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<font size=4><b>The trial, scheduled to begin YESTERDAY , has been
postponed to begin on August 1, 2007,</font><font size=3> </b>when the
military trial of Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine, is scheduled to begin at Ofer Military
Base in Ramallah, Palestine. This trial has been delayed on multiple
occasions, and despite Sa'adat's having been held in custody, of the
Palestinian Authority under U.S. and British Guard, and then by the
Israeli military after their attack on Jericho Prison on March 14, 2006,
he has never been tried.<br><br>
He is charged with a laundry list of "security offenses,"
political in nature: for example, membership in a forbidden organization,
holding a post in a forbidden organization, and "incitement,"
for a speech condemning the Israeli military's murder of the man who held
his post before him, Abu Ali Mustafa. Sa'adat refuses to cooperate with
the court, pointing out that it is an illegitimate court enforcing an
illegal military occupation, and acting as a weapon of the occupation, to
persecute Palestinian leaders and political activists and to undermine
the Palestinian people's political activity. <br>
<br>
I am writing to you to express my concern regarding the case of a
Palestinian prisoner of conscience, Ahmad Sa'adat. Sa'adat, <b><u>elected
member of the Palestinian Legislative Council </u></b>and General
Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been
imprisoned <b><u>since January 2002</u></b>, first in Palestinian
Authority jails under the guard of U.S. and British monitors, and now in
an Israeli military prison. Sa'adat, with five other Palestinian
political prisoners, was kidnapped from the PA prison in Jericho on March
14, 2006, during an armed Israeli military assault on the prison waged in
order to abduct these prisoners. <br><br>
During his entire time in Palestinian Authority prisons, <b><u>Sa'adat
was never tried or charged</u></b>. Sa'adat was nominally a prisoner of
the Palestinian Authority, but was in fact guarded by U.S. and British
guards, at the behest of Israel. The Palestinian High Court of
<b><u>Justice ruled that Sa'adat should be immediately released</u></b>,
as did numerous international human rights organizations. Following his
election in January 2006 to the Palestinian Legislative Council, despite
growing calls for his release, Sa'adat remained imprisoned at Jericho. On
March 14, 2006, the U.S. and British guards assigned to Jericho prison
abandoned their posts in order to allow for an Israeli military assault
on the prison that ended with the capture of Sa'adat and five other
Palestinian political prisoners, the deaths of two Palestinians, and the
injury of 23 Palestinians. <br><br>
Following the abduction of Sa'adat, the Israeli military courts admitted
they lacked sufficient evidence to try Sa'adat under more serious
charges, and have instead charged him with an array of political
offenses, including membership in a prohibited organization (the PFLP),
holding a post in a prohibited organization, and incitement,<b> for
delivering a speech harshly condemning the Israeli military's
assassination of his predecessor Abu Ali Mustafa.</b> <br><br>
<b><u>Sa'adat joins over 11,000 other Palestinian political prisoners,
men, women and children, held in Israeli jails for struggling for the
rights of their people.</u></b> These 11,000 political prisoners
represent political activists, organizers and leaders, and the systematic
imprisonment of Palestinians has been calculated by the military
occupation in order to disrupt Palestinian political life and extend the
illegal military occupation. <br><br>
The military courts trying Sa'adat and the other Palestinian
prisoners<b><u> are entirely institutions of the illegitimate military
occupation.</u></b> They function solely as a means of maintaining that
occupation and repressing any and all resistance and opposition to its
perpetuation. As such, these military courts are illegitimate entities of
an illegal military occupation that has been condemned by every leading
international body and human rights organization. <br><br>
I am asking your organization to<b><u> highlight the case of Ahmad
Sa'adat</u></b> and other Palestinian political prisoners. The situation
of Palestinian political prisoners <b><u>is a human rights
crisis</u></b>. Palestinian parliamentarians and political leaders and
activists are routinely subject to detention and lengthy terms of
imprisonment for their political work on behalf of their people. In order
to shed light on their situation and create the kind of pressure that is
necessary to ensure justice, <b><u>the voices of international human
rights organizations are desperately needed. <br><br>
</u></b>I am asking you to take up the case of Ahmad Sa'adat, a
Palestinian prisoner of conscience, and all other Palestinian political
prisoners, in the interests of human rights, self-determination and
justice for the Palestinian people. <br>
Thank you. <br>
Monadel Herzallah<br>
<br>
Please check out the web site below and take actions NOW . <br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/">
http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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