Tag: Administrative Detention - Page 7 - International Solidarity Movement

Dying to live: A hunger striker speaks in Gaza

by Joe Catron

14 February 2012 | Mondoweiss

Yassar Salah (Photo: Joe Catron) - Click here for more images

As hundreds of Palestinians rallied in Gaza today to demand that Israel release Palestinian administrative detainee Khader Adnan, Yassar Salah, a 17-year veteran of Israel’s prison system, spoke about Adnan’s 60-day hunger strike and his own reasons for joining it.

“We are on hunger strike to show our sympathy and solidarity with Sheikh Khader Adnan, who is battling to overcome Israel’s system of administrative detention,” he told me in the protest tent outside Gaza’s International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) compound.

“Khader Adnan is fighting a just battle,” he said. “For that reason, he is continuing his struggle without paying attention to his own suffering. Losing his health, or even his life, doesn’t matter as much as ending injustice. Adnan is a hero. Freedom has a price, and he is paying the price of his freedom.”

Salah, who launched his hunger strike with ten other Gaza Strip residents on February 11, has taken similar actions before. “I hunger struck in prison several times, for 15, 18, and 20 days,” he said. “This is nothing new for me. I assure you that in this battle, we fight with our wills, not our bodies. By our hunger, by our pains, we are achieving our goals.”

Gaza protest in solidarity with Khader Adnan. (Photo: Joe Catron) - Click here for more images

“The Israelis humiliate their prisoners,” he told me when I asked about his years in detention. “They prevent us from continuing our education, or meeting out attorneys. Many prisoners are prevented from receiving family visits. Some are even isolated from their fellow prisoners. Prisoners are kept in cells alone for months, or even years, without any contact with the outside world. Sometimes guards entered our rooms in the middle of the night, searching for nothing, only to torment us.”

What did he and his fellow hunger strikers hope to accomplish, I asked him? “People here are showing sympathy and solidarity with Khader and his struggle,” he replied. “But the levels of sympathy and solidarity are not enough. We want more, among our people and outside.”

What kind of sympathy and solidarity? “They can organize sit-ins, maybe something athletic, or artistic, or political,” he said. “We want to see a variety of activities to express the message of Khader and the Palestinian people. The most important thing is for people to adopt his case as their own. The world must take action to stop his shameful treatment.”

(Photo: Joe Catron) - Click here for more images

Joe Catron is an international solidarity activist and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) organizer in Gaza, Palestine. He blogs and tweets.

URGENT: Heed Randa Adnan’s call. Military court rejects Khader Adnan’s appeal in de facto death sentence

13 February 2012 | Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

“My husband is dying inside an Israeli jail. The world should make sure I am able to see him,” she said. “And it should pressure the Israeli government to release him before it’s too late… Israel denied Khader any fairness or decency…But maybe the rest of humanity will show more mercy.” – Randa Adnan (via Joe Catron in Mondoweiss)

It is urgent that people take action around the world, as Khader Adnan’s persecution continues in his 58th day on hunger strike. On Monday, February 13, an Israeli military court rejected Adnan’s appeal. Adnan is being held without charge, on secret evidence. He is now in his 58th day of hunger strike, and entering an extremely critical health stage in which organ failure is imminent. The military court’s action is an effective death sentence for Khader Adnan, who has refused to stop his hunger strike so long as arbitrary detention, torture and abuse continue in the occupation’s prisons.

Carlos Latuff's cartoon for Khader Adnan

The Israeli military court action has shown once more the utter contempt of the Israeli occupation for Palestinian life. Khader Adnan has spent six years in Israeli prisons over different times in detention – almost all of that time with no charge or trial, held on secret evidence and at the whim of the illegal Israeli occupation.

Heed Randa’s call. Action is URGENT now more than ever. It is time to occupy Israeli consulates and embassies, engage in solidarity hunger strikes, and protests. Please use this form to send us information about your local protests and actions.

Khader Adnan is dying to live. Take action now to support him.

1. Organize a protest, occupation or solidarity hunger strike at your local Israeli Embassy (for a list, click here).

Post your local actions to the Khader Adnan facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Khader-Adnan/236953309725144 and tell us here: http://samidoun.ca/2012/02/tell-us-about-your-local-protest-for-khader-adnan/

Help us spread the word with social media after you take action.
Download this photo of Khader Adnan to use for your social media profile pictures and click on the suggested messages below and they will be automatically tweeted.

2. Call your government officials and demand that they pressure Israel publicly and privately to release Khader Adnan.
In Canada:

Call the Israeli Embassy in Ottawa at (613) 567-6450 OR your local Embassy (for a list, click here).

Call the Office of the Foreign Minister, John Baird (Tel: 613-990-7720; Email: bairdj@parl.gc.ca)

Just last week, Baird stated that “There is not a government on the planet today more supportive of Israel than Harper’s Canada.” Call Baird’s office and let him know that this shameful declaration implicates Canada in Israel’s crimes and human rights violations. Demand that Baird’s office call for Khader Adnan’s release.

In the US:

Call the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC (1.202.364.5500) OR your local Embassy (for a list, click here).

Call the office of Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs (1.202.647.7209)

Demand that Jeffrey Feltman bring this issue urgently to his counterparts in Israel and raise the question of Khader Adnan’s administrative detention.

3. Write to Israeli officials and demand an end to delay and the immediate, unconditional release of Khader Adnan. Samidoun has provided a template and an automated letter-writing system. Send yours and make your voice heard today!

4. It is important to note the responsibility of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Sign this petition and join hundreds demanding that the ICRC exercise its responsibilities to protect Palestinian prisoners.

5. Your creative resistance is needed: your articles, videos, and art. Spread the word:

Tweet Now: STOP Israeli Military de facto death sentence for #KhaderAdnan #Dying2Live http://samidoun.ca/?p=238

Randa Adnan: The world must intervene to save my husband

by Joe Catron

13 February 2012 | Mondoweiss

Randa and Khader Adnan's daughter Ma'ali, age four

As Khader Adnan entered his 59^th day on hunger strike, his wife Randa appealed for the international community to end his isolation and save his life.

“My husband is dying inside an Israeli jail. The world should make sure I am able to see him,” she said. “And it should pressure the Israeli government to release him before it’s too late.”

Khader, a 33-year-old baker, graduate Birzeit University economics student, and Islamic Jihad Movement activist, was detained in a 3:30 am raid on his home in Arraba, Jenin on December 17. Israel’s forces have arrested him eight times, and he has spent over six years in its prisons, mostly under administrative detention orders. He has been unable to complete his studies because of these repeated imprisonments.

He began a hunger strike the same day to protest Israel’s administrative detention policy and the brutality of his captors, and to demand his freedom. Israeli interrogators responded by continuing the beatings that began during his arrest, tying him into painful positions for hours, ripping hair from his beard, smearing dirt onto his face, throwing him into a “punishment cell” with bright lights and loud noises intended to prevent sleep, and denying him treatment for his gastric illness, the disc problems in his back, and the injuries their fellow soldiers had inflicted on him. After they graphically insulted members of his family, including his two young daughters and elderly mother – a form of psychological torture used by Israeli troops to extract information from Palestinian suspects – he launched a speech strike, refusing to talk with them as well.

On January 8, an Israeli military court sentenced Khader to administrative detention until May 8. Israel holds 310 Palestinians under this extrajudicial measure, which allows its military to detain prisoners indefinitely without presenting accusations or evidence against them. Like other Palestinian prisoners, administrative detainees have minimal access to their families, whom Israel denies basic information about their relatives’ cases and conditions.

“I didn’t know what had happened to him until December 30, when the court held his first hearing,” Randa said. “My security application was rejected, so the prisons administration wouldn’t allow me to see him until a human rights organization coordinated our family’s first visit to him in the hospital last Tuesday. They refused to allow us to stay with him for more than 15 minutes.”

By then, she said, her husband could barely move to greet her. His shrunken, ulcerated body seemed like a shell, with its life already gone. She was shocked, and her daughters Ma’ali (four years old) and Bissan (one and a half) frightened, by the sight of his long nails and his beard and hair, which were overgrown, disheveled, and falling out in clumps. He told her that his captors had prevented him from bathing, grooming, or changing his clothes since his arrest, 52 days earlier.

“Israel has treated my husband without any humanity or compassion for his deteriorating health,” Randa said. “It’s obviously very bad, yet they’re not only preventing him from receiving any treatment, but also attacking his basic dignity as a human being.”

A letter from Khader’s cell in the Ramleh prison hospital Saturday seemed resigned to his likely fate. “The only thing I can do is offer my soul to God as I believe righteousness and justice will eventually triumph over tyranny and oppression,” he wrote. “I hereby assert that I am confronting the occupiers not for my own sake as an individual, but for the sake of thousands of prisoners who are being deprived of their simplest human rights while the world and international community look on.” On Monday, a military court rejected his appeal and approved his administrative detention.

Yet Randa seemed to hold onto a glimmer of hope, for her husband’s life and for the world. “Israel denied Khader any fairness or decency,” she said. “But maybe the rest of humanity will show more mercy.”

Joe Catron is an international solidarity activist and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) organizer in Gaza, Palestine. He blogs and tweets.

Take Urgent Action: Appeals Decision Delayed as Khader Adnan Dying to Live

12 February 2012 | Samidoun- Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Khader Adnan, Palestinian political prisoner being held under administrative detention, is now entering his 57th day of hunger strike and facing a severe health crisis. Despite the fact that Khader Adnan risks death with every minute that passes, the Israeli military court system is delaying decisions in his case and further prolonging his unjust imprisonment. This delay shows utter disregard for Khader Adnan’s life, health and humanity. Write now to the Israeli Military Judge Advocate General to demand that Khader Adnan be freed immediately and unconditionally.

Keep the pressure on: make phone calls, send letters, and protest to free Khader Adnan. See actions: http://samidoun.ca/?p=191

Tweet Now: Tell Israeli Courts: Your Delays are Killing #KhaderAdnan #Dying2Live http://samidoun.ca/?p=191

On Thursday, February 9, an appeals hearing was held in Adnan’s hospital room in Zief Hospital in Safad, where six lawyers represented him. Despite the urgency of the situation and the threat of Adnan’s imminent death, the judge postponed ruling on the case until typed documents were presented, expecting a ruling sometime “next week.”

In the hospital, he remains shackled to the bed, even as he has lost over 80 pounds. After 50 days without food, a hunger striker has a severe risk of organ failure – which is why action now to demand Khader Adnan’s freedom is urgent.

Khader Adnan has been protesting his detention and the abuse and torture suffered since he was seized by Israeli occupation soldiers on December 17, 2011, as Addameer reports. Prisoners – like Khader Adnan – held under administrative detention are imprisoned without charge, on secret evidence, for up to six-month periods at a time – which can be renewed repeatedly.

Palestinian and solidarity activists in Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC held protests in the United States, while a solidarity hunger strike continued in Gaza. Near Beitunia, outside Ofer prison, the Israeli occupation army attacked a Palestinian demonstration calling for Khader Adnan’s release with tear gas and bullets, injuring 16 people, including a journalist.

International pressure is also mounting. Human Rights Watch joined Amnesty International’s call to “charge or release” Adnan on Saturday February 11, and United Nations envoy Robert Serry issued a statement, calling on Israel “to do everything in its power to preserve the health of the prisoner and resolve this case while abiding by all legal obligations under international law.” Organizations including theArab Doctor’s Unio n and the National Lawyers Guild’s Free Palestine Subcommittee, have joined the call for Khader Adnan’s release.

