07th January 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine
Updated 10th January:
Sireen Khudairi was released at 17:15 on the 8th of January.
Sireen was brought inside Salem Court at 10:30am after being made to stand outside for an hour with her hands and feet shackled and without a jacket.
Once brought into the courtroom Sireen endured relentless questioning until 17:00. During this time her feet remained shackled.
Sireen was brought to Salem at 08:00am after being kept at Huwwara military camp until 12pm on the day of her arrest. At Huwwara military camp she was made to stand outside in the freezing cold with no jacket, blindfolded, shackled (hands and feet) and with no shoes for several hours. She was then taken to another camp, the location she was uncertain of, but it was 15 minutes from Huwwara. Before being returned to Huwwara and then transferred to Hasharon prison overnight.
Sireen also stated that outside her home when she was kidnapped, she was told by Israeli forces that they would not handcuff her if she came quietly. This was in the presence of a British citizen. As soon as she was outside and out of sight of her international friend she was handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded.
All information above is from an activist working with the Solidarity Movement for Free Palestine (SFP).
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Updated 8th January:
Sireen was released today from Salem Court. More details to follow.
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Updated 7th January:
Sireen is still being held by Israeli forces, she will be taken to Salem Court near Jenin tomorrow. More updates to follow.
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At 2:30am on Tuesday morning, Israeli soldiers and secret service agents entered a house in the city of Nablus and arrested Sireen Khudairi, a 24-year-old schoolteacher and activist. No arrest warrant was given, although Sireen was threatened with physical violence if she did not accompany the soldiers.
This is the second time in a year that Sireen has been arrested without a warrant. On May 14th 2013 she was arrested and held for two months on the charge of having written a Facebook page that “compromised the security of the state of Israel”. Her detention included 22 days of solitary confinement and no access to a lawyer or her family. She was eventually released from prison but placed under house arrest, having paid bail of NIS 7000 and on the condition that she refrain from using the internet.
On 16th September, the Israeli military court found Sireen not guilty but ordered her to refrain from activism for five years.
Sireen’s family home has been raided various times since then, as it appears that she is wanted to testify against other activists. This is yet another event in the ongoing campaign of intimidation against non-violent Palestinian activists, and the criminalization of protest by the Israeli state.
For more information on Sireen’s case and how to act, please visit: