May 2005

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Palestinian Political Prisoner Tour Comes to NJ

Sahar Francis, a Palestinian lawyer who represents Palestinian political prisoners with Addameer, a prisoners' human rights association, and Akram al-Ayassa, a former political prisoner himself, spoke in New Brunswick, NJ on April 3, in the Rutgers University Women's Center on the Douglass College campus of Rutgers University.

The two made their visit as part of a North American tour that brought them to New York City, Washington, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa in addition to their New Jersey stop. Organized by the Toronto-based political prisoner solidarity group Sumoud, the tour sought to draw attention and support to the over 8,000 Palestinian Arab prisoners held in Zionist jails, including men, women and children, and the work of Addameer in Palestine to support those prisoners and work for their freedom.

"Without releasing all of the prisoners, there is no reconciliation, and there is no peace," said Francis, discussing the importance of the prisoners' issue and its centrality to the Palestinian movement as a whole. She described the work of Addameer to support Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Zionist jails as well as in Palestinian Authority jails, the process of interrogation and imprisonment, and gave an overview of the current situation of the prisoners' cause. Francis focused on the case of Manal Ghanem and her one-and-a-half year-old son, Nour, currently imprisoned together in Telmond Central Prison, and the central focus of a new campaign by Addameer.

Al-Ayassa, a Palestinian refugee who grew up in Deheisheh camp, an ex-political prisoner and the former President of Bethlehem University Student Council, was arrested seven times from 1976-1990 by the Israeli occupation forces. He shared his experiences with arrest, interrogation and prison, describing the brutal treatment and torture directed at Palestinian prisoners. He referred to one interrogation center as "the butcher shop," describing conditions there: "You must accept orders without question, or you will be beaten. And then you do accept orders, and you are beaten." He told the story of one of his fellow prisoners, who was brought in to the prison's clinic, asked about his health problems, and then when he replied that he had stomach problems, was beaten directly on his stomach.

Francis and al-Ayassa's visit was warmly welcomed by attendees from the Palestinian community and the solidarity movement. While in the area, Francis and al-Ayassa also were featured at an event in New York City sponsored by Al-Awda New York, the New York Committee to Defend Palestine, and Workers World Party on Friday, April 1, and attended political prisoner support events hosted by ProLibertad and the Jericho Movement on Saturday, April 2.


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