Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat. Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is a political prisoner who is being held in an Israeli jail.

10 Years in Prison, 10 Years of Struggle: On the Anniversary of the Abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat

January 15, 2012 is the 10th anniversary of the abduction of Palestinian political leader Ahmad Sa'adat by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah at the hands of the PA intelligence services headed by Tawfiq Tirawi. Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been imprisoned for ten years – first by PA security, then under US and British guard in a PA prison in Jericho, and now, for the past six years, inside Israeli jails alongside thousands of other Palestinian political prisoners after a siege on Jericho and the kidnapping of Sa'adat and his comrades in 2006.

The kidnapping of Ahmad Sa'adat on January 15, 2002, was emblematic of the deep damage of the crime of “security cooperation” to the Palestinian people and their national cause. “Security cooperation” has meant nothing but attacks on the Palestinian resistance at the behest of Israel, committed by Palestinian Authority hands. The abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat, and his imprisonment – and that of his comrades – in the PA prison in Jericho, under U.S. and British guard, was a clear example of the PA's status as fundamentally beholden to the interests of Israel, the U.S. and other international powers, at the expense of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance.

The abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat has come to symbolize the thousands of Palestinians who have gone through the jails of the PA because of their loyalty to the Palestinian people, cause and resistance, and the impunity of PA officials – like Tawfiq Tirawi – who continue to find lucrative and influential positions within the Authority despite their shameless acts of betrayal, imprisoning, and abducting Palestinian leaders and activists.

This complicity with Israeli demands for the subjugation and suppression of the Palestinian people led directly to the Israeli assault on Jericho prison in 2006, where Ahmad Sa'adat and his comrades were immobilized in the face of Israeli occupation aggression. Sa'adat had never been charged with a crime throughout his four years in PA prison; his release had been ordered by the PA's highest court. Yet the PA refused to release Sa'adat, respecting the dictates of Israel, the US and Britain above Palestinian legitimacy; it claimed that it “could not guarantee his safety” outside the prison. Yet it simultaneously guaranteed that he and his comrades could not be safe from Israeli aggression, their locations known at all times by Israel and under the watchful eyes of U.S. and British guards, directly in collusion with Israel. (It should be noted that, forewarned of the attack, the U.S. and British guards absented Jericho prison at the request of the Israeli occupation army.)

Since his second kidnapping, from a PA prison to the heart of the occupation's jails, Ahmad Sa'adat has remained a leader of the prisoners' movement. Today, he has spent nearly three full years in isolation at the hands of the occupation. He was an inspiration – and his release from isolation a key demand of the prisoners' hunger strike that galvanized the Palestinian prisoners' movement and the prisoners' cause in October 2011.

Just as Sa'adat's kidnapping is a symbol of the crime of security cooperation, Sa'adat's imprisonment in the hands of the occupation is a symbol of the steadfastness of the nearly 5,000 prisoners inside the jails of the occupation – like his fellow prisoners, resisting isolation, refusing rights violations, and not allowing their will and strength to be broken by the actions of the occupation jailers.

Ten years after the abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat, this anniversary is a reminder that we must continue to organize, act, and demand the freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners, and expose the complicity of the U.S., British, Canadian and other international governments in the enforcement of “security cooperation” and the abuse and mass imprisonment of Palestinian political leaders and activists by the Israeli occupation. While the Quartet pushes the Palestinian Authority to return to bogus negotiations with the occupation (while the occupation continues settlement expansion, ethnic cleansing, land confiscation, home demolitions, isolation, solitary confinement, and mass imprisonment), it is urgent that we form an international popular basis of support for the Palestinian people and their activists and leaders inside the jails of the occupation, rather than those complicit with the occupation at the table of negotiations.

Take Action!

1. Picket, protest or call the Israeli embassy or consulate in your location and demand the immediate freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners.
2. Distribute the free downloadable Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat flyer in your community at local events.
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 prisoners' rights are recognized. Email the ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the conditions of prisoners, at JER_jerusalem@icrc.org, and inform them about the urgent situation of Ahmad Sa'adat. Make it clear that isolation is a human rights violation and a form of torture, and that the ICRC must stand up and play its role to defend prisoners' rights.
4. Email the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat at campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org with announcements, reports and information about your local events, activities and flyer distributions.

