Tag: Khader Adnan

Khader Adnan, an example for all prisoners and Palestinians

29th June 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Team | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Today, the weekly concentration in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails focused on the last victory of Khader Adnan.

Spokesmen from different factions and committees pointed to Khader Adnan as an example for all prisoners and all Palestinians for his steadfastness and patience. They celebrated that finally, his hunger strike got its reward.

"Khader Adnan is in danger" — “Khader Adnan is in danger”

All the people who demonstrated demanding his release, all the human rights activists, and all independent media were also thanked, as this victory wouldn’t have been possible without them. The spokesmen highlighted as well that they will keep fighting until the total liberation of the land and the release of all prisoners.

Spokesmen from different factions speaking on Khader Adnan

Hussein Abu Naim, former prisoner and head of the Union of Prisoners, thanked Khader Adnan for adding a new victory to the cause.

A mural of Khader Adnan with the number 55, the number of days he was on hunger strike this time.

A letter from Khader Adnan: “Their fate is in our hands”

by Khader Adnan

30 April 2012 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.

Dear free people of the world. Dear oppressed and disenfranchised around the globe. Dear friends of our people, who stood with me with a stern belief in freedom and dignity for my people and our prisoners languishing in the Occupation’s prisons.

Dear free women and men, young and elderly, ordinary people as well as intellectual elites everywhere – I address you today with an
outpouring of hope and pain for every Palestinian that suffers from the occupation of his land, for each of us that has been killed, wounded or imprisoned by the state of terror, that denies anything beautiful in our lives, even the smile of our children and families. I
am addressing you in my first letter following my release – praying it will not be the last – after Allah granted me freedom, pride and
dignity. I was an “administrative detainee” in the jail of occupation for four months, out of which I have spent 66 days on hunger strike.

I was driven to declare an open-ended hunger strike by the daily harassment and violation of my people’s rights by the Israeli Zionist
occupation. The last straw for me were the ongoing arrests, the brutal nighttime raid on my house, my violent detention, during which I was taken to the “Mavo Dotan” settlement on our land occupied in 1967, and the beatings and humiliation I was treated to during arrest interrogation. The way I was treated during the interrogation at the Jalameh detention center, using the worse and lowest verbal insults in the dictionary. After questioning, I was sentenced to imprisonment under administrative detention with no charges, which proves mine and others’ arrests serve only to maintain a quota of prisoners, to harass us, to restrict our freedom and to undermine our determination, pride and dignity.

I write today to thank all those who stood tall in support of my people, with our prisoners, with Hana al-Shalabi and with myself. I
call on you to stand for justice pride and dignity in the face of occupation. The assault on the freedom and dignity of the Palestinian
people is an assault on free people of the world by a criminal occupation that threatens the security, freedom and dignity of all, no
matter where.

Thaer Hlahalh, who are now on their 61st day of hunger strike, Hassan Safadi, Omar Abu Shalal, Mahmoud Sarsak, Mahmoud Sarsal, Mohammad Taj, Jaafar Azzedine (who was arrested solely for standing in solidarity with myself) and Ahmad haj Ali. Their lives now are in great danger.

We are all responsible and we will all lose if we anything happen to them. Let us take immediate action to pressure the Occupation into
releasing them immediately, or their children could never forgive us.

Let all those free and revolutionary join hands against the Occupation’s oppression, and take to the streets – in front of the
Occupation’s prisons, in front of its embassies and all other institutions backing it around the world.

With deep appreciation,
Khader Adnan

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of
Allah.

Dear free people of the world. Dear oppressed and disenfranchised
around the globe. Dear friends of our people, who stood with me with a
stern belief in freedom and dignity for my people and our prisoners
languishing in the Occupation’s prisons.

Dear free women and men, young and elderly, ordinary people as well as
intellectual elites everywhere – I address you today with an
outpouring of hope and pain for every Palestinian that suffers from
the occupation of his land, for each of us that has been killed,
wounded or imprisoned by the state of terror, that denies anything
beautiful in our lives, even the smile of our children and families. I
am addressing you in my first letter following my release – praying it
will not be the last – after Allah granted me freedom, pride and
dignity. I was an “administrative detainee” in the jail of occupation
for four months, out of which I have spent 66 days on hunger strike.

I was driven to declare an open-ended hunger strike by the daily
harassment and violation of my people’s rights by the Israeli Zionist
occupation. The last straw for me were the ongoing arrests, the brutal
nighttime raid on my house, my violent detention, during which I was
taken to the “Mavo Dotan” settlement on our land occupied 1967, and
the beatings and humiliation I was treated to during arrest
interrogation. The way I was treated during the interrogation at the
Jalameh detention center, using the worse and lowest verbal insults in
the dictionary. After questioning, I was sentenced to imprisonment
under administrative detention with no charges, which proves mine and
others’ arrests serve only to maintain a quota of prisoners, to harass
us, to restrict our freedom and to undermine our determination, pride
and dignity.

I write today to thank all those who stood tall in support of my
people, with our prisoners, with Hana al-Shalabi and with myself. I
call on you to stand for justice pride and dignity in the face of
occupation. The assault on the freedom and dignity of the Palestinian
people is an assault on free people of the world by a criminal
occupation that threatens the security, freedom and dignity of all, no
matter where.

Please, continue in exposing this occupation, boycotting and isolating
it internationally. Expose it’s true face, the one that was clearly
exposed in the attack of an Israeli officer on our Danish cohort.
Unlike that attack, the murder our people is a crime that goes by
unspoken of and slips away from the lens of the camera. Our prisoners
are dying in silence. Hundreds of defenders of freedom are on hunger
strike inside the prisons, including the eight knights, Bilal Diab and
Thaer Hlahalh, who are now on their 61st day of hunger strike, Hassan
Safadi, Omar Abu Shalal, Mahmoud Sarsak, Mahmoud Sarsal, Mohammad Taj,
Jaafar Azzedine (who was arrested solely for standing in solidarity
with myself) and Ahmad haj Ali. Their lives now are in great danger.

We are all responsible and we will all lose if we anything happen to
them. Let us take immediate action to pressure the Occupation into
releasing them immediately, or their children could never forgive us.

Let all those free and revolutionary join hands against the
Occupation’s oppression, and take to the streets – in front of the
Occupation’s prisons, in front of its embassies and all other
institutions backing it around the world.

With deep appreciation,
Khader Adnan

The world must heed Khader Adnan’s call: Make Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day, 17 April 2012, a day of international action

21 February 2012 | Samidoun

Organizational endorsements are welcome for this statement.

Please click here or email april17@palestinianprisoners.org to endorse.

“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,” Sheikh Khader Adnan wrote from the bed that Israeli soldiers chained him to in the Ramleh prison hospital on 11 February.

“It is time the international community and the UN support prisoners and force the State of Israel to respect international human rights and stop treating prisoners as if they were not humans.” (Ma’an News Agency, “Hunger-striking prisoner not backing down,” 11 February 2012)

As we mark the 65th day of an ongoing hunger strike by Sheikh Khader Adnan, whose struggle has inspired millions and infused the Palestinian national and solidarity movements with new energy, we must reflect on his call to the world and prepare a meaningful international strategy to support Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.

Khader Adnan is fighting for rights that should be guaranteed to all prisoners, including due process, fair and equal treatment, and freedom from torture and other coercive methods. Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank face a military justice system that is entirely separate from that for Jewish Israelis, including settlers, who are instead part of the Israeli civil justice system; this military justice system for Palestinian political prisoners includes systematic and arbitrary detention without charge, the acceptance of torture, an almost complete lack of due process, vague charges, very low standards of evidence including the use of secret evidence, and widely disparate and harsher sentencing than the civil justice system.In Israel’s domestic criminal justice system exists a system of apartheid Palestinian citizens of Israel charged with political offenses are deemed ‘security prisoners’ and treated very differently from Jewish citizens. Palestinians are subject to unjust and unequal trials using secret evidence, gag orders, and evidence obtained through torture. (Please see this comprehensive analysis by Addameer for further details.)

As of January 2012, 4,417 Palestinian political prisoners are held in jails in Israel, including 170 children and 6 women. Just like Khader, 310 prisoners are held – without charge or trial – under administrative detention including over 20 lawmakers. In solidarity with them, and to broaden Khader’s struggle, we will actively oppose their imprisonment and any detentions without fair trials.

We demand the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. They have been targeted by an unfair and unequal legal system. Their imprisonment reflects Israel’s inherent system of injustice and racism. In addition, Israel must immediately halt its practices of:

Administrative detention.
Torture and ill-treatment of detainees.
Solitary confinement and isolation.
The use of military courts in the occupied Palestinian territory that illegally try civilians.
Undermining a fair trial by using secret evidence against the accused.
Arresting vulnerable groups, such as children, disabled, elderly and ill people.

On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Tuesday, April 17, we ask that all supporters of the Palestinian political prisoners’ movement bring Khader Adnan’s spirit of resistance to the doorsteps of his captors and would-be killers:

Organize a protest in front of your local Israeli embassy, consulate or mission.
Write letters to protest the violations of rights of Palestinian political prisoners and to call for an intervention to the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and your government or parliamentarians.
Raise awareness on your University campus or in your community about Palestinian political prisoners
Picket and protest G4S, Motorola, the Volvo Group, and the Israeli Medical Association – all providing services to Israel’s prisons – as well as other targets of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which challenges the Israeli policies of occupation, colonization and apartheid these repressive institutions maintain.
Write letters to Palestinian prisoners expressing your support.

We must not allow Khader’s struggle to pass, like so many before his, as one more brave stand crushed by the armed might of the Israeli apartheid regime, unremarkable and inconsequential. Rather let this historic moment mark the beginning of a revitalized global movement for Palestinian prisoners, their rights, their families, and their struggle. Together, we can make it so.

Khader lives.

Initiating Signatories:

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
Defence for Children International – Palestine Section
UFree Network
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Free Ameer Makhoul Campaign
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Al-Awda New York, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Arab Organization for Human Rights
Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association
Canada Palestine Association
CAPPJPO-EuroPalestine
Coalition for a Free Palestine – South Africa
Existence is Resistance
Frantz Fanon Foundation, France
French Jewish Union for Peace
Intal
International Solidarity Movement – France
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Labor for Palestine
Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights
Leeds Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
National Lawyers Guild International Committee/Free Palestine Subcommittee
Netherlands Palestine Committee
New York City Labor Against the War
“Palestina nel cuore” Committee
Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK)
Palestinian Youth Movement-USA
PennBDS
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Siegebusters
Students for Justice in Palestine National
Tower Hamlets Jenin Friendship Association
United 4 Palestine
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Palestinian Community Network
Vermonters for a Just Peace
Yousef Alsedeeq Institute for Prisoners’ Protection

Despite the announcement of a deal limiting Khader Adnan’s detention, Addameer reiterates its urgent concern for his health

21 February 2012 | Addameer

*At approximately 7:50 PM local time, it was confirmed by Ran Cohen, Executive Director of Physicans for Human Rights-Israel, that Khader Adnan has ended his hunger strike.

Khader Adnan’s hearing at the Israeli High Court was cancelled today, 21 February 2012, only minutes before the hearing was to take place. On Khader’s 66^th day of hunger strike in protest of his administrative detention and inhuman and degrading treatment by the Israeli authorities, one of Khader’s lawyers negotiated a deal with the Israeli military prosecutor that Khader will be released on 17 April instead of 8 May and that his administrative detention order will not be renewed. Addameer lawyer Samer Sam’an is actively working to gain permission to visit Khader to confirm whether or not he will continue with his hunger strike.

Khader previously stated to Addameer lawyers that though he was calling for his immediate and unconditional release, the minimum requirements he would consider for ending his hunger strike would be the guarantee that he would not receive a new administrative detention order and that his duration of detention would be considered from the date of his arrest on 17 December 2011 and not from the date that he received his administrative detention order on 8 January 2012. The provisions of the deal reached today as announced by the lawyer involved do meet these minimum requirements. However, if new “secret material,” upon which administrative detention is based, presents itself during the next two months, there would still be grounds for the renewal of his administrative detention order. This caveat is consistent with similar deals made in the past, in which Israeli officials leave the door open for re-arrests.

