200+ groups demand Israel free Khalida Jarrar, jailed a year without charge or trial

Posted on | Samidoun
source

Over 200 organizations have joined together to call for the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar, the imprisoned Palestinian feminist, leftist parliamentarian. Jarrar, a leading advocate for Palestinian prisoners’ rights, has….

Over 200 organizations have joined together to call for the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar, the imprisoned Palestinian feminist, leftist parliamentarian. Jarrar, a leading advocate for Palestinian prisoners’ rights, has been jailed without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention for nearly a year.

The organizations who have expressed their support for Jarrar’s freedom include political parties, feminist groups, Palestinian community and Palestine solidarity groups, Indigenous justice, prison abolition and prison justice organizations, human rights organizations, legal groups and more from over 20 countries.

Jarrar has been jailed since 2 July 2017, when she was seized in a night raid on her home in El-Bireh by Israeli occupation forces. On 14 June 2018, she was informed that her detention would be extended for another four months, a sentence that is scheduled to be confirmed in an Israeli military court on 2 July 2018.

We are calling for days of action for the freedom of Khalida Jarrar between 30 June and 2 July. It is more important than ever that our voices are heard and our actions are visible. Protests are already being organized in New York and elsewhere around the world. You can download flyers, materials and visit petitions to join the campaign here: http://samidoun.net/2018/06/take-action-to-free-khalida-jarrar-june-30-july-2-organize-for-freedom/

You are invited to add your organization’s name to the following statement to demand freedom for imprisoned Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar! We will continue to update this statement and re-release with additional signatories. To endorse, please use the form or email [mailto:samidounat]samidoun.net with your group’s name.

Freedom for Khalida Jarrar! End administrative detention!

We, the undersigned organizations, come together to demand freedom for Palestinian political leader Khalida Jarrar, prominent leftist, feminist, prisoners’ rights advocate and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. She has been imprisoned without charge and without trial since July 2017 – and now the Israeli military occupation has declared that her imprisonment will be extended for an additional four months.

On July 2, 2017, Khalida Jarrar’s home was raided by Israeli occupation soldiers in a pre-dawn raid. She was ordered shortly thereafter to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. She is one of approximately 450 Palestinians held under administrative detention, a relic of the British colonial mandate that has been used by the Israeli occupation to jail thousands of Palestinian community and political leaders, and one of approximately 6,100 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

In December 2017, her detention was renewed for another six months. Now, another military order declares that she will be imprisoned for four more months. Administrative detention orders can be issued for up to six months at a time and are indefinitely renewable. Palestinians can spend years at a time jailed under these orders, never knowing when they could be released, if ever.

As Addameer notes, “This practice of arbitrary detention is a grave violation of international laws and human rights standards, particularly articles 78 and 72 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which state that an accused individual has the right to defend him/herself. This also violates Article 66 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the basic standards of fair trial.”

On July 2, an Israeli military court is scheduled to approve the detention order. Jarrar, like all administrative detainees, has boycotted these hearings since February, as they are mere rubber-stamp sessions used as a fig leaf to “legitimize” the arbitrary imprisonment of Palestinians.

Jarrar is a Palestinian political leader, representing the Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc, allied with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in the Palestinian Legislative Council. She is a frequent leader and participant in demonstrations and popular actions for Palestinian freedom, a a long-time Palestinian political prisoners’ advocate and former executive director of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and now a member of its board, and chair of the Prisoners’ Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

She has also been active in the Palestinian women’s movement since her earliest days as a university student organizing with other female students to challenge the occupation. She is a leading organizer of International Women’s Day events in Palestine and coordinates closely with Palestinian women’s organizations. “Palestinian women are full partners in the Palestinian struggle,” she emphasizes.

Khalida Jarrar is heavily involved in the fight to hold Israeli officials accountable for war crimes in the International Criminal Court. She is a member of a Palestinian commission charged with bringing complaints and files before the international court about ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, from attacks on Gaza to land confiscation and settlement construction to mass arrests and imprisonment.

Since 1998, she has been forbidden to travel outside occupied Palestine. When she needed medical treatment in Jordan in 2010, she struggled for months in a public campaign before finally receiving it. The Israeli occupation attempted to forcibly displace her from her home to Jericho in 2014, and in 2015, arrested and jailed her 14 months for her political activities.

The extended administrative detention of Khalida Jarrar is an attempt to remove an effective, grassroots leader from the Palestinian national movement. Especially now, when people are taking to the streets throughout occupied Palestine and thousands are marching in Gaza for the Great Return March, leaders like her are targeted for arrest and imprisonment in an attempt to defuse the Palestinian struggle.

Khalida Jarrar is being targeted as a Palestinian leader, a Palestinian voice for justice, and an active Palestinian woman. Her imprisonment is yet another attack by the Israeli colonial state against the Palestinian people struggling for freedom, and administrative detention and the mass imprisonment of Palestinians are two of the weapons used in an attempt to break the Palestinian liberation movement.

We come together today to demand the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar, an end to the policy and practice of administrative detention and freedom for Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. We pledge to struggle for justice through protests, actions, organizing and escalating boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) actions against Israel, in Khalida’s own spirit of resistance.

Signed,

  1. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
  2. Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
  3. Action Antifasciste NP2C
  4. Actions4Palestine
  5. Alkarama Movement of Palestinian Women
  6. Al-Quds Day Committee of New York
  7. American Muslims for Palestine – NY/NJ
  8. American Party of Labor
  9. Anticapitalistas
  10. Anti-Imperialist Action Ireland
  11. Anti-Zionist and Anti-Imperialist Friends of Palestine
  12. ArbeiterInnenmacht (Germany)
  13. Arbeiter*innenstandpunkt (Austria)
  14. Association Belgo-Palestinienne
  15. Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine (AURDIP)
  16. Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), India
  17. Association France-Palestine Solidarité
  18. AFPS 63 (Association France Palestine Solidarité 63)
  19. AFPS 59/62
  20. AFPS Alès-Cévennes
  21. AFPS Paris 14-6
  22. Associazione Amicizia Sardegna Palestina
  23. Assopace Palestina – Italy
  24. ATIK – Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe
  25. Balfour Declaration Centenary Campaign
  26. BDS Berlin
  27. BDS France Saint-Étienne
  28. BDS Turkey
  29. BDS UChile (Universidad de Chile)
  30. BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish
  31. BDS Zürich
  32. Belgian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
  33. Black Alliance for Peace
  34. Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (aka Boycott from Within – Israeli citizens for BDS)
  35. Bruxelles Panthéres
  36. Cafe Palestina of the Southern Berkshires
  37. California Coalition for Women Prisoners
  38. Campagne BDS France
  39. Campagne unitaire pour la libération de Georges Ibahim Abdallah (Paris)
  40. Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon
  41. Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
  42. Canada Palestine Association
  43. Canadian BDS Coalition
  44. Canadian Friends of Sabeel
  45. Centre de la Communauté Démocratique Kurde de Toulouse
  46. Coalition for Justice – Blacksburg
  47. CODEPINK – Women for Peace
  48. Colectivo Contraimpunidad
  49. Collectif de Soutien à la Résistance Palestinienne 59-62
  50. Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
  51. Collectif pour la Libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
  52. Colletivo Palestina Rossa
  53. Comité Internacional Paz,Justicia y Dignidad a los Pueblos
  54. Comité de Vigilance pour la Démocratie en Tunisie
  55. Comité Poitevin Palestine
  56. Committee to Stop FBI Repression – National
  57. Committee to Stop FBI Repression – NY
  58. Committees for a Democratic Palestine – Europe
  59. Communist Party, Sweden
  60. Coordinamento di Solidarietà con la Palestina – Sicilia
  61. Corsica Internaziunalista
  62. Corvallis Palestine Solidarity
  63. Coup Pour Coup 31
  64. Dun Padraig Friends of Palestine
  65. Eye On Palestine Arts and Film Festival
  66. Familles de prisonniers pour la Justice – Belgique
  67. Femmes en lutte 93
  68. F.O.R. Palestine (Berlin)
  69. Free Gaza Movement
  70. Free Palestine Movement
  71. Freedom Archives
  72. Freedom Road Socialist Organization
  73. Friends of Sabeel North America
  74. Frihet åt Ahed Tamimi Göteborg
  75. Fronte Palestina
  76. General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS Aix-Marseille)
  77. General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS France)
  78. Gents Actieplatform Palestina
  79. Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
  80. Greek Front of Resistance and Solidarity with Palestine “Ghassan Kanafani”
  81. Green Mountain Solidarity with Palestine
  82. Greenville for Gaza
  83. Handala Center for Prisoners and Former Prisoners – Palestine
  84. Harakat Shaab – Lebanon
  85. HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) Central Women’s Assembly
  86. Hilombé Solidaridad
  87. Human Rights Defenders
  88. ICAHD
  89. Independent Jewish Voices – Canada
  90. Indivisible Midlands
  91. Inminds Human Rights Group
  92. intal
  93. International Action Center
  94. International Association of Democratic Lawyers
  95. International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
  96. International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) Spain
  97. International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network – Canada
  98. International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS)
  99. International Red Help
  100. International Women’s Alliance
  101. Internationalt Forum – Denmark
  102. Invictapalestina – Documentation Center
  103. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
  104. Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association (IRPWA)
  105. Irish Socialist Republicans
  106. ISM France
  107. Izquierda Unida – Spain
  108. Jacksonville Community Action Committee
  109. Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network
