The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

TAKE ACTION!

Your support is critical for this campaign. In order to place meaningful pressure on the Israeli state to cease its persecution of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners, it is crucial that this issue take on a high level of international mobilization and support.

NEW! PETITION FOR AHMAD SA'ADAT

URGENT ACTION FOR MEDICAL CARE FOR SA'ADAT

GENERAL ACTION TO FREE AHMAD SA'ADAT

Are you in the EU? Write to your Member of the European Parliament.

Are you in North America or elsewhere? Write to human rights organizations.

CALL TO MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

We are calling upon Members of the European Parliament to stand up for freedom and justice for Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners. Sa'adat, along with 42 other elected Palestinian parliamentarians and over 11,000 other Palestinian political prisoners, is being held - and his sham military trial conducted - in the eyes of the world, yet this has been met with silence from much of the world.

It is incumbent upon Members of the European Parliament to exercise their responsibility to uphold the rights of Palestinians under attack, and to defend Palestinian political leaders and activists against the Israeli onslaught on their very existence.

Locate your MEP here. All members are listed by region and by party, with email addresses.

The following sample letter should serve as a guide to you. Please copy the Campaign, at info@freeahmadsaadat.org, on all of your letters and e-mails to MEPs.

SAMPLE LETTER TO MEPs

Dear MEP,

I am writing to you to express my concern regarding the case of a Palestinian political leader, parliamentarian and prisoner of conscience, Ahmad Sa'adat. Sa'adat, elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been imprisoned since January 2002, first in Palestinian Authority jails under the guard of U.S. and British monitors, and now in an Israeli military prison. Sa'adat, with five other Palestinian political prisoners, was kidnapped from the PA prison in Jericho on March 14, 2006, during an armed Israeli military assault on the prison waged in order to abduct these prisoners.

During his entire time in Palestinian Authority prisons, Sa'adat was never tried or charged. Sa'adat was nominally a prisoner of the Palestinian Authority, but was in fact guarded by U.S. and British guards, at the behest of Israel. The Palestinian High Court of Justice ruled that Sa'adat should be immediately released, as did numerous international human rights organizations. Following his election in January 2006 to the Palestinian Legislative Council, despite growing calls for his release, Sa'adat remained imprisoned at Jericho. On March 14, 2006, the U.S. and British guards assigned to Jericho prison abandoned their posts in order to allow for an Israeli military assault on the prison that ended with the capture of Sa'adat and five other Palestinian political prisoners, the deaths of two Palestinians, and the injury of 23 Palestinians.

Following the abduction of Sa'adat, the Israeli military courts admitted they lacked sufficient evidence to try Sa'adat under more serious charges, and have instead charged him with an array of political offenses, including membership in a prohibited organization (the PFLP), holding a post in a prohibited organization, and incitement, for delivering a speech harshly condemning the Israeli military's assassination of his predecessor Abu Ali Mustafa.

Sa'adat joins over 11,000 other Palestinian political prisoners, men, women and children, held in Israeli jails for struggling for the rights of their people. These 11,000 political prisoners represent political activists, organizers and leaders, and the systematic imprisonment of Palestinians has been calculated by the military occupation in order to disrupt Palestinian political life and extend the illegal military occupation.

The military courts trying Sa'adat and the other Palestinian prisoners are entirely institutions of the illegitimate military occupation. They function solely as a means of maintaining that occupation and repressing any and all resistance and opposition to its perpetuation. As such, these military courts are illegitimate entities of an illegal military occupation that has been condemned by every leading international body and human rights organization.

Now, Ahmad Sa'adat has been transferred to the remote Nafha prison in the Naqab desert, making it extremely difficult for Sa'adat to meet with his lawyers and his family, and attempting to keep him in isolation in a far-off prison.

I am asking you, as a Member of the European Parliament, to take a stand in support of freedom and justice for Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners, and to take action in your position to move the EU as a whole to support Ahmad Sa'adat and Palestinian political prisoners. The international community, and especially the European Union, have allowed an intolerable situation of political repression and imprisonment against Palestinians to continue for decades upon decades. Ahmad Sa'adat is today one of 43 Palestinian members of Parliament and over 11,000 Palestinian political leaders and activists held prisoner by an illegitimate military occupation, while even those in the international community - such as the EU - that pledge fairness and support for Palestinian victims of occupation are silent in the face of brutal and bitter injustice.

I am urging you to take up the case of Ahmad Sa'adat, as your responsibility as a Member of the European Parliament and a responsible member of the international community, in the interests of justice, freedom and self-determination for the Palestinian people.

Thank you.

CALL TO HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS

We are calling upon noted human rights organizations to take a stand concerning the trial of Ahmad Sa'adat. During the imprisonment of Sa'adat and his comrades in Jericho prison, various international human rights organizations continued to shed light on their unjust imprisonment. In the over one year following the Israeli military's attack upon Jericho prison, and its kidnapping of the men inside, the Israeli military court has repeatedly postponed Sa'adat's trial - a trial that is itself illegitimate, based as it is upon an illegal military occupation. With the transfer of Ahmad Sa'adat to Nafha prison, these voices are more urgently needed than ever.

Please join us in requesting that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch take an active role in advocacy work around the case of Ahmad Sa'adat. You may use the pre-filled letter below, edit it, or replace it with your own letter in the space below.

Name

Email Address

Street Address

City, State Postal Code

Country

Message To whom it may concern, I am writing to you to express my concern regarding the case of a Palestinian prisoner of conscience, Ahmad Sa'adat. Sa'adat, elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been imprisoned since January 2002, first in Palestinian Authority jails under the guard of U.S. and British monitors, and now in an Israeli military prison. Sa'adat, with five other Palestinian political prisoners, was kidnapped from the PA prison in Jericho on March 14, 2006, during an armed Israeli military assault on the prison waged in order to abduct these prisoners. During his entire time in Palestinian Authority prisons, Sa'adat was never tried or charged. Sa'adat was nominally a prisoner of the Palestinian Authority, but was in fact guarded by U.S. and British guards, at the behest of Israel. The Palestinian High Court of Justice ruled that Sa'adat should be immediately released, as did numerous international human rights organizations. Following his election in January 2006 to the Palestinian Legislative Council, despite growing calls for his release, Sa'adat remained imprisoned at Jericho. On March 14, 2006, the U.S. and British guards assigned to Jericho prison abandoned their posts in order to allow for an Israeli military assault on the prison that ended with the capture of Sa'adat and five other Palestinian political prisoners, the deaths of two Palestinians, and the injury of 23 Palestinians. Following the abduction of Sa'adat, the Israeli military courts admitted they lacked sufficient evidence to try Sa'adat under more serious charges, and have instead charged him with an array of political offenses, including membership in a prohibited organization (the PFLP), holding a post in a prohibited organization, and incitement, for delivering a speech harshly condemning the Israeli military's assassination of his predecessor Abu Ali Mustafa. Sa'adat joins over 11,000 other Palestinian political prisoners, men, women and children, held in Israeli jails for struggling for the rights of their people. These 11,000 political prisoners represent political activists, organizers and leaders, and the systematic imprisonment of Palestinians has been calculated by the military occupation in order to disrupt Palestinian political life and extend the illegal military occupation. The military courts trying Sa'adat and the other Palestinian prisoners are entirely institutions of the illegitimate military occupation. They function solely as a means of maintaining that occupation and repressing any and all resistance and opposition to its perpetuation. As such, these military courts are illegitimate entities of an illegal military occupation that has been condemned by every leading international body and human rights organization. Now, Ahmad Sa'adat has been transferred to the remote Nafha prison in the Naqab desert, making it extremely difficult for Sa'adat to meet with his lawyers and his family, and attempting to keep him in isolation in a far-off prison. I am asking your organization to highlight the case of Ahmad Sa'adat and other Palestinian political prisoners. The situation of Palestinian political prisoners is a human rights crisis. Palestinian parliamentarians and political leaders and activists are routinely subject to detention and lengthy terms of imprisonment for their political work on behalf of their people. In order to shed light on their situation and create the kind of pressure that is necessary to ensure justice, the voices of international human rights organizations are desperately needed. I am asking you to take up the case of Ahmad Sa'adat, a Palestinian prisoner of conscience, and all other Palestinian political prisoners, in the interests of human rights, self-determination and justice for the Palestinian people. Thank you.