Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Political Prisoners!
End Palestinian Authority Security Coordination with Israel!
From January 15-30, 2014, raise your voices around the world for FREEDOM! Marking the 12th anniversary of the abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat by Palestinian Authority intelligence services, join the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat for FREEDOM WEEKS. Hold sit-ins, rallies, information tables or educational events in your area to call for Freedom for Palestinian Political Prisoners and an End to Palestinian Authority Security Cooperation with the Israeli occupier!
On January 15, 2002, Ahmad Sa’adat, Palestinian leader and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was abducted by Palestinian Authority security services in Ramallah, joining several of his comrades already seized by the Palestinian Authority. Captured at the behest of Israeli occupying forces, Sa’adat and his comrades were held for over four years in the Palestinian Authority’s prison in Jericho, under U.S. and British guards. During that time, Sa’adat was never charged and even the PA’s high court ordered his release: but the demands of Israel, the U.S. and Britain kept him and his comrades behind bars in a Palestinian Authority prison until the prison itself was attacked and the Palestinians held there seized by Israeli military forces on March 14, 2006.
The imprisonment of Ahmad Sa’adat and his comrades is only the tip of the iceberg for Palestinians facing security cooperation with Israel by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. PA intelligence and “preventive security” services detain, interrogate and imprison hundreds of Palestinians, targeting the Palestinian resistance in the “security” interests of the Israeli occupation state – and against the rights and interests of the Palestinian people. The U.S., Canada and the European Union are directly involved in security coordination, providing millions of dollars and training to ensure it continues.
There are over 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners and detainees held in Israeli occupation prisons, including men, women, children, elders, critically ill patients, parliamentarians, students, workers and community and political leaders from the West Bank, Gaza, and occupied Palestine ‘48. A number of Palestinian prisoners are severely ill – and facing medical neglect, mistreatment and abuse. Each day, Palestinians face arrest raids and abductions at the hands of Israeli military forces, torture and abuse in interrogation, and imprisonment for such charges as membership in a Palestinian political party or “incitement” against the occupation forces – or held arbitrarily without charge at all under administrative detention.
On numerous occasions, Palestinians formerly imprisoned in Israeli jails have been interrogated and detained by PA security forces, often shortly after their release; while Palestinians released from PA detention have been arrested by Israeli forces almost immediately following their return home. This “revolving door” has repeatedly been used to suppress Palestinian organizing and limit the impact of released prisoners on their communities. Meanwhile, Israeli officials like Ehud Barak and Yuval Diskin – while expanding settlements, demolishing homes, and besieging Gaza – have praised security coordination with the PA as vitally important in protecting the occupation’s security.
12 years after Ahmad Sa’adat’s abduction by PA forces, join us to say: End Security Coordination! Free all Palestinian Political Prisoners!
Posters and materials for use in your Freedom Weeks are available here: https://freeahmadsaadat.org/resources/
Use the form to let the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat know about your local action or email us at campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org. We will list your events on the Campaign website and publicize them.
Suggested actions:
- Protest at your local Israeli consulate or embassy demanding freedom for Palestinian political prisoners.
- Protest at official Palestinian embassies and missions demanding an end to security coordination.
- Phone Palestinian officials at the embassy in your country and call for an end to security coordination with Israel.
- Distribute flyers or handbills about Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners, and security cooperation
- Post or drop a banner calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners in your city.
- Hold a forum or educational event on Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners’ struggle.
For assistance and support in your activities, please contact the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat at campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org.
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Twitter: @FreeAhmadSaadat
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