Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Joint Statement by Addameer and other NGO's on Hunger Strikes, Force Feeding and Imprisonment



Occupied Ramallah, 31 July 3013 - Following the growing international discourse surrounding hunger strikes and force-feeding of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, detainees in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp and California prisons, we the undersigned Palestinian and Israeli civil society organizations, express our solidarity with hunger striking prisoners and detainees across the globe and express our opposition to the suppression of legitimate protests through severe punitive measures and force feeding.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

The Hares Boys are charged with 25 counts of attempted murder each and face 25 years to life in prison

One of the cruellest things about the Zionist occupation of Palestine is the imprisonment and torture of children.

"The hardest memory is the sentence pronounced by a soldier before Ali was handcuffed and brought to an unspecified destination: “Kiss goodbye to your mother, because you might not see her again”. Ali’s mother sobs as she repeats these words, and then adds: “At first I thought he said this just to scare us, but now I see that he really meant that”. If the prosecution succeeds in sentencing the boys to 25 years of prison, Ali might see his family again until he is 41 years old."

The charge of 25 counts of attempted murder is based on each stone found on the road ! The boys say they were not even there at the time of the car crash , and the truck driver said he had stopped due to a flat tyre , not to stones being thrown.

Read more of the incredible way Israel persecutes young palestinians  here

On the 28th anniversary of his detention

As translated by Shahd Abusalama, a young palestinian blogger.

Very touching words written by the hero Walid Daqqa, one of the most intellectual Palestinian authors in Israeli prisons who forms a source of inspiration of many youth inside and outside jail, including me. He wrote this arabic piece that I am sharing below today as he starts his 28th year in imprisonment. The following is my translation of his moving piece. Please share to let the word know that Walid Daqqa isn't just a number, but he's a beautiful soul who can teach the whole world humanity.


"Today I acknowledge at the 28th anniversary of my detention, that my heart has never known hatred, nor I have mastered the toughness and the crudeness that prison life imposes on one. 
I further admit that I still rejoice and feel as happy as a kid for the simplest things, and I feel filled with joy for receiving a little compliment or hearing a nice word.
 I admit that my heart leaps up for glancing a flower, the sea, or any scene of nature on TV. I admit that I am happy despite everything, and I don't miss any of life luxuries.
 I only miss two scenes: the children and the workers. I miss those glimpses of children gushing out of all alleys of the village, heading to their schools in the morning, and the scene of workers as they are coming from all neighborhood very early in a foggy cold morning, enthusiastic while they head to the city centre, getting ready to travel to their work places.
 I admit all these sentiments and all this love was never to remain without the love of my mother Farida, my wife Sanaa, my brother Hussny, and the support of all of my family, friends, and beloved ones to me. For them I admit that I am still a human embracing the love in my heart and holding it as it was a flamed stone. I promise you I will remain steadfast with this love. I will keep loving you dearly as my love is my only humble victory against my jailer."

Testimonials of 2 Juveniles on Torture and Maltreatment

 Under the Zionist occupation, Palestinian children do not have any rights , as can be seen from the first hand testimony of these 13 year old boys

"Inside the jeep, the soldiers hit Subuh on the head, dropped him and his friend Ahmad at al-Jalameh crossing where there was a wide field and asked them to walk into the mid of the field ordering them to undress completely except for underwear.
“The soldiers approached us and two of them caught me and dragged me to the crossing while I was undressed and barefooted, as my clothes were left behind in the field” said Subhi.
They made both of them sit on at the crossing before they had cuffed and blindfolded them.
“The soldier tied the cuffs strongly around my hands in a very painful way which caused me hurts and marks until today” he added."
.........

"“Afterwards, he wrote down, in Hebrew, on a piece of paper for half an hour and asked me to sign it, but I refused to sign on something I did not know” Subuh said. “He told me “sign it in order to make your father come and release you”, but I refused, then, he took a stick of iron and hit me on the back with it and said “if you do not sign, we will bring your mother and brothers to investigate them here” I feared his threat and signed it” child Subuh said. "

AHRAR WLEDNA - Children - Testimonials of 2 Juveniles on Torture and Maltreatment

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Interview with IHRC

From the website of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, who interviewed me last week in London about The Prisoners' Diaries. IHRC are the UK publishers of the book, and have made the book available on Amazon UK and the Book Depository.

http://ihrc.org.uk/multimedia/video/10617-the-prisoners-diaries-palestinian-voices-from-the-israeli-gulag

Families Denied Prison Visit After Objecting To Strip Search - International Middle East Media Center

Families Denied Prison Visit After Objecting To Strip Search - International Middle East Media Center

Mother of detainee Mohammad Odeh, from Jerusalem, stated that the soldiers demanded dozens of women, mothers, wives and sisters of the detainees to be strip-searched, but they refused and were forced back home.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Protest outside G4S hq against their complicity in the arrest and torture of the children from Hares



A protest is today being held outside the headquarters of mega security corporation G4S in support of 5 children from the village of Hares who have been falsely arrested, tortured, kept in solitary confinement and forced to give false confessions, all of which has been facilitated by G4S.


http://spamfish23.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/protest-today-against-g4s-and-its-involvement-in-the-torture-and-false-prosecution-of-5-palestinian-children/

UN Report accuses Israel of using Palestinian children as human shields





A United Nations committee focused on youth rights accused Israel Thursday of failing to stop the mistreatment of Palestinian children in military and police custody.

The group's report accuses Israeli forces of using Palestinian children as human shields, and alleges that detained children in some cases face torture, solitary confinement and threats of sexual assault.

Assembled by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, the 21-page document comes three months after a UNICEF paper criticized the "systematic and institutionalized" mistreatment of Palestinian children detained by the Israeli military



http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57590368/u.n-report-accuses-israeli-forces-of-using-palestinian-children-as-human-shields-abusing-children-in-custody/