Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Feb. 18 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The Ofer military court of the Zionist occupation sentenced a student at Bir Zeit University, Lina Khattab, to six months imprisonment, a fine of 6000 shekels and three years’ probation, convicting her of participating in a demonstration outside Ofer prison demanding freedom for Palestinian prisoners in December 2014.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine denounced the occupation military courts as an illegitimate tool of the Zionist occupation used as a weapon against the Palestinian people and the rights of our people to resist occupation under international law.

The Front stated that the imprisonment of Lina Khattab, as well as the continuing policy of the arrest, abduction, abuse and torture of children, including the child Malak al-Khatib released only a few days ago, and the detention of thousands of Palestinian men and women in harsh conditions demonstrates the fascist criminality of the occupation state.

The Front saluted the student Lina Khattab for her steadfastness, despite the abuses she was subjected to in the interrogation rooms of the occupier, noting that her actions in refusing all attempts to force her to confess make her a model of rejection of injustice and insistence on the justice of the Palestinian cause, refusing to recognize the racist occupier. The Front noted that the resilience embodied by Lina Khattab under arrest reveals the inability of the occupation – despite all of its attacks – to bring the Palestinian people to their knees and undermine their firm will.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalPrisoners #PoliticalRepression #FreeLinaKhattab #BirZeitUniversity

Palestinian student Lina Khattab, 18 years old and a first-year media student at Bir Zeit University, will face an Israeli military court once more on February 16. This is her eighth appearance in the military court since her arrest on December 13, 2014 during a student protest to free Palestinian political prisoners.

Free Lina Khattab Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FreeLina/

FreeLinaLina is also a folkloric dancer with the world-renowned El-Funoun Popular Palestinian Dance Troupe and is active with cultural and political student activities at the University. She has been charged with “throwing stones” and “participating in an unlawful demonstration,” two charges frequently used by the Israeli military against Palestinians who participate in public protests against the military occupation. She is facing Israeli military courts, reserved for Palestinians under occupation, which have a 99.74% conviction rate.

On January 12, she was denied bail at a hearing in which the military judge said, “looking at her, I can see the characteristics of a leader.” Active Palestinian students frequently face arrest and imprisonment for their campus activities, including involvement in student union elections, student protests, and campus activist organizations and student government blocs.

Lina reported through her lawyer that she had been abused and beaten by Israeli soldiers during her detention, and one of the soldiers hit her, ripped her clothes and shouted obscene insults at her.

Lina is our sister and our comrade: a Palestinian young woman, student activist, imprisoned for participating in a popular demonstration for justice. She is threatened with a lengthy prison sentence for participating in these activities under occupation and apartheid.

Please join us in taking action to demand Lina’s freedom:

Take a picture or short video of yourself, your friends or your student group with a sign, “Free Lina Khattab!” “Free Palestinian student Lina Khattab!” Send it to freelinakhattab@gmail.com or post it to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FreeLina/

Hold a protest or demonstration at an Israeli consulate or mission in your area to demand freedom for Lina Khattab, or join an existing protest and carry signs demanding Lina’s freedom. Please send pictures, reports or facebook links to your events and actions!

Hold a campus event – a discussion, tabling session or banner drop – to support student activist Lina Khattab and build international solidarity among student and youth movements for Lina’s freedom

#Palestine #PoliticalPrisoners #MiddleEast #PoliticalRepression #FreeLinaKhattab #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork