CORRECTED as of May 14 with new information: Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was suddenly transferred on Thursday, 11 May from isolation in Ashkelon prison to isolation in Ohli Kedar prison. Sa’adat will reportedly receive a legal visit today in Ohli Kedar with a lawyer from Addameer. Sa’adat has been denied all legal visits since May 4, when he and dozens of prominent leaders joined the Strike of Freedom and Dignity, the hunger strike launched by 1500 Palestinian prisoners on April 17, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.
Addameer only obtained the legal visit, scheduled for today, Sunday, May 14 at 3:00 pm in Ashkelon prison, after filing a petition against the ongoing and illegal denial of visits against Sa’adat. As noted by the Media Committee of the hunger strike, this latest transfer is a “systematic policy to deny the imprisoned leader Sa’adat of his right to legal visits.”
Sa’adat and fellow imprisoned leaders, including Marwan Barghouthi, Anas Jaradat, Abbas al-Sayyed, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Wajdi Jawdat and others have all been consistently denied legal visits since joining the strike, despite ongoing legal actions and even court orders to allow the visits following ongoing petitions by Palestinian lawyers and legal organizations. The hunger strike demands an end to solitary confinement and imprisonment without charge or trial, the right to family visits and communication with loved ones, and proper health care and medical treatment for imprisoned Palestinians.
We demand that Ahmad Sa’adat and all other imprisoned Palestinians immediately receive their denied legal visits, the immediate implementation of the hunger strikers’ demands, and urge freedom for all imprisoned Palestinians in Israeli jails.
- This story has been corrected from an earlier version; due to the heavy control of information imposed by the Israeli prison administration, news and reports are often delayed or confused regarding time.