Khader Adnan is dying to live. Take action now to support him. http://samidoun.ca/?p=191

1. Call your government officials and demand that they pressure Israel publicly and privately to release Khader Adnan.
In Canada:

Call the Israeli Embassy in Ottawa at (613) 567-6450 OR your local Embassy (for a list, click here).

Call the Office of the Foreign Minister, John Baird (Tel: 613-990-7720; Email: bairdj@parl.gc.ca)

In the US:

Call the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC (1.202.364.5500) OR your local Embassy (for a list, click here).

Call the office of Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs (1.202.647.7209)

Demand that Jeffrey Feltman bring this issue urgently to his counterparts in Israel and raise the question of Khader Adnan’s administrative detention.

2. Organize a protest outside your local Israeli Embassy (for a list, click here). View Chicago and Washington DC protests here.

Post your local actions to the Khader Adnan facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Khader-Adnan/236953309725144

Help us spread the word with social media after you take action.

Download this photo of Khader Adnan to use for your social media profile pictures and click on the suggested messages below and they will be automatically tweeted.

3. Write to Israeli officials and demand an end to delay and the immediate, unconditional release of Khader Adnan. Samidoun has provided a template and an automated letter-writing system. Send yours and make your voice heard today!

5. Spread the word:

Tweet Now: 56 Days: Take Action Now for #KhaderAdnan http://samidoun.ca/?p=191 #Palestine #Israel #Dying2Live

Tweet Now: Tell Israeli Courts: Your Delays are Killing #KhaderAdnan #Dying2Live http://samidoun.ca/?p=191

Israeli military court extends administrative detention for civil rights lawyer Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq

9 February 2012 | Tanweer Enlightenment Forum

The Israel military court has extended administrative detention for two months in addition to three months already detained for civil rights lawyer Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, a lecturer at An-Najah National University and the Cultural Coordinator for the Tanweer Palestinian Cultural Enlightenment Forum, currently detained in Ofer Prison near Ramallah.

Yousef Abdul Haq was arrested November 7th, 2011 at his home at 2:00 AM, suffering from illness which requires constant dosage of medicine, forcing his transfer to a hospital immediately after his arrest in Ramla.

He was sentenced to two months in administrative detention immediately.

This arbitrary administrative detention is legally incompatible with the most basic international standards of human rights, because it is without any specific charge against the prisoner. These arbitrary detentions depend on the military file and “secret evidence” which cannot be seen by the detainee or defense lawyers. This file is prepared by Israel intelligence and is “collected” illegally.

This type of detention is internationally banned and is impacting lawmakers in the Palestinian Legislative Council, members of local councils, university students, political activists, academics, trade unionists and even women and children.

The imposition of administrative detention by Article 111 of the military state of emergency imposed by the British colonial authorities of Palestine September, 1945 is illegal on the grounds that Article 43 of the Hague international agreement of 1907 prohibits an occupying power to change the legislative reality of the country occupied.

Administrative detention is the endless suffering of the prisoners because they may de detained for a decade, physically and psychologically impacting the detainee and their family based on the expectation that the next decision will be an extension of detention.

The International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights received from the Israeli military court in Ofer, that the number of additional administrative detentions issued by the Israeli military governor reached a total of 5,971 since the beginning of 2004 until the end of 2010.

We in the Tanweer Enlightenment Forum, call for the release of our colleague Dr. Yousef immediately from behind bars, and we hold the Government responsible for the conditions of Israel’s occupation, in respect to his health. We demand the end of the administrative detentions which are contrary to international law..

On this occasion, we declare our solidarity with the prisoner hero Khader Adnan, who is continuing his hunger strike battle in his 55th day to end the administrative detentions. We also call on international institutions and the Arab and local media to expose the policy of administrative detention. We uphold the work of a united front for the release of Palestinian prisoners including lawyers, members of the Legislative Council, academics, students, children and women.

We call for the end of administrative detentions forever.

Freedom for political prisoners.

Close the detention camps and prisons and abolish administrative detention.