8 August in Brussels – Palestinian Political Prisoners
Voices from Palestine on the Battle for Freedom
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and Le Space invite you to join us for a discussion with Palestinian student activist Shadi Daana on the struggle and situation of Palestinian political prisoners with activists and organizers from Palestine about the experience of political imprisonment, the role of the prisoners’ movement in the Palestinian liberation struggle, and our responsibility to support the prisoners in the battle of freedom.
There are over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. But beyond the present moment, imprisonment is a means of colonial control of the entire Palestinian community. Every family has a father, mother, aunt, uncle, cousin, brother, sister, or child in Israeli prisons. Student organizers, labor union leaders, workers, journalists, women’s union organizers, teachers, and freedom fighters – all are held in Israeli prisons, struggling for freedom.
Bilal Kayed, Palestinian prisoner, has been on open hunger strike, consuming only water, since 15 June – when he was ordered to six months’ imprisonment without charge or trial after completing a 14.5-year sentence in Israeli prisons. Hundreds of prisoners are engaged in solidarity protests demanding Bilal’s freedom, including dozens who have joined him on open hunger strike.
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Shadi Daana is a graduate student and Palestinian youth activist, who with his family has a long history of involvement in the Palestinian national liberation movement – and experience with political imprisonment. His father, Abdul-Alim, spent 17 1/2 years in Israeli prisons, 7 1/2 of those years in administrative detention without charge or trial. Bashar, his brother, spent 5 1/2 years in prison, 2 years in administrative detention.
Ibrahim Khayar, a student organizer and youth activist in Belgium, has just returned from a COMAC delegation to Palestine where participants met with families of prisoners and former prisoners, including the family of Bilal Kayed, as well as grassroots movement organizing for liberation. He will provide a short reportback from the recent delegation.
