Éirígí In Tralee Calls For Release Of Palestinian Political Prisoners
On Monday, 16th January, Éirígí activists in Tralee held a solidarity vigil in support of Ahmad Sa'adat and the thousands of other Palestinian political prisoners who are currently being held in Israeli jails.
The vigil was one of many actions which took place across the world as part of an international week of solidarity organised by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network to highlight the ongoing detention of Sa’adat and the continued mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.
The vigil, which took place at The Mall, saw those present holding Palestine flags alongside images of Sa'adat, who was has been imprisoned since 2002.
Éirígí activists in Tralee with the Palestinian flag and posters calling for the release of the imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa'adat
In March 2006, Israeli forces stormed the Palestinian Authority controlled Jericho Prison, capturing Sa’adat and hundreds of other political prisoners. Two years later, an Israeli military court sentenced the General Secretary of the of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to 30 years imprisonment.
Over the following four years Sa’adat was held in isolation from other prisoners, with very limited human contact. After a series of hunger strikes, culminating in the 2012 Prisoners’ Day in which over 2,500 political prisoners began an all-out hunger strike, his isolation was finally broken. Sa’adat was moved from to the lower security Shata jail but has continually been denied family visits since.
There are roughly 5,000 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails today. They are imprisoned because they dared to take a stand against the violence of the Israeli apartheid state.
The vast majority of these prisoners face widespread mistreatment by the Israeli prison regime on a regular basis. Such mistreatment includes medical neglect, physical attack, internment in the form of ‘administrative detention’ and refusal to release the bodies of deceased prisoners to their loved ones.
Éirígí has a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian people. We encourage all Irish people to add their voices to the call for release Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners.