Tag: Prisoner Rights - Page 5 - International Solidarity Movement

Call for international action: Show your support on Palestinian Prisoners day

12 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement

This week International Solidarity Movement is calling for international solidarity in the run up to Palestinian Prisoners Day on the 17th April. The Palestinian prisoners struggle needs immediate international attention as Israel’s treatment of prisoners under a military judicial system starkly violates international law and fundamental human rights. According to Addammer there are currently 4,637 Palestinian political prisoners are kept in Israeli military jails and detention centers, including 320 administrative detainees.

Some of the primary objectives of the prisoners struggle are:

To stop the system known as administrative detention, which allows the imprisonment of individuals without charge or trail
To halt the practice of solitary confinement.
To stop the use of torture and ill treatment. Palestinians are exposed to systematic ill and degrading treatment from the moment of arrest – both physiological and physical terrors are used as means of breaking the prisoners and getting details and information.
To stop the illegal transference of prisoners from the occupied territories into Israeli borders. Every time Israel brings a prisoner from the West bank jails inside their borders – they are in clear violation with the 4th Geneva Convention.
To stop the use of military courts for civilians.
To stop arrest and imprisonment of vulnerable groups such as children, elder and disabled.

Besides the suffering of individual prisoners, Israel systematically uses collective punishment towards the relatives of prisoners. The journeys to visit your husband, wife, son, or daughter may take up to 15 hours as the prisoners are systematically placed as far from their home as possible. Furthermore, visitors will face degrading processes of strip search at the borders to Israel and at the entrance to the prisons. Sometimes they even get turned away.

“All people and governments of conscience in the world have an immediate responsibility to put pressure on Israel forcing them to respect International law and human rights!” says Faris Sabbah, from Addammer, the Prisoners support and Human Rights Association.

TAKE ACTION

You can:

Organize a protest in front of the Israeli Embassy or consulate in our town
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 governoment or parliamentarians.
Write letters to Palestinian prisoners expressing your support. Read more about thise here:

Submit your photos:

What ever action you choose to take – please submit photos from your action to ISM at palreports@gmail.com.

You can get inspired from similar ISM campaign carried out in accordance to “Open Shuhada Street Campaign.”

Please follow these guidelines:

In the subject line please write “ Campaign for international solidarity with Palestinian prisoners”
Photos should not be a maximum of 1 MB
A poster, sign, clothing or any other visual statement that expresses your solidarity with Palestinian prisoners should be visibel.
Include a location of the photo (example: Hollywood sign, Hollywood, California) in the email
Include the date when the photograph was taken in the email
If the visual is written in a language other than English, please write the statement in the body of the email in order to be translated.
Photos should be original and not edited or borrowed from another entity
Photos must be submitted by April 19th.

Amani al Khandaqja, defender of prisoner rights, becomes a prisoner herself

by Robin and Axel

21 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Amani’s father displays the photo of his daughter, Amani, who was taken away by the Zionist military earlier this week.

Early Monday morning, on the 20th of March, Israeli soldiers raided a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, terrorized a family and arrested a young woman named Amani Al Khandaqja.

The soldiers arrived at 2am, whilst the family was sleeping, they surrounded and then entered the house. One of Amani’s brothers was awoken by loud voices outside his window, upon looking out he saw a number of soldiers interrogating members of a neighboring household.

As he ran to wake up his father, Saleh, a series of loud, hard bangs could be heard on the front door of the household. After repeated banging, Saleh went down to open the door, and the Israeli Occupying Forces violently forced entry into Amani’s home. The entire family of 9 were forced onto the roof of their own home with their hands held above their heads and held at gun point.

According to Saleh, the trespassing soldiers were nervous and twitchy, making the situation unpredictable and terrifying for the entire family who, suffice to say, felt severely threatened.

“I asked for permission to sit down as I have problems with my knees,” explains Saleh. “This request was denied.”

While the family was interrogated on the roof, soldiers ransacked the house with dogs, justifying this brazen act of terrorism with the unsubstantiated and unlikely claim that Saleh’s family home might contain weapons or explosives.

The soldiers asked Saleh repeatedly about his imprisoned son, Bassem, who has been held in Israeli prison since the second Intifada. Amani herself was also mentioned by the soldiers as they claimed she had been writing about the Palestinian struggle for equality and rights on the Internet and had been active in the support of political prisoners.

In an interview with her father, he described her as an incredibly brave person with an extraordinary passion for the Palestinian struggle for the most basic of human rights. In any event it was clear she was wanted by the Israeli’s primarily for the fact that she had dared to put her thoughts and feelings in print concerning the illegal Zionist occupation of Palestine.

After two hours of interrogation, harassment and threats, the soldiers decided to arrest Amani despite the fact that they did not find anything in the house and were unable to produce any material sufficient to press charges.

As her father emphasized, “I am not worried about her destiny because she has done nothing wrong and can’t be held guilty of any crime. But my heart is breaking from her being taken away from us.”

Despite the fact that Amani has not been accused in a court of law, let alone found guilty of any crimes, there is a great possibility that she will be held for a long time nonetheless.

The biased Israeli legal system allows for what is euphemistically referred to as “administrative detention,” a law adopted from the British Mandate era that allows for the confinement of persons without charge or trial. Under this law a person can be held in prison for six months at a time, without being put in front of a judge or even being formally suspected of a crime. After six months, the procedure can be repeated and therefore one can be, in effect, held for an indefinite amount of time.

Throughout Amani’s arrest the IOF soldiers repeatedly made clear their Zionist ideology and how they viewed her hopes for a free Palestine:

“This is not Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. A popular uprising, leading to a revolution is not possible in Israel.”

With these chilling words, and not-withstanding the irony of Israeli soldiers comparing their own country to one of the many U.S backed dictatorships that dot the region, Amani was handcuffed and dragged into the bracing night air, away from her broken home and devastated family.

Robin and Axel are volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)

Nablus marches for Hana Shalabi

by Christopher Beckett

21 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On March 19th 2012, in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, ISM volunteers joined demonstrators in solidarity with Ms. Hana Shalabi, now entering her 35^th day of hunger strike.

Marching from outside the headquarters of the Red Cross, a group of around a hundred demonstrators marched towards Nablus city centre waving flags, signs and ‘Free Hana Shalabi’ posters. Some of the people attending were the parents of prisoners held illegally by Israel and held aloft photographs of their missing loved ones as they chanted slogans ranging from ‘Free Hana Shalabi’ to End Administrative detention’ and ‘End the occupation’.

Hana was violently abducted from her home in the West Bank village of Burqin on the 16^th of February 2012 and was taken into Israeli custody without justification or pretense. Only after she was in custody for close to two weeks did the Israeli courts issue an ‘Administrative detention’ order on the 29^th of February.

Administrative detention is the arrest and confinement of individuals by the state without charge or trial, ostensibly for security reasons. Amnesty International believes that administrative detention breaches Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which “makes clear that no-one should be subjected to arbitrary detention and that deprivation of liberty must be based on grounds and procedures established by law”.

According to Amnesty International, approximately 310 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention inside Israeli prisons. Administrative detention allows Israel to hold detainees for indefinitely renewable six-month periods. The arrest is granted on the basis of ‘secret information’ and without public scrutiny. Therefore, administrative detainees and their lawyers cannot defend against these allegations in court. Hunger strike is therefore the only non-violent method of resistance open to prisoners whose sole demand is that their human rights are respected in accordance with international law.

In a recent report, Amnesty International expressed particular concerns that prisoners in administrative detention were being “held solely for the non-violent exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association.” Hana Shalabi had previously spent two years in administrative detention but was released last October as part of a prisoner exchange negotiated between Israel and Hamas, making this the second time she has been held in this way.

In the last few days we have begun to receive reports that Hana’s health is deteriorating rapidly. ‘Physicians For Human Rights’ have made clear their concern for Hana Shalabi’s life. The organization also expressed its alarm at the recent proposal that doctors and prison staff are still considering the possibility of force-feeding, despite the fact that international treaties explicitly forbid this. A call to action has been issued by various groups in solidarity with Hana and others held alongside her. According to Palestinian human rights group Addameer, at least 24 other prisoners our at various stages of hunger strike inside Israeli prisons. This includes Ahmad Saqer, the longest serving Palestinian prisoner under Administrative detention, held since November 2008.

Christopher Beckett is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

In photos: Beit Ommar weekly protest

by Younes Arar

17 March 2012 | Beit Ommar Popular Committee

Hungry striking and demonstrating in solidarity with Shalabi and Corrie – Click here for more photos

The Beit Ommar Popular Committee organized today’s weekly peaceful protest adjacent to Karmei Tzur colony built on the stolen land of Beit Ommar farmers. When we arrived next to the so called security fence surrounding the colony, more than 60 heavily armed Israeli occupation soldiers obstructed our path and tried with aggression to force us back, but we resisted their violence and carried on our protest program.

This protest was in solidarity with Hana Shalabi who has been on hunger strike for the last 31 days in the Israeli occupation jails, and in memory of the ninth anniversary of the martyrdom of Rachel Corrie, who was bulldozed by an Israeli occupation military bulldozer while she trying to stop the bulldozer from bulldozing a Palestinian house in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

It’s important to note that the popular committee of Beit Ommar has been on hunger strike for the last two days in solidarity with Hana Shalabi.

Justice and Freedom for Hana Shalabi, Long live the memory of Rachel Corrie. LONG LIVE PALESTINE

Younes Arar is a coordinator for the Beit Ommar Popular Committee.

International Women’s Day Marks Hana Shalabi’s 22nd Day of Hunger Strike

8 March 2012 | Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations

We, the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organisations (PCHRO), would like to mark International Women’s Day by expressing our solidarity with administrative detainee Hana Shalabi. Hana is today beginning her 22^nd successive day of hunger strike in protest at her internment without charge or trial and her ongoing ill-treatment at the hands of the Israeli authorities.

Hana, 29 years old, previously spent more than two years in administrative detention before she was released in October 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. Less than four months later she was arrested once more by Israeli authorities at her home near Jenin, when she was beaten with the butt of a rifle by an Israeli soldier. Following her arrest, she was beaten, blindfolded and later forcibly strip-searched and assaulted by an Israeli male soldier. Hana was given a six-month administrative detention order and spent the first three days of her internment in solitary confinement. She was later sentenced to solitary confinement for a further seven days as punishment for her continuing hunger strike.

Internment, also known as administrative detention, is a procedure under which Palestinian detainees are held without charge or trial for periods of up to six months. Detention orders are usually renewed before they expire, and detainees can be held for indefinite periods of time, with several detainees spending up to eight consecutive years in internment. Administrative detainees are held on the basis of “secret material” that is not made available to them or their lawyers, therefore undermining their ability to effectively challenge the detention order.

Israel’s widespread practice of administrative detention, of which Hana Shalabi is yet another victim, constitutes a serious breach of international humanitarian and human rights law. While administrative detention is allowed under international humanitarian law, it must be used only in exceptional circumstances and must uphold fair trial standards, which Israel does not comply with. Israel is currently detaining some 310 Palestinians without charge in administrative detention.

Although no Palestinian is left untouched by the occupation, it is true that women are, in many cases, doubly affected by Israel’s illegal practices. However, internment also affects a large number of Palestinian women indirectly; those wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of detainees who endeavour to maintain community and family structures while they wait indefinitely for their family members to be freed. For example, the wife and daughter of Ahmad Qatamesh, who has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, recently saw his detention order renewed for the third consecutive time. Administrative detention, characterised by renewable detention orders and abusive conditions of imprisonment, constitutes a merciless cycle that attempts to suppress the spirit of both the detainees and their families.

While Hana Shalabi’s internment by way of an inhumane system is representative of the utter disregard in which Israel holds the lives and rights of Palestinians, administrative detention is only one of a wide range of violations perpetrated against Palestinian women in the OPT. Palestinian women and girls are, along with the rest of the Palestinian population, regularly subjected to harassment, intimidation and ill-treatment by Israeli military authorities and as a consequence they are denied the enjoyment of basic human rights such as education, health and freedom of movement. Such treatment amounts to an assault on their dignity and security of person in violation of international law.

The international community of States cannot continue to avert its gaze while Israel refuses to apply international human rights law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in the OPT. Israel is not only in violation of the positive duty to implement its obligations under CEDAW, but also, through the imposition of illegal policies such as restrictions on the freedom of movement, is in breach of its negative duty not to interfere in the enjoyment of the rights under the Convention.

PCHRO urges the international community to stand in solidarity with Hana, today of all days, as a first step towards ending its longstanding inaction in the face of Israel’s disregard for international law. Hana should not be forced to wait 66 days before the world sits up and takes notice. Given that Israel does not grant due process and humane treatment to Palestinians, she must be released immediately. By failing to do so, the international community will only contribute to the perpetuation of such violations and add to the climate of impunity that currently prevails in the OPT.