Occupied Palestine | فلسطين

LIVE BLOG | Global Action: Free Former Hunger striker Samer Issawi!


Last updated: April 29, 2013 ~ by occpal


Continuous updates of related news

BREAKING NEWS

April 22, 2013

More updates to follow after confirmation

THE LETTERS OF SAMER ISSAWI

 

A Message from Samer el Issawi at day 209 hunger strike:

Via Rona Merrill, Neta Golan

Message from Samer Al Issawi, below, also his brother just got arrested at their home (and here’s hoping it’s not because of worse news):

MESSAGE FROM SAMER AL-ISSAWI – 16.02.13 – ‘I turn with admiration to the masses of our heroic Palestinian people, to our Palestinian leadership, to all forces, parties and national institutions. I salute them for standing by our fight to defend our right to freedom and dignity.

I draw my strength from my people, from all the free people in the world, from friends and the families of the prisoners who continue day and night chanting for freedom and an end to the occupation.

My health has deteriorated dramatically and I’m hung between life and death. My weak body is collapsing but still able to be patient and continue the confrontation. My message is that I will continue until the end, until the last drop of water in my body, until martyrdom. Martyrdom is an honor for me in this battle. My martyrdom is my remaining bomb in the confrontation with the tyrants and the jailers, in the face of the racist policy of the occupation that humiliates our people and exercises against us all means of oppression and repression.

I say to my people: I’m stronger than the occupation army and its racist laws. I, Samer al-Issawi, son of Jerusalem, send you my last will that, in case I fell as a martyr, you will carry my soul as a cry for all the prisoners, man and women, cry for freedom, emancipation and salvation from the nightmare of prisons and their harsh darkness.

My battle is not only for individual freedom. The battle waged by me and by my heroic colleagues, Tariq, Ayman and Ja’affar, is everyone’s battle, the battle of the Palestinian people against the occupation and its prisons. Our goal is to be free and sovereign in our liberated state and in our blessed Jerusalem.

The weak and strained beats of my heart derive their steadfastness from you, the great people. My eyes, which started to lose their sight, draws light from your solidarity and your support of me. My weak voice takes its strength from your voice that is louder than the warden’s voice and higher than the walls.

I’m one of your sons, among thousands of your sons who are prisoners, still languishing steadfasting in the prisons, waiting for an end to be brought to their plight, their pains and the suffering of their families.

The doctors told me I became exposed to stroke because of the disorder of my heartbeats, the shortage of sugar and the drop in blood pressure. My body is full of cold and I can’t sleep because of the continued pain. But despite the extreme fatigue and chronic headaches, as I move on my chair, I’m trying to summon all my resources to continue on the road till its end. There is no going back, only in my victory, because I’m the owner of Right and my detention is invalid and illegal.

Do not be afraid for my heart if it will stop, don’t be afraid for my hands if they will be paralyzed. I am still alive now and tomorrow and after death, because Jerusalem is moving in my blood, in my devotion and my faith.

Palestine 16/02/2013′

  • Febr 16, 2013 | Pour la traduction en Français par ISM France (@ISMFRANCE) cliquez ici
  • Febr 16, 2013 | For Translation in Dutch by Dr. Tariq Shadid (@Docjazzmusic) click here
  • Febr 20, 2013 | Another new letter from Samer Issawi – The Letters from Samer Issawi  (English Translation) – UPDATED
  • March 11, 2013 | A New Letter from Palestinian Prisoner Samer al-Issawi – Al Qassam Website
  • April 18, 2013 | Letter from Samer Issawi on Palestinian Prisoners Day (full text) Translation by @docjazzmusic


VIDEO




Join the global (online) action against the illegal detention of Samer Issawi. Palestinian Hunger striker, previous released in the Shalit deal, who received a presidential pardon and got arrested and detained again without any charges. A flagrant violation of human and civil rights for a presidential pardon in legal terms restores ones civil rights as well as supposes to be amnesty for any alleged or charged crime in the first place.

Samer received this pardon in the Wafa al-Ahrar deal. And was – like many others – arrested again, for no reason at all.  Still detained without any charges and dying.

His case and those of all others silence by mainstream media.

Shireen Issawi has spent 1 year in prison. Last time she spent 10 days under house arrest after getting beaten up at brother’s court hearing. After several hours she was released again.


RELATED NEWS IN MEDIA

January 2013

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HUNGRY! ~ by @DocJazzMusic

Published on Feb 8, 2013 by Dr. Tariq Shadid aka Doc Jazz


Music video of the song ‘HUNGRY’ by Palestinian artist Doc Jazz – in dedication to the courageous Palestinian hunger strikers among those held in so-called ‘administrative detention’ by the occupation forces of the Zionist entity that calls itself ‘Israel’. This song was inspired specifically by Samer Issawi, on his 199th day of hunger strike at the upload date of this video.






Production by Doc Jazz – the Musical Intifada
http://www.docjazz.com

HE IS DYING!

Jan 28, 2013, Issa Qaraq, minister of detainee, stated:

“Samer Issawi who is on hunger strike for 188 days is living his last hours”

Samer Issawi is on hunger strike for over 6 months now.


Samer Issawi’s Mother Says:

“I want my son Samer to come back home alive and not in an Israeli coffin”

Last week trialed for the second time on same allegations in a different court and dying.

An Assassination Attempt

Shireen Issawi, Samer’s sister, has been on hunger strike protesting his brother’s illegal detention for over a month, and she, as her mother told me, will not stop till her brother’s freedom. As I reported in the Electronic Intifada, she said, [with evident distress]:

It is worth mentioning that there is no medical treatment for my brother’s condition as his health increasingly deteriorates and his condition becomes unbearable. My brother stopped drinking water around 20 days ago. On Sun Dec 9th, 3 pm, he was given medicine. Seconds after taking it, he lost his consciousness for two full days. The administration department in the ‘hospital’ stated: ‘This was given to Issawi by mistake.’ There is no doubt that they want to kill him.”

In a letter from Samer – translated by Ahrar Center and published on Wednesday Dec 12th, Samer writes about his health and about the aforementioned incident:

I take B12 injections because I have gradual damage in my nervous system and I have pains in my eyes, nerves, abdomen, hands, arthritis, and muscles and can’t stand. They told me that they will give me an injection weekly in order to help my nervous system. My pain in my kidney and hands is increasing. The pain in my head is like the electrical shock and I have continuous diarrhea due to the fluids they give me in hospital. I have blood in urine twice a week. They put me in an isolated room in the hospital with plastic doors so that they can’t hear me when I call them. I accepted to take fluids and vitamins because the intelligence promised me that my file 80% finished.

They gave me on Wednesday a medicine. I slept for two days, then they said it wasn’t for me! It was for a civilian prisoner! And they didn’t even talk to the one. Before two days I found myself on the ground! I think I slept deeply, but they came searching for a cell phone thinking that I have one, but I told them that I asked the police man once to call the lawyer, and because I found a phone card they think that I have a phone! But the card, I didn’t take it, I threw it to the bed of the sick civilian man.

After a week of taking fluids and vitamins I stopped everything, because they were liars. My isolation is very hard.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has documented the medical neglect he and other prisoners are subject to:

Like the other prisoners, Samer is not being treated as an ill patient by the Ramla prison clinic. On Saturday December 1st, 2012 during an examination with the prison clinic doctor, Samer tried to stand and lost consciousness. Instead of assisting him, the doctor left him lying on the floor and exited the room. We express our deep concern for the health of Samer and the other detainees who are on hunger strike protesting their unlawful custody.

A Note: Samer Issawi is not the only hunger striker.

Jafar Azzidine, Tarek Qa’adan, and Yousef Yassin have been striking for 37 days now, in protest of their administrative detention orders.

I met with Jafar Azzidine’s brother who lives in Gaza after his release in the last exchange – the same exchange of October 18 2011 in which Samer Issawi was released. He has been banned from entering Jenin, the city of his birth and his hometown.

My brother had been on hunger strike for 54 days in March – May 2012, winning his freedom in June 2012 and had imposed his condition on the Israeli Prison Forces (IPS).” On Nov 22nd he was once again arrested and held under administrative detention. “Now, as his body can not endure another hunger strike; as he is once again an administrative detainee with neither charge nor trial, we call upon the world to end administrative detention, the sword pointed on the neck of the Palestinian detainees. I received a letter in Dec 19th from Jafar, Tarek, and Yousef who are striking to end their detentions. They emphasize that their open hunger strikes are to protest the Israeli intelligence and their policies and not just to gain individual freedom.

Jafar, 41 years old from Jenin, has been detained by the Occupation seven times, his most recent arrest being 21 March 2012. He participated in a hunger strike which ended on May, 14th, and was released on June 19th, after spending 4 months in administrative detention. As a result of his most recent hunger strike, he suffers from low blood pressure, continuous dizziness and headaches, protein deficiencies and pain in his joints, knees, hands and spinal cord.

Samer’s Message

On Dec 30th, Samer forwarded a short message via his lawyer,

My detention is unfair and my demands are nothing but just. Thus I will not withdraw from the battle for freedom. I am waiting for either victory and freedom – or martyrdom. I was able to achieve 90% of my objectives that were to deliver my voice to the Egyptians, to maintain the achievements of the deal by preventing the re-arrest of prisoners liberated in the exchange; I maintained the prestige of Egypt as a mediator in the deal and to preserve the blood of the martyrs in Gaza. So there only still remains 10% from my goals, which is very small: my freedom.

At the end, I only want you to imagine yourself put alone in a small dirty dark cell for unlimited time and you cannot get your freedom but with a strike. What will you do? Think of Samer as if he was your brother or son. He needs every bit of your action.

Malaka Mohammed, 22, is a recent graduate of the Islamic University and a Palestinian freelance writer living in Gaza. Follow her on Twitter @MalakaMohammed and on her blog, malaka383.wordpress.com.

He is suffering abuse, humiliation and torture as you can see in the video below, how they kicked, hit, dragged him through an Israeli court until he fell out of his wheelchair.


THERE IS NO MORE TIME TO LOSE!

Don’t let this man who is a hostage of apartheid, silenced by media and deprived of human and every (civil) right, neglected and abused die in silence….

GLOBAL ONLINE CAMPAIGN

Follow Samer Issawi Campaign #FreeSamer in twitter



Like the FB Page & Engage



Get informed at the Website for Samer Issawi

  • Actions, including Global Day of Action for Samer Issawi, on Jan. 21 (Martin Luther King Day)
  • Resources, including links, downloadable materials for printing leaflets, banners, and more




ACTIONS






Act for Samer Issawi Now!

Global Solidarity Weekend on Jan. 25, 26, 27
Banner Drops and Solidarity Fasts

Join the Free Samer Issawi Campaign on a solidarity fast this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. To maximize the effectiveness of this, please publicize your fast to your networks to bring attention to this issue and help mobilize support. This includes taking a photo with a sign that reads “I am fasting in solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers illegally detained by the Israeli Government. I demand their immediate release and that Israel respect international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people.” It also includes posting this photo on Facebook (better yet, as your profile picture on the days that you are fasting!), tweeting about it, and telling people around you.

We also ask supporters to create banners and hold them in public places where they would get substantial visibility, e.g. above busy highways (as long as it is legal per local laws) and during busy traffic. The banner should read something along the lines of “Free Palestinian hunger strikers! FreeSamer.org.” These can be hand made on cloth with markers at minimal cost, or professionally printed at an estimated cost of $100 for a 2 ft by 8 ft vinyl banner.

Samer’s health is now in a very critical stage and immediate action is urgent. Please join us this weekend, before it is too late to save him. Send us a photo and we’ll include it in a graphic collage that will be sent to his family showing them the global solidarity, as well as any detainee’s families that we are able to get in touch with.

E-mails, Faxes, Letters, Phone Calls

Please write a brief note to the following recipients, demanding Samer’s immediate release and that Israel end its illegal policy of ‘administrative detention.’ Ask your government to stop supporting Israel’s continuous violation of the Palestinian people’s human rights, and especially the political prisoners.

  •  U.S. Department of State: Elizabeth Jones, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, Tel. 202-647-7209
  • U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem: Consul General Michael Ratney, Tel. +972(02)622-6909/8; fax +972(02)624-0939; e-mail UsConGenJerusalem@state.gov
  •  Canadian Foreign Minister: Office of John Baird, Tel. 613-990-7720; e-mail: bairdj@parl.gc.ca

…more contacts will be added, and they all need to hear from us!

Other Alerts and Petitions

For more actions check the Actions Page at FREESAMERISSAWI.ORG



For confirmed news and updates about hunger strikers, (child)prisoners and abuse of rights, violations, medical neglect and torture





More resources can be found below this post. This blog also contains an archive of over 1100 articles about the Palestinian Hunger strikers.

Don’t stay silent…
Don’t be 1 of those  expressing outrage AFTER he DIED
Do be 1 of us, who is in outrage to prevent his death
Come in action BEFORE HE DIES!

Share the word!


VIDEO

The Abuse of Samer Issawi at an Israeli court, torturing a wheelchair bound dying man



Arbitrary Detention and Isolation of Palestinians at Israeli jails (UFree Network)






A journal published by Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights | June 26, 2012

“On Torture” is an edited volume of essays by Palestinian, Israeli and international legal and medical experts and practitioners based on presentations that they gave during a workshop held in Jerusalem in April 2011 entitled, “Securing Accountability for Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (CIDT) in Israel: New Trends and Comparative Lessons”.

The essayists explore the history of torture in Israel, the daily challenges that practitioners face in seeking accountability for torture and CIDT in Israel, and the changing face of torture.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT




Palestinian Prisoners
Palestine’s Prisoners – Pictures
Palestinian Prisoners Special Topic
Palestinian Prisoners –Category
The History of Israeli Torture – Topic
Child Arrests – Topic
All posts about Torture – Category
Hana Shalabi
Hana’ Yayha Ash-Shalabi – Action Alert
All Related posts about Hana Shalabi
Palestinian Hunger Strikers: A History
Palestinian Hungerstrikers –List of all names
For reliable/latest news about hungerstrikers go to Addameer
Khader Adnan
All related posts about Khader Adnan
We will not let you down Khader Adnan! – Photos & Action Alert


Hunger Strikers, Risks for Health & Life