[Ppnews] Ahmad Sa'adat - on international day of action

[Political Prisoner News]

<http://freeahmadsaadat.org>http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/

<http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org>The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat - 
<mailto:info at freeahmadsaadat.org>info at freeahmadsaadat.org -
Twitter:<http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat>http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat

Ahmad Sa'adat, imprisoned Palestinian national leader, General 
Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and 
Palestinian Legislative Council member, issued a letter from his 
isolation cell on November 8, 2009, in response to the 
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/extended-isolation.html>October 22 
international day of action and the efforts of political, social, 
legal and media organizations in solidarity with Comrade Sa'adat and 
all Palestinian prisoners, particularly those confronting isolation 
in the jails of the occupier, calling for ongoing actions against 
isolation and in support of the prisoners.

Sa'adat's letter expressed his support for the actions and said:

"The policy of isolation is a flagrant violation of international 
humanitarian and human rights law, and the law of prohibition of 
torture. This policy is also a systematic practice of killing and 
destruction of the human personality, and in some cases, a mechanism 
for carrying out a living death sentence against freedom fighters, 
particularly those who have served many long years in isolation, such 
as Hassan Salameh, Jamal Abu Hija, Ibrahim Hamed, Ahmed al-Maghrabi, 
Abdullah al-Barghouthi and others.

"The policy of isolation, this death penalty imposed upon prisoners 
and detainees, are not based on any legal grounds. It is a decision 
of the occupation intelligence services under a secret file that may 
be seen by nobody but for the judge, who has never denied any 
decision to isolate a prisoner or made clear any mechanism for the 
use of isolation.

"The policy of isolation targets the essence of human rights and 
humanity - the right to social relationships - through isolation from 
the surrounding environment, and means deprivation of even the 
minimal rights under the laws of the Israeli Prisons Administration, 
including access to newspapers, books and clothes. It is collective 
punishment of prisoners' families as well, as every decision to 
isolate a prisoner is accompanied by a 3 month prohibition on family visits."

Sa'adat concluded his letter with a call: "The struggle of the 
prisoners for freedom is part and parcel of the ongoing struggle of 
our people which will end only with the defeat of occupation across 
all of the soil of Palestine. I call upon all institutions, activists 
and organizations to develop an action plan to support the struggle 
of prisoners in general, and, in particular, the prisoners suffering 
in isolation."


Join with the Campaign to take action and answer this call!

1.<http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/saadat-flyer.pdf>Distribute the 
Free Ahmad Sa'adat flyer: 
http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/saadat-flyer.pdf in your town, city, 
event or location! Bring the flyers to events and activities, or hold 
a flyer distribution at a public place.

2. Call the Israeli embassy or consulate in your 
location(<http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sites+of+Israeli+Missions+Abroad.htm>http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/<http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sites+of+Israeli+Missions+Abroad.htm>Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sites+of+Israeli+Missions+Abroad.htm) 
and demand the immediate freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian 
political prisoners.


3. Write to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other 
human rights organizations to exercise their responsibilities and act 
swiftly to demand that the Israelis ensure that Ahmad Sa'adat and all 
Palestinian prisoners are freed from punitive isolation. Email the 
ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the conditions 
of prisoners, at 
<mailto:jerusalem.jer at icrc.org>jerusalem.jer at icrc.org, and inform 
them about the urgent situation of Ahmad Sa'adat.

4.Email the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat at 
<mailto:info at freeahmadsaadat.org>info at freeahmadsaadat.org with 
announcements, reports and information about your local events, 
activities and flyer distributions.

The International Day of Action, which took place on October 22, 
2009, included protests, sit-ins and media events throughout 
Palestine and around the world. Events in Palestine took place in 
Ramallah, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Jenin, Al-Khalil, Gaza City, 
Rafah, Khan Younis, Nusseirat, and elsewhere. In Amman, Damascus, 
Saida, and in many Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, events and 
rallies for Sa'adat and the prisoners took place, while international 
actions, statements and media campaigns took place around the world - 
in Brazil, Chile, Galicia, France, Greece, Denmark, Poland, Canada 
and the United States. In San Francisco, demonstrators who 
interrupted the speech of former Israeli prime minister and war 
criminal Ehud Olmert carried posters calling for the freedom of Ahmad 
Sa'adat, while the World Federation of Democratic Youth called for 
action from its member organizations.

On October 22, Sa'adat's isolation was extended an additional six 
months by an Israeli military court, after he had already spent six 
months in isolation. Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular 
Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was elected to his position in 
2001 following the assassination of the previous General Secretary, 
Abu Ali Mustafa, on August 27, 2001 by a U.S.-made Apache missile 
shot from an Israeli military helicopter as he sat in his office in 
Ramallah. He was abducted by Palestinian Authority security forces 
after engaging in a meeting with PA officials under false pretenses 
in February 2002, and was held in the Muqata' PA presidential 
building in Ramallah until April 2002, when in an agreement with 
Israel, the U.S. and Britain, he and four of his comrades were held 
in the Palestinian Authority's Jericho prison, under U.S. and British guard.

He remained in the PA jails, without trial or charge, an imprisonment 
that was internationally condemned, until March 14, 2006, when the 
prison itself was besieged by the occupation army and he and his 
comrades were kidnapped. While imprisoned in the PA jail in Jericho, 
he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council. Since that 
time, he has been held in the prisons of the occupation and 
continually refused to recognize the illegitimate military courts of 
the Israeli occupation. He was sentenced to thirty years in prison on 
December 25, 2008 solely for his political activity, and has spent 
over six months in isolation at the present time.

On March 18, 2009, Sa'adat was moved into isolation at Asqelan 
prison, facing serious medical consequences. In June 2009, Sa'adat 
engaged in a nine-day hunger strike against his isolation. On August 
10, 2009, Sa'adat was moved from the isolation cells at Asqelan to 
the isolation unit at Ramon prison in the Naqab desert. On October 
22, 2009, he was consigned to an additional six months in the isolation cells.

Sa'adat's biography, writings and statements are available at the 
website of the <http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org>Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat.

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
<http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org>http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/
<mailto:info at freeahmadsaadat.org>info at freeahmadsaadat.org
Twitter:<http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat>http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat




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