  110. Jericho Movement – National
  111. Jericho Movement – New York City
  112. Jersey City Peace Movement
  113. Jeune Garde Lyon
  114. Jeunes Révolutionnaires Genève
  115. Jeunes Révolutionnaires Vaud
  116. Jewish Liberation Theology Institute
  117. Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)
  118. Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/ Palestine
  119. Jews Against Genocide (JAG)
  120. Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
  121. Justice For Palestinians, Calgary
  122. Justice for Palestinians – San Jose
  123. Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights – Philippines
  124. Katie Miranda Studios
  125. Kia Ora Gaza (New Zealand)
  126. Kickapoo Peace Circle
  127. LA4Palestine
  128. Labor for Palestine
  129. La Voix des Prisonnier.ère.s Politiques de Turquie et Kurdistan
  130. Le Collectif Rouge Internationaliste pour la libération des prisonniers révolutionnaires (Paris)
  131. Le Comité d’action et de soutien aux luttes du peuple marocain (Paris)
  132. League for the Fifth International
  133. Liga Argentina por los Derechos del Hombre
  134. Links Ecologisch Forum/Forum Gauche Ecologie – LEF-FGE
  135. Libérons-les
  136. London Palestine Action
  137. Manchester Palestine Action
  138. Mouvement Citoyens Palestine
  139. National Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah – Lebanon
  140. National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy
  141. National Lawyers Guild International Committee
  142. National Lawyers Guild- Massachusetts Chapter
  143. National Student Federation (Pa
  144. New Orleans Workers Group
  145. Newry Palestinian Support Group
  146. NION (Not In Our Name)
  147. No One Is Illegal – Vancouver Coast Salish Territories
  148. NY4Palestine
  149. NYU Disorientation Guide
  150. NYU Jewish Voice for Peace
  151. NZ Palestine Solidarity Network
  152. Palestine Democratic Forum
  153. Palestine International Network – Lebanon
  154. Palestine Solidarity Committee – Austin, TX
  155. Palestine Solidarity Network – Edmonton
  156. Palestinian Child and Youth Institute (PCYI)
  157. Palestinian Cultural Club – American University of Beirut
  158. Palestinian Cultural Club – Beirut
  159. Palestinian Progressive Student Bloc
  160. Palestinian Refugee Portal
  161. Palbox
  162. Palestina Toma La Calle
  163. Palestinian Youth Movement – USA
  164. Partido Comunista de España
  165. Party for Socialism and Liberation
  166. Paz con Dignidad
  167. People Power Assembly Queens
  168. People’s Power Assembly
  169. Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee
  170. Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine
  171. Popular Resistance
  172. Progetto Palestina
  173. Progressive Palestinian Youth Union
  174. Progressive Scouts Group – Gaza
  175. Progressive Student Labor Front (Palestine)
  176. Project South
  177. RAGE – Réseau d’Agitation Genève
  178. RedMed Web Network
  179. Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
  180. Republican Network for Unity
  181. Revolutionary Socialist Movement (Pakistan)
  182. Revolutionary Workers Party (DİP) (Turkey)
  183. REVOLUTION (youth movement)
  184. Right of Return Coalition – Baddawi Camp, Lebanon (composed of 22 organizations)
  185. Saoradh
  186. Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
  187. Secours Rouge Belgique / Red Help Belgium
  188. Sheffield Hallam Palestine Society
  189. Sheffield Labour Friends of Palestine
  190. Sheffield Labour Students
  191. Sodepaz Euskadi
  192. Solidarity with Palestine St. John’s
  193. Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York University
  194. Students for Justice in Palestine – CCNY
  195. Students for Justice in Palestine – College of Staten Island
  196. Students for Justice in Palestine – Houston
  197. Students for Justice in Palestine – NYU
  198. Students for Justice in Palestine – Temple University
  199. Students for Justice in Palestine at University of South Carolina
  200. Syria Solidarity Movement
  201. Taqadomy Media Team
  202. TJA (Tevgera Jinên Azad) – Free Women Movement
  203. The Bronx Green Party
  204. The Palestine Project
  205. The Red Nation
  206. Toronto BDS Action
  207. UNADIKUM Association
  208. United National Antiwar Campaign (UNAC)
  209. Union of Palestinian Communities and Institutions – Europe
  210. Unión de Juventudes Comunistas de España
  211. Unione Democratica Arabe Palestina (UDAP)
  212. Union juive française pour la paix (UJFP)
  213. United for Palestine Toronto/GTA
  214. University of Leeds – Palestine Solidarity Group
  215. University of Sheffield Palestine Society
  216. UGEP (Unión General de Estudiantes Palestinos Chile)
  217. US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI)
  218. US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
  219. Vermonters for Justice in Palestine
  220. Victoria Coalition against Israeli Apartheid
  221. Vrede vzw
  222. WESPAC Foundation
  223. Within Our Lifetime • United for Palestine
  224. Women Against Military Madness
  225. Women In Solidarity With Palestine
  226. Women for Women’s Humans Rights – New Ways
  227. Women’s Solidarity Foundation (KADAV)-Turkey
  228. Workers World Party
  229. Young Democratic Socialists – University of South Carolina