Action alert

Action Alert: National Call-In days to support Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi

ACTION ALERT

 

Demand US State Department intervene for rights
of Palestinian political prisoners



(CHICAGO 03/05/2012) – Hana Shalabi, a young woman from a farming family in the West Bank village of Burqin, is nearing her fourth week of a hunger strike she instituted to protest the beatings and abuse she suffered at the hands of Israeli Occupation Forces who arrested her on Feb. 16 and are holding her in administrative detention. Though judicial authorities on Sunday reduced her six-month sentence to four, Hana refuses to end her hunger strike in order to protest the illegal use of administrative detention against Palestinians and to draw attention to the inhumane conditions under which Palestinian political prisoners – including children – are held.

Administrative detention allows Israeli military authorities to hold Palestinians without charge or trial for six-month periods, which are renewable indefinitely. As of Dec. 31, 2011, Israel was holding at least 307 Palestinians in administrative detention, which violates the Fourth Geneva Convention. Prisoners are held on purported “secret evidence,” which is presented to a judge but never to prisoners or their lawyers. The prisoners are not told why they are being held. They are prohibited from looking at this so-called “evidence” and they receive no trial. In perpetuating these measures, Israeli occupation forces violate the basic principles of human rights and internationally recognized norms of judicial conduct and this is un-American.

According to the prisoner rights group Addameer, Hana’s parents began an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with their daughter on Feb. 23. Hana’s mother is 65 and her father is 67.

“Hana’s hunger strike began during the 66-day hunger strike of Palestinian administrative detainee Khader Adnan, whose case has helped to raise awareness about Israel’s use of arbitrary detention and its violations of international humanitarian law, which permits limited use of administrative detention only in emergency situations, but does not allow for its use as punishment when there is not sufficient evidence for criminal procedures,” Addameer said in a press release.

Hana already had spent more than two years in administrative detention, from September 2009 to October 2011, when she was released in an October prisoner swap with Israeli occupation authorities. At least 50 soldiers and secret police swarmed her house on Feb. 16, 2012. They beat her, blindfolded her, handcuffed her and made her kneel on the floor of their jeep as they transported her for interrogation. She is currently in Hasharon prison, where she had spent several weeks in solidarity confinement, although she currently is housed with other women prisoners.

TAKE ACTION


The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) find the resounding silence by the United States to be absolutely deplorable and in direct contradiction to the values due process and also human rights, which we cherish. AMP calls on its supporters and all those who support human dignity and social justice to call the office of Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, in the State Department and demand the US intervene to force Israel to release Hana Shalabi and all political prisoners.


National Call In Day: Call Mr. Feltman from noon to 3 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 7 and again from noon to 3 p.m. EST on Friday, March 9 to demand justice for Hana and all political prisoners.

CONTACT INFO


Call the office of Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs at 202.647.7209.

TALKING POINTS

  • 
State your name and the city and state where you reside. Be polite but firm.
  • The fact that Israeli occupation forces deny due process to Palestinians is racist and indicative of an apartheid state.
  • U.S. support of Israeli occupation in light of these facts hurts American interests abroad and threatens our national security.
  • The US should demand that Israel uphold the basic values of life, liberty and dignity inherent to all human beings.
  • The US should demand that Israel release Hana Shalabi and all Palestinian prisoners.
  • Once you call, please email AMP at [email protected] with Hana Shalabi in the subject line. Please tell us when you called and what state you reside in.


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