Free Adnan Nimer!

Please give to the ISM legal fund and help us release Adnan Ahmad Nimer, a 19 year-old activist from Beit Sira. Let the people of Beit Sira know that they are not alone.

During a demonstration on the 24th of March, Israeli Border Police beat Adnan to the ground with clubs, held both his arms and began strangling him. Adnan’s only way to get the solider to stop was to use his mouth. He bit the fingers of one of the soldiers that was beating him as hard as he could, breaking two of the soldier’s fingers. Other soldiers then continued to attack Adnan with clubs, breaking his front teeth.

Adnan was abducted from his home on the 8th of April at 2am by the Israeli military. Thirty soldiers surrounded the house, his father opened the door and the troops gathered the family into one room. They singled Adnan out, took him outside, handcuffed and blindfolded him then took him away. He is awaiting trail in the Ofer military detention centre.

Adnan had been active in the demonstrations that occur weekly in Beit Sira to protest against the apartheid wall and the continuing annexation of Palestinian land.

An Israeli military court ruled that Adnan be held until the end of the proceedings against him. Attorney Gabi Laski appealed to the court pointing out that Adnan acted in self-defence, that he did not try to deny this in his integration instead saying: “I bit him. Hard!” Nor did he try to escape arrest. The military court then agreed to release Adnan on a 20,000 Shekel bail(US $4500). This sum is the equivalent of two years income for Adnan’s impoverished family. Both attorney Gabi Laski and the Military prosecutors appealed. Laski asked to reduce the sum the prosecutor asked to keep Adnan behind bars. The military judge rejected the prosecutor’s appeal and agreed to reduce the bail to 12,000 shekel (US $2700).

Like many other Palestinian towns and villages, Beit Sira has its share of the grotesque Israeli annexation barrier and is surrounded by isolating settlements – in this case the Makabim settlement. An ongoing expansion of land theft has resulted in thousands of olive trees being uprooted and huge areas of agricultural land being cut off from the village.

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Please send a note with your donation specifying the ISM Legal fund.