Addameer maintains that the fact that Israeli officials negotiated the duration of his detention, in addition to agreeing to an early release, reveals that there were no grounds for his administrative detention in the first place. His administrative detention order, as is the case with all other administrative detainees, is based on the alleged threat he poses to the “security of the State of Israel.” However, if Israeli officials agree that he will not be a threat on 17 April, as clear from today’s deal, he surely does not pose any threat today and his case provides further proof of Israel’s policy of arbitrary detention. Addameer reiterates its call for his immediate and unconditional release and the release of the 308 other administrative detainees.

Addameer’s main concern remains Khader’s health, in critical condition after over two months of hunger strike.Whether or not Khader continues his hunger strike, he must receive proper arrangements for observing his health condition, which will likely now have irreversible consequences. If he does decide to end his hunger strike, the potential complications from such a protracted hunger strike will require urgent and trusted care, which can only be provided if he is released.

Addameer continues to salute Khader Adnan for his incredible steadfastness in challenging Israel’s policy of holding Palestinians in detention without charge or trial, which is in violation of international law. Addameer further thanks all individuals and institutions who have chosen not to ignore the basic human rights violations being committed against Palestinian prisoners on a daily basis and who have expressed their explicit support for Khader and his fellow prisoners. The date set for Khader’s release, 17 April, ironically falls on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, which will serve as a reminder of the thousands of other Palestinian political prisoners who remain in Israeli detention.

Follow Addameer’s campaigns to release all Prisoners at Risk and immediately Stop Administrative Detention.

Gaza sit-in, rally back Khader Adnan; general strike set for Tuesday

by Joe Catron

20 February 2012 | Mondoweiss

Every Monday morning the families of 445 Gaza Palestinians detained by Israel occupy the courtyard of Gaza’s International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters to demand that the ICRC fulfill its obligation to protect the rights of their imprisoned relatives. This week’s gathering was infused with fresh energy and a singular focus as Khader Adnan neared 66 days on hunger strike against his administrative detention. A government-sponsored rally after the sit-in drew hundreds of Palestinians and international visitors.

“The Monday protests have gone on since 1994,” said Osama Wahaidi, a former prisoner and spokesman for the Palestinian Detainees’ and Ex-detainees’ Association. “People are trying to express their anger at what is happening to Khader Adnan and all Palestinian prisoners. The Israelis have no right to hold him or any of them, especially over 300 administrative detainees.”

Administrative detentions, Wahaidi said, “can be extended for years without evidence or trials. And detainees have no idea when they will be freed! Some have been told to prepare for release and taken as far as the prison gates, before being dragged back to their cells. This has a terrible effect on their morale and psychology.”

When asked about the event’s location inside the ICRC, Wahaidi replied, “If the issue is Shalit, the human rights organizations start inciting against Palestinians, calling us criminals and terrorists. But when the issue is Palestinian prisoners, they practice what I call the crime of silence. We don’t ask the ICRC to come and chase the Israelis for us! But we demand that they treat us fairly and stop using double standards against us.”

After the sit-in, participants moved to the street outside, where hundreds more had begun to arrive. The rally that followed included speeches by Abu Abdullah Barghouti, the father of a current detainee sentenced by an Israeli military court to 67 life sentences; Um Mare’e Abusaddya, whose son is serving eleven life sentences, and who traveled from the West Bank for the event; and a representative from a delegation of seven Jordanians, including two former parliamentarians, who recently arrived in Gaza to join activities supporting Adnan and the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.

“Khader has been on hunger strike for 65 days, but he will keep going until his demand for freedom has been met,” said Doa’a Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Detainees’ and Ex-detainees’ Affairs in Gaza. “And the Palestinian people will keep supporting him, for as long as it takes.”

She added that Palestinians, including those in Gaza, would mount a general strike Tuesday to support Adnan and demand his immediate release. “His hunger strike has mobilized people throughout all of Palestine,” she said. “Tomorrow will reflect that.”