian resistance has affirmed that the six Freedom Tunnel heroes are a priority in any prisoner exchange agreement with the occupation, as symbols of freedom to the Palestinian people.
The six heroes of the Freedom Tunnel are:
Mahmoud Abdullah al-Ardah, 46 years old and born in 1975 in Arraba, Jenin, has been imprisoned since 21 September 1996. A struggler in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, he is already sentenced to 99 years in occupation prisons. He has been involved in multiple attempts to liberate himself and his fellow Palestinian prisoners from colonial imprisonment.
Mohammed Qasem al-Ardah, 39 years old, from Arraba, Jenin, who has been imprisoned since 14 May 2002. A struggler with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, he is already sentenced to 3 life sentences and 20 years in occupation prisons.
Ayham Fouad Kamamji, 35 years old, from Kufr Dan, Jenin, and a struggler in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has been detained in the occupation prisons since 2006 and sentenced to two life sentences.
Yaqoub Mahmoud Qadri, 49 years old, from Bir al-Basha, Jenin, a struggler in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, is sentenced to life imprisonment and 35 years.
Munadil Yaqoub Nafa’at, 26 years old, from Ya’bad, Jenin, has been detained since 2019 and has not yet been sentenced by the occupation military courts.
Zakaria Mohammed Zubaidi, 46, from Jenin refugee camp, has been detained since 2019 and has not been sentenced by the occupation military courts. He was previously a senior leader in Fateh’s resistance organization in Jenin, seized again in 2019 in another attempt to suppress the Palestinian resistance in Jenin.
**
In their messages through lawyers, statements, and shouted greetings from occupation courts suppressed by armed guards, all six have repeatedly affirmed their commitment to the path of resistance and liberation for Palestine and the region, refusing to back down from their clear positions despite the risk to themselves.
The rearrest and additional sentencing of the six self-liberated prisoners has only further intensified the light of liberation that they represent for humanity or to lessen the blow they have dealt to the mirage of Israeli invincibility and security control. They reflect the unbreakable Palestinian will to live, struggle and thrive in the most seemingly impossible circumstances.
The Freedom Tunnel and the six heroes of the self-liberation operation represent the irrepressible hope of freedom and commitment to liberation that no amount of militarized repression and Zionist colonization has suppressed, for over 74 years. The actions of this “Freedom Brigade” are not only a symbol of hope for Palestinians but also for everyone in the world who seeks justice and freedom.
Building on the experiences of Palestinian prisoners who liberated themselves in the past, they exposed the crumbling edifices of the Israeli occupation and forced them to waste tens of millions of dollars in their massive manhunt. Their bravery and commitment to freedom is celebrated throughout Palestine, from the river to the sea, and everywhere around the world. Spoons – symbols of the rusty kitchen tools they used to dig their way to liberation – have come to represent the irrepressible drive to freedom. Their capture by the Israeli occupation does nothing to dim the light of their heroism and the inspiration they provide for the future of the liberation struggle.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network emphasizes and amplifies the call of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement to stand with the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people today to demand justice and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea.
Two Palestinian prisoners are currently on long-term hunger strikes to end their administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, in the colonial prisons of the occupation regime. Khalil Awawdeh has been on hunger strike for 83 days and Raed Rayan has been on hunger strike for 48 days. They are among up to 600 Palestinians held in administrative detention and 4,500 total political prisoners in occupation prisons, putting their bodies and lives on the line to end their arbitrary detention.
Fusako Shigenobu Bio/Story
