This is a compilation of 22 Palestinian prisoners' experiences in Israeli jails . 1,027 prisoners were released in 2011 as part of the exchange with Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and 22 of them were interviewed by journalists. Their commentaries were translated by CPDS and edited. The book is dedicated to Samer Issawi and all Palestinian prisoners, past, present and future, and was released on 17April 2013, in conjunction with Palestinian Prisoners' Day.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
The True Prison , by Ken Saro-Wiwa
The True Prison
It is not the leaking roof
Nor the singing mosquitoes
In the damp, wretched cell.
It is not the clank of the key
As the warder locks you in.
It is not the measly rations
Unfit for man or beast
Nor yet the emptiness of day
Dipping into the blankness of night
It is not
It is not
It is not
Controversy as Palestinian prisoners freed
Ramallah, Occupied West Bank - Twenty-six Palestinian prisoners, some held in Israeli jails for more than two decades, were released to their families in a "gesture of good faith" by Israel's government.
But critics say Tuesday's move should have been made decades ago under the Oslo Accords, and that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is milking the release for its own political gain.
Read the rest of AlJazeera's report here:
Controversy as Palestinian prisoners freed - Features - Al Jazeera English
Friday, October 25, 2013
Historical Event on Robben Island: Launch of the International Campaign for the freedom of Marwan Barghouthi and all Palestinian prisoners
Historical Event on Robben Island: Launch of the International Campaign for the freedom of Marwan Barghouthi and all Palestinian prisoners
On the 26th of October 2014, the 24th anniversary of his release from prison, anti-apartheid hero Ahmed Kathrada announced the launch of an International Campaign for the Freedom of Marwan Barghouthi and All Palestinian Political Prisoners. Kathrada was himself the initiator of the first Free Mandela Campaign after Nelson Mandela’s arrest in 1962. He was himself arrested a year later.
Kathrada explained that an International High Level Committee which will champion the campaign for the freedom of Marwan and all Palestinian political prisoners will be announced at the campaign launch. This committee will include five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. The call for the establishment of this committee was made by Ahmed Kathrada at an international “Freedom and Dignity” conference held in Palestine in April at the occasion of the 11th anniversary of Marwan's arrest.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Israel has arrested 10,000 Palestinian children since 2000
Israel arrested 10,000 Palestinian children since 2000
Photo: EPA
The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-detainees on Saturday said that the Israeli forces arrested 10,000 Palestinian since the outbreak of second Intifada in September 2000. The ministry said in a report on the occasion of the 13th anniversary of the second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, that Israel is holding 250 children in prisons and detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank.
The Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out in Sept. 28, 2000, following a visit by Israel’s then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the Al Aqsa Mosque. The ministry said that 90 percent of the children were arrested from their homes during arrest campaigns that the Israeli army usually carries after midnight. The ministry added that the majority of them were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew.
According to the ministry, “the Palestinian children are staying in very difficult circumstances in Israeli jails, are being violated during their arrests, during their interrogations and during their court proceedings.”
It added that the Israeli Prison Service “put them under psychological pressure and some jailers molested some of the children.” The ministry said that “holding Palestinian children in Israeli prisons violates the Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring the population it is occupying to its own territory.” It added that “incarcerating minors, especially holding them without charge in administrative detention, violates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
The official said that the Palestinian children still prosecuted at military courts that lack comprehensive fair trial and juvenile justice standards.
According to recent Palestinian statistics, Israel is holding 5,100 Palestinian prisoners in its in 17 prisons and detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank of whom 234 children, 15 females, 14 members of Palestine Legislative Council, 135 in administrative detention without trial and hundreds suffer from medical negligence.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_07/Israel-arrested-10-000-Palestinian-children-since-2000-3843/
Monday, October 7, 2013
Amnesty International calls for release of human rights lawyer, and prisoner of conscience Anas Barghouti
Amnesty International Issues Alert: Call on Israel to Immediately Release the Human Rights Lawyer Anas Barghouti
"Palestinian human rights lawyer and activist Anas Barghouti was arrested by the Israeli army on 15 September. He was held without charge until 24 September when an Israeli military court presented him with charges related to his work and human rights activism. He is a prisoner of conscience and should be released immediately and unconditionally."
" Please write immediately in Hebrew, English, or your own language: Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Anas Barghouti;
Calling on Israel to put an immediate end to harassment of human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
/ For more information and the addresses of where to send appeals go to:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/017/2013/en/7f91100f-4185-46a5-a920-c7a44c13e627/mde150172013en.html
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