Press Release: Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
The world must heed Khader Adnan’s call: Make Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day, 17 April 2012, A Day of
International Action
The world must heed Khader Adnan’s call:
Make Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day, 17 April 2012, A Day of International Action
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)
Sheikh Khader Adnan’s hunger strike has inspired millions and infused the Palestinian national and solidarity movements
with new energy, and 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.
•
Let Khader Adnan’s hunger strike mark the beginning of a revitalized global movement for Palestinian prisoners, their
rights, their families, and their struggle. Together, we can make it so.
Initiating Signatories:
Friends of Detainees and Prisoners Association, Nazareth
AberPSC
Arab Organization for Human Rights
BDS Belgium et Bienvenue en Palestine (Bruxelles)
Comité Saintonge Palestine
Miranda Alliance
New York City Labor Against the War
“Palestina nel cuore” Committee
Palestine Solidarity Alliance–South Africa
Soutien Palestine
Women in Black San Luis Obispo
Individuals:
Richard A. Falk – Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, UN Special Rapporteur on
Palestinian human rights*
Barbara Hogan — South African, former Political prisoner under apartheid
Ahmed Kathrada – South African, former political prisoner who spent 27 years in prison under apartheid
Siphiewe Thusi–Soweto anti-apartheid activist and ex-prisoner
Mireille Fanon Mendès-France, expert, member of the UN Working Group on People of African Descent
Jan J. Wijenberg – Former Ambassador, Kingdom of The Netherlands
TO ENDORSE THE CALL, GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE HERE
ENDS