WHO IS AHMAD SA'ADAT?

Ahmad 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. PFLP fighters retaliated by assassinating Rehavam Ze'evi, the racist extremist Israeli tourism minister and head of the Moledet party, notorious for his political platform based on the “transfer” or ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, on October 17, 2001.

Sa'adat 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 nearly three years in isolation at the present time.

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat January 15, 2012

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/ campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org Twitter: @FreeAhmadSaadat

#Palestine #AhmadSaadat #CampaignToFreeAhmadSaadat #PoliticalPrisoners #MiddleEast

On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, April 17, 2011, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat salutes all of the over 5,700 Palestinian prisoners inside the Israeli occupation's jails, 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.

Palestinian prisoners have always stood as the backbone of the Palestinian national movement. 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.

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. 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.

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. We demand that governments end their investigations of and repression against activists supporting Palestine – 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. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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!

For 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. He has been regularly regularly denied family visits, denied access to books or reading mateial, 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.

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 and violation. 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.

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. 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!

On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, please write us at info@freeahmadsaadat.org 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.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #AhmadSaadat #PoliticalPrisoners #PFLP #CampaignToFreeAhmadSaadat #MiddleEast

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat. Ahmad Sa'adat, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is imprisoned in an Israeli jail.

On fifth anniversary of Sa'adat's abduction, join the movement to end Oslo

March 15, 2011 marks the fifth anniversary of the storming of Jericho prison and the abduction of Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat and his comrades by the Israeli occupation military. On this anniversary, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat emphasizes that the strength and determination of the Palestinian people to free all prisoners from the occupation jails has remained steadfast and strong, and calls upon all to support and join in the March 15 protests for Palestinian unity and against the Oslo agreement. Despite the abuse and isolation they have suffered, the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people will continue to resist occupation, racism, and settlement in order to obtain their rights to freedom, self-determination and return.

Since his abduction, Ahmad Sa'adat has been subjected to repeated mistreatment, denial of family visits and denial of medical care in occupation prisons. He has been held in isolation since March 19, 2009, with his isolation repeatedly renewed. Despite the occupation prisons' practices, which run contrary to international norms and human rights standards, Sa'adat has continued to stand firm and steadfast with the Palestinian people and their rights, and while the jailers have isolated Sa'adat physically, they have failed to isolate his words or his spirit – the Palestinian people and the world stand with him.

The anniversary this year of Ahmad Sa'adat's abduction comes in conjunction with the March 15, 2011 protests to end Palestinian internal division and overthrow the Oslo agreement and all of its products. Sa'adat's abduction, coming as it did from a Palestinian Authority prison established under the terms of Oslo and its “security cooperation”, was itself a manifestation of Oslo and the fracturing of the Palestinian internal front.

On this anniversary, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat echoes Sa'adat's call for support for the March 15 demonstrations. Sa'adat's wife, Abla, reported on March 11 that he called for all Palestinians, inside and outside Palestine, to participate in the protests and expressed his “sincere greetings for all of the efforts led by Palestinian youth, and affirmed that all prisoners in the jails of the occupier are with them, support their movement and their demands.”

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat calls upon all of its supporters around the world to join in and support Palestinian efforts for March 15 demonstrations in all area, including actions and demonstrations called by local Palestinian communities, and to raise the struggle of Palestinian prisoners, one of the central demands of the March 15 protests. We join with Ahmad Sa'adat and share his conviction in the ability of the Palestinian people to take the initiative in their hands and pressure for change, to end the division, and end the destructive era of the Oslo agreements and “negotiations.”

On the fifth anniversary of Ahmad Sa'adat's abduction, it is long past time to end once and for all the dangerous and deeply damaging policy of security coordination, a policy responsible for ongoing political repression, human rights violations and threats to the Palestinian cause. We emphasize that the policy of Palestinian Authority security coordination with the Israeli occupation is the cause not only of Ahmad Sa'adat's imprisonment but also of ongoing arrests, prosecutions, torture and fear for Palestinians in the West Bank. The Palestinian Campaign in Solidarity with Ahmad Sa'adat has labeled the policy of security coordination “national treason against the people and the resistance.” The policy of security coordination is a threat to the Palestinian cause and the entire Palestinian people, and is a slap in the face to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in the occupier's jails and threatens all of the accomplishments of the Palestinian revolution over its decades.

On this anniversary, we reiterate our call to all organizations in solidarity with Palestine, prisoners' rights and human rights to join the Campaign, and for international authorities, including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to take up their responsibility to address the ongoing suffering and abuse of Palestinian political prisoners by occupation forces, including the abuse of child prisoners and the denial of medical care to ill prisoners.

Five years after Ahmad Sa'adat's abduction from Jericho prison alongside his comrades, the Sa'adat, the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people remain steadfastly in confrontation of occupation and oppression. On this anniversary, we salute Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners and pledge to continue our work until all Palestinian political prisoners – and all of Palestine – are free.

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #AhmadSaadat #PFLP #CampaignToFreeAhmadSaadat #MiddleEast

Outrage! Isolation of Ahmad Sa'adat extended six months

October 22, 2009 – As actions across Palestine and around the world in support of imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat continue, the illegitimate Israeli occupation military court in Bir Saba today extended Sa'adat's isolation for six additional months. Take action today to say that we will not allow these abuses to continue!

Ahmad Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, continued his boycott of the occupation courts, stating that these courts are illegitimate, invalid and can produce nothing but a mockery of justice, and that these courts are part and parcel of the war machine that continues its aggression against the Palestinian people, with isolation another weapon in their arsenal.

Sa'adat has already been held in isolation for over six months, in a special solitary confinement unit at Ramon prison where he is confined without access even to the other prisoners in the larger isolation unit, and deprived of basic human rights. His personal books have been confiscated and he is routinely denied access to television, newspapers or any other source of information.

He has been denied family visits – his wife, Abla, has been denied visits for three months – as well as legal visits, and barred from purchases at the prison canteen, including cigarette purchases. In the prison yard, Sa'adat has been held handcuffed and in ankle shackles and allowed only one-hour of exercise/recreation. All of this has been 'justified' by the occupation authorities as 'punishment' for giving two packs of cigarettes to another prisoner.

The Prison Administration is attempting to criminalize the human and social relationship between fellow Palestinian prisoners, and between the prisoners and their families outside. Palestinian national leaders, such as Sa'adat, have been particularly targeted for isolation, solitary confinement and similar punitive mechanisms and violations of their human rights, in order to suppress the Palestinian prisoners' movement, which has been at the forefront of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, liberation, return and self-determination.

TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT AHMAD SA'ADAT AND ALL PALESTINIAN PRISONERS!

Ahmad Sa'adat and nearly 10,000 Palestinian prisoners are struggling for freedom and calling upon the active support of people around the world for the freedom of the prisoners, their people and their homeland. This latest outrage demands our action and attention!

Across Palestine, throughout the Arab world, from France, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Galicia, Greece the U.S., Canada, Brazil and around the world, actions are taking place and statements are pouring in to support Ahmad Sa'adat and the Palestinian prisoners, demanding an end to isolation and freedom for these 10,000 hostages.

1. 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) 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 jerusalem.jer@icrc.org, and inform them about the urgent situation of Ahmad Sa'adat.

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

Ahmad Sa'adat and nearly 10,000 Palestinian prisoners are daily on the front lines, confronting Israeli oppression and crimes. Today, he is suffering six months more of inhumane and unjust isolation after over 200 days in solitary confinement. it is urgent that we stand with Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners against these abuses, and for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and for all of Palestine!

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org

info@freeahmadsaadat.org

WHO ARE THE PALESTINIAN PRISONERS?

There are nearly 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. In the West Bank, nearly half of all men have been detained in occupation prisons. They are members of all Palestinian political parties and factions, and come from all walks of life – activists, teachers, farmers, students. They are women and men, and children and youth. They include in their number hundreds of administrative detainees – arbitrarily detained individuals held without charge on secret evidence. They also include approximately 27 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. All of these prisoners are held in Israeli occupation jails because they are struggling for the freedom of their people and their land.

WHO IS AHMAD SA'ADAT?

Ahmad 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 Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat.

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org

info@freeahmadsaadat.org

-- Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org

#Palestine #AhmadSaadat #CampaignToFreeAhmadSaadat #PoliticalPrisoners #MiddleEast