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<font size=3>From: Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
<info@freeahmadsaadat.org><br><br>
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/prisoners-day-2011.html"><b>On
Palestinian Prisoners' Day, Support Palestinian Prisoners' Struggle for
Freedom!</a><br><br>
April 17, 2011<br>
</b> <br>
<b>On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, April 17, 2011, the
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org">Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
</a>salutes all of the over 5,700 Palestinian prisoners inside the
Israeli occupation's jails,</b> and calls upon all those concerned for
justice and freedom to join and build the largest possible international
movement to secure the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, and of the
entire Palestinian people.<br><br>
<b>Palestinian prisoners have always stood as the backbone of the
Palestinian national movement.</b> Their continued steadfastness in the
face of torture, isolation, denial of medical care and family visits, and
their continual willingness to confront the occupation, engaging in
hunger strikes and protests and demanding their rights, is an inspiration
to all.<br><br>
In moments of Palestinian national division or despair, the voice of
prisoners has remained a clarion call and a beacon: an example of
national unity, forged in struggle, and full commitment not only to the
liberation of all Palestinian prisoners, but also to the liberation of
Palestine, to the resistance, to self-determination, to freedom, to the
return of Palestinian refugees. <b>The valiant struggle of Palestine's
political prisoners is central to the Palestinian movement for national
liberation; it is the struggle of the Palestinian people.<br><br>
</b>We also note today the Palestinian and Arab political prisoners held
in jails around the world, many for their own support of the Palestinian
struggle and the Palestinian cause, and call for the freedom of all of
those prisoners, and of all political prisoners in the jails of their
oppressors around the world. <b>We demand that governments end their
investigations of and repression against activists supporting
Palestine</b> - from the U.S., where 23 activists face grand jury
subpoenas and FBI raids for their public activity in support of
Palestine, to France, where boycott, divestment and sanctions activists
have been threatened with charges for boycotting Israeli goods, to
Argentina, where an activist was arrested for organizing a Nakba
commemoration - to everywhere around the world. <b>Instead of attempting
to suppress and silence voices of justice and solidarity, these
governments must act to end their complicity and support for Israeli war
crimes and occupation against the Palestinian people.<br><br>
</b>On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, we urge the new Egypt to mark this day
by releasing all remaining Palestinian prisoners in Egyptian jails. We
greet the Arab popular movements with solidarity and call for the freedom
of all Arab political prisoners in Arab jails.<br><br>
Furthermore, we also spotlight today the village of Awarta, which has
been subject to closure, home invasions, mass kidnappings, detentions,
forced DNA testing of hundreds of women, lengthy imprisonment of
children, and interrogation of thousands of Palestinians. <b>Awarta is
under siege, and we stand today with the people of Awarta subject to
massive and arbitrary detention and call for international attention and
solidarity with the people of Awarta.<br><br>
</b>We also stand with the people of Gaza struggling to break their own
siege, and note that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails from Gaza
have been denied family visits for years. We demand an end to the siege
of Gaza and the siege of its prisoners!<br><br>
<b><a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/isolationoct24.html">For over two
years, Ahmad Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, has been held in isolation in the occupation
prisons.</a></b> He has been regularly denied family visits, denied
access to books or reading material, and denied basic exercise and
medical care. Sa'adat was kidnapped by the Israeli occupation army on
March 14, 2006 from where he and his comrades, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi
Rimawi, Basil al-Asmar, and Hamdi Qur'an, were imprisoned in the
Palestinian Authority's Jericho Prison under U.S. and British guards. The
U.S. and British guards removed themselves immediately prior to the
Israeli attack, making clear that the U.S. and the U.K. were directly
complicit in the attack on Jericho. Sa'adat, the leader of a major
Palestinian political party and an elected member of the Palestinian
Legislative Council, had been held in Israeli prisons for nearly six
years at various times, held repeatedly in "administrative
detention," where Palestinians are held without charge or trial
under secret evidence. He was held in PA prisons for four years before
his kidnapping and has now been held in the occupation's prisons for five
years.<br><br>
<b>Ahmad Sa'adat is not only a national leader of the Palestinian people,
he is a recognized leader and symbol of the Palestinian prisoners'
movement - a symbol of steadfastness and commitment to Palestine and its
people in the face of all forms of abuse</b> <b>and violation.</b> And it
is because Sa'adat represents that voice - the voice of the prisoners -
that he has been placed in isolation, in an attempt to silence not only
Sa'adat himself, but the Palestinian prisoners' movement, and through
that, the conscience of the Palestinian revolution.<br><br>
However, neither Ahmad Sa'adat, nor the Palestinian prisoners, nor the
Palestinian people, have been compelled into silence or submission by
isolation and torture. Rather, their voice is heard, more clearly than
ever, calling for justice, freedom, and liberation.
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/prisoners-day-2011.html"><b>Today,
and every day, we stand beside Ahmad Sa'adat and the prisoners of
freedom, and encourage all around the world to join us in building the
call to free Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners!</a><br><br>
</b>On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, please write us at
<a href="mailto:info@freeahmadsaadat.org">info@freeahmadsaadat.org</a> to
inform us about actions or events in support of Palestinian political
prisoners. We encourage you to hold educational events, demonstrations
and activities in support of Palestinian prisoners and distribute
information about Ahmad Sa'adat, Palestinian prisoners, and the
Palestinian cause. <br><br>
<br>
<b>The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat<br>
<a href="http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/">
http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/</a><br>
<a href="mailto:info@freeahmadsaadat.org">info@freeahmadsaadat.org</a><br>
Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat">
http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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