Tag: Ashraf Abu Rahmah

Imprisoned Human Rights Defender in Military Court

Tomorrow Abdullah Abu Rahmah will be taken once again in front of a military judge. He is being accused of “Causing damage to a military installation,” referring to Israel’s illegal Annexation barrier built on his village’s land.

Abdullah stated, “The occupation has used many methods including killing, injuring, and raiding our homes in order to stop us from exercising our right to protest and struggle against the occupation. But we will not stop struggling until the occupation is dismantled.”

Abdullah, a leading non violent activist and human rights defender has has been held in military prison since the occupation forces raided his village, Bil’in, and took him from his home in the middle of the night on the 19th of November, 2017. Abdullah was handcuffed, gagged and his hand were tied to the roof of the jeep. Since then, two military judges have conceded that Abdullah is not dangerous and should be released on certain conditions, but the military prosecution is intent on making sure he remains in detention, and has continued to hold him without regard to due process. Tomorrow’s hearing will be to determine if Abdullah has broken conditions set for his release by a military judge after his arrest from  the Alwada Cycling Marathon on Nakba Day, the 13th of May, 2016.

Abdullah has been arrested and injured many times in the past for his role in promoting non-violent creative protest in his own village of Bil’in and across the West bank. In 2010, Abdallah served 16 months in prison after being convicted on charges of “incitement” and “organizing and participating in an illegal demonstration.” Abdullah continued to advocate for nonviolent action and Human rights from prison.

In addition to Abdullah, 16 year old Ahmad Abu Rahmah, as well as Ashraf Abu Rahmah, another prominent Bil’in activist, were also taken and are still being held by the military. Ahmad Abu Rahmah was arrested with Abdullah in the raid and accused of throwing stones, as was Ashraf, following his arrest on the 14th of November 2017. Ashraf’s two siblings, Basem and Jawaher, were both killed in separate incidents while nonviolently protesting the illegal wall constructed on their land.

Update, December 13, 2017: Abdul Khaliq Iyad Bernat, Hamza Ghazi Al Khatib, and Malik Yassin were arrested today in Bil’n, and Ahmed Adeeb Abu Rahma was arrested yesterday. All four are in their final year of high school. They will join Abdullah, Ashraf, and Ahmad Abu Rahmah in military prison.

Update, December 14, 2017: Abdullah Abu Rahmah has been released from Israeli military prison. However, the four teenagers taken in the past two days – Abdul, Hamza, Malik, and Ahmed – remain in military custody. They were sent back to the investigation unit yesterday ahead of their court appearance at Ofer Military Court.

Than you for the donations to free Ashraf Abu Rahmah!

Ashraf was arrested again on the 27th of October 2017 while giving a group of French solidarity activists a tour of the land that his village of Bil’in won back from the nearby Israeli colonial settlement of Modi’in Elite through their creative popular protests. He was accused of throwing stones at the occupation forces, an accusation he denies. His arrest is the latest in hundreds of incidents of abuse and harassment against Ashraf and other Bil’in activists in an attempt to end their protest against the Apartheid wall and colonial settlement built on their land. But, Ashraf and Bil’in remain defiant.

Ashraf on top of a crane lifting mobile homes to expand the colonial settlement on Bil’in land.

Ashraf’s siblings, Basem and Jawaher were both killed in separate incidents while nonviolently protesting the illegal wall constructed on their land. Their murders only fueled Ashraf’s determination to continue to resist, despite being wounded and arrested repeatedly including an arrest in 2011 when he was imprisoned for 8 months.

Ashraf at his wedding dancing with pictures of his murdered siblings

On the 27th of October Ashraf accepted a plea bargain under which he will  remain in prison for 3 months and pay 5000 shekel in addition to a suspended sentence of eighteen months for five years. Had Ashraf not accepted, he would have remained in detention until the end of proceedings against him which would last for a year or more. “Israel is not a democracy. It is not ruled by laws. It is a criminal occupation that is ruled by force alone,” Ashraf told the ISM.

Two other activists from Bil’in are currently in military jail. Leading Human Rights defender Abdullah Abu Rahmah has been imprisoned since the 19th of November 2017 when over a dozen military Jeeps invaded Bil’in village at 2:30 AM and entered several homes. Abdullah who is accused of “damaging the fence” stated, “the occupation has used many methods including, killing and injuring, raiding our homes in order to stop us from exercising our right to protest and struggle against the occupation. But we will not stop struggling until the occupation is dismantled.” 16 year old Ahmad Abu Rahmah of Bil’in, who was also arrested in the raid, was accused of throwing a stone.

Update, December 13, 2017: Abdul Khaliq Iyad Bernat, Hamza Ghazi Al Khatib, and Malik Yassin were arrested today in Bil’n, and Ahmed Adeeb Abu Rahma was arrested yesterday. All four are in their final year of high school. They will join Abdullah, Ashraf, and Ahmad Abu Rahmah in military prison.

Update December 14, 2017 :  Abdullah Abu Rahma was released from military prison on bail a fine and conditions. Abdul Khaliq Iyad Bernat, Hamza Ghazi Al Khatib, Malik Yassin, Ahmed Adeeb Abu Rahma, Ahmad Mohammad Abu Rahma and Ashraf Abu Rahma all from Bil’in remain imprisoned.

Ashraf Abu Rahmah in the midst of circus military court

by Maria Stephanya

28 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The proof is all there: photos, videos, witnesses. All of them showed that Ashraf Abu Rahmah, one of the main activists of popular non violent struggle in the village of Bil’in, Palestine, walked peacefully on the road which goes from Bil’in’s recent liberated land to the center of the village, when an Israeli jeep passed besides him. Then it stopped. The soldiers stepped down, took the flag Ashraf carried and arrested him, forcing him to enter in the back of the vehicle under arrest, on October 23rd.

