The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat has released a new flyer and factsheet for use by advocates and organizers in solidarity with Sa’adat and Palestinian political prisoners. (Download PDF)
Sa’adat discussed the May 15 marches for return, saying that “the popular energy of May 15 can lead our nation in a new direction, through national unity…and by the Palestinian leadership rising to the level set by our people, to struggle and break free of reliance or betting on the United States or other forms of authority.” He said that the Palestinian people could benefit greatly from the new Arab spring that has enlivened the energies and imagination of the Arab nation, which presents a better future for the Arab nation and Arab people, leaving aside dependence and servility and recovering Arab sovereignty, freedom, independence and unity and paving the way for democratic development and collective economic and social prosperity.
He also spoke about his own isolation, saying that it is part of an attempt to break the morale and steadfastness of Palestinian prisoners, and that his isolation is a tactic of revenge and has nothing to do with “security reasons.” He described the isolation of prisoners from their fellow prisoners and their environment as an attempt at “slow execution,” killing prisoners “socially if not biologically,” noting that this was the motivation of the Israeli prison administration.
Sa’adat concluded by saying he is satisfied that the occupier cannot kill the Palestinian movement, either in prisons or outside, in Palestine or in exile. “They will reap the failure of all their efforts; they do not weaken us,” he said, “but they will only give us greater strength.”
For over two years, Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been held in isolation in the occupation prisons. He has been regularly regularly denied family visits, denied access to books or reading mateial, and denied basic exercise and medical care. Sa’adat was kidnapped by the Israeli occupation army on March 14, 2006 from where he and his comrades, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi Rimawi, Basil al-Asmar, and Hamdi Qur’an, were imprisoned in the Palestinian Authority’s Jericho Prison under U.S. and British guards. The U.S. and British guards removed themselves immediately prior to the Israeli attack, making clear that the U.S. and the U.K. were directly complicit in the attack on Jericho. Sa’adat, the leader of a major Palestinian political party and an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, had been h eld in Israeli prisons for nearly six years at various times, held repeatedly in “administrative detention,” where Palestinians are held without charge or trial under secret evidence. He was held in PA prisons for four years before his kidnapping and has now been held in the occupation’s prisons for five years.
Ahmad Sa’adat is not only a national leader of the Palestinian people, he is a recognized leader and symbol of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement – a symbol of steadfastness and commitment to Palestine and its people in the face of all forms of abuseand violation. However, neither Ahmad Sa’adat, nor the Palestinian prisoners, nor the Palestinian people, have been compelled into silence or submission by isolation and torture. Rather, their voice is heard, more clearly than ever, calling for justice, freedom, and liberation.
Please write us at info@freeahmadsaadat.org to inform us about actions or events in support of Palestinian political prisoners. We encourage you to hold educational events, demonstrations and activities in support of Palestinian prisoners and distribute information about Ahmad Sa’adat, Palestinian prisoners, and the Palestinian cause.