Rani Burnet, who saw everything in his wheelchair – part of his body was paralyzed because of live ammunition shot by an Israeli soldier, 11 years ago – complained.

In spite of lack of evidence to support charges brought against Abu Rahmah, in spite of the witnesses and the video which prove otherwise, Captain Tzvi Frenkel, a military judge at the Ofer Military Court, ordered the indefinite extension of his arrest, until the end of legal procedures against him.

In July 7th, 2008, Ashraf was blindfolded and bound in Ni’lin when the soldiers shot his foot. The video, seen by millions of people around the world, caused international protests. In April 17th, 2009, his brother Bassem was shot dead while trying to alert the soldiers for not harming livestock which was passing on the road beyond the wall. A high-velocity tear gas projectile, aimed at him from a distance of 40 meter hit him in the chest, killing him. In January 1st, 2011, their sister Jawaher also passed away because of the effects of the massive amount of toxic tear gas she had inhaled during a peaceful demonstration of December 31, 2011.

Maria Stephanya is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Ashraf Abu Rahmah was arrested for being himself

23 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

To some soldiers of the Israeli army, staying alone, being quiet, and carrying a flag is a crime. To them, people who act in that way should be arrested. At least we can come to that conclusion when we think about the arrest of Ashraf Abu Rahmah, from Bil’in village, who was arrested on Friday, October 21.

The demonstration had not yet finished when the Israeli soldiers, in four jeeps, went into the village. It was a surprise to everyone, but not an unexpected act, because Israeli incursions into Palestinian villages is something regular. The surprise comes because people were going home, far from the place of the demonstration. Ashraf was arrested just on his way home.

He was charged with throwing stones, but he did not throw anything not at the time he was arrested, nor during demonstration itself. He just stood with his Palestinian flag, talking to friends, looking at the bombs that were thrown, running away from the gas, sometimes coming close to the barbed wire which rolls through Palestinian land.

The ISM volunteers can testify that Ashraf did not throw stones at any moment. But he will be dragged to court tomorrow under that charge. Journalists and friends will take photos with them to prove that he wasn’t throwing stones.

Last Friday’s demonstration was one of the most violent ones in recent times in Bil’in. When the Palestinian, Israeli, and foreigner activists came near the wall, the soldiers began to throw tear gas without pausing. The park which is being built by the villagers on the lands Israel was obligated to give back, lands it had stolen after a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2007, was full of gas and dust for a long time.

Ashraf Abu Rahmah’s last peaceful demonstration – For more images click here

People who were on the top of the hill, far from the valley where the confrontation took place, also suffered from the burning smoke. Some cases of asphyxia were registered because of the gas inhalation, and the flames in brush and olive groves decorated the sky. Some of them became great fires, the trees and other plants.

To the economical life of villagers, it means a great loss, because the economic basis of Bil’in is agricultural, like the majority of Palestine’s villages. And to some, Ashraf being taken away on false charges by an occupying power can in some way be labeled as a loss. Yet the trees and plants and landscape that are Palestine, they can be replanted  to grow a new future. That is the nature of Palestine. Ashraf will grow back in Bil’in. In shrub, tree, or voice , peaceful resistance will continue to grow from the root that is Palestine.

IDF commander involved in shooting bound Palestinian evades jail term

27 January 2011 | YNet News

Lieutenant-Colonol Omri Borberg breathed a sigh of relief Thursday after evading demotion, but residents of Naalin have no plans to let the sentence slide. Ashraf Abu Rahma, the Palestinian who was shot while bound and blindfolded, was extremely upset upon hearing the judges’ ruling.

“The officer committed a crime, the court’s decision is unreasonable,” he told Ynet.

“I can’t understand how he can remain in the army after you see him on tape giving an order to shoot me. It’s a crime.”

The Tel Aviv military court ruled Thursday that Lieutenant-Colonel Omri Borberg, the battalion commander who was involved in the Naalin shooting incident, will not be demoted. The judges ruled such a punishment “will gravely hurt him” and recommended his promotion be postponed for two years. Borberg broke into tears as the sentence was being read.

Abu Rahma’s family also rejected the ruling. “This is the occupation’s court, it’s illegal. They fired at a blindfolded detainee,” Ashraf’s cousin said. “They should have put him in jail, it’s a war crime.”

Muhammad Khatib, member of Bilin’s popular committee admitted he did not have his hopes up as far as the sentence was concerned. “We are disappointed with the decision mainly because it will not deter others from doing the same. The Israeli legal system has a different approach when dealing with matters pertaining to Palestinians,” he said.

“Our current option is to launch an international campaign. We’re looking into the possibility of approaching the International Court of Justice.”

Muhammad Knaan, a Naalin resident who claims to have witnessed the shooting said: “It’s illegal to fire at a person when they’re bound. We didn’t want to see him in jail but we did expect the decision to address his rank and position. The court should not have let him stay in the army.”

The shooting incident was filmed by Salam Knaan. Claims were raised against the video suggesting it was doctored. “Professionals checked the tape and came to the conclusion it was authentic. The whole world saw the crime committed in Naalin,” Salam said.

Borberg, on the other hand, said he completely agrees with the court’s ruling regarding his role in the Naalim shooting affair. “It’s hard to describe the heavy load I’ve been carrying lately. I’m glad it’s over,” he said.

He added: “All I care about now is to return to my family, to my daughter, and continue contributing to the IDF.”