Dear friends,
please see below information about the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign's event this Sunday 17th April to mark Palestinian prisoners day. It would be great if you could make it along, and forward or otherwise publicise the notice to colleagues, friends and family that may be interested.
On Sunday April 17th at 2pm the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) will mark Palestinian Prisoners Day with a demonstration at the Spire in O'Connell St.
The demonstration will call for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners imprisoned by the Israeli State - those 'convicted' in Israeli Military courts and those interned without trial under the 'Administrative Detention' regime. There will be a particular focus on the issue of child prisoners - of which there are currently 216 (45 under the age of 16) being held in Israeli jails.
The IPSC have called this demonstration - as part of the international activities taking place on Palestinian Prisoners Day 2010 - as we believe that all Palestinian political prisoners are victims of Israeli colonialism and apartheid. We therefore demand the release of all political prisoners held by the Israeli state.
Palestinian Prisoners - The Grim Reality
According to ADDAMEER, the Palestinian Prisoners' Rights NGO, at present over 5,770 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by the Israeli state for resisting Israeli colonialism, Apartheid and oppression. Of those, 216 are children, 37 are women, 12 are elected Palestinian representatives and over 200 are 'Administrative Detainees' - that is they have been interned without trial not having been charged with any crime or seeing the secret evidence against them. Those 'convicted' prisoners were jailed by non-jury Israeli Military Courts (all Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are subject to Israeli military law, while Israel's colonial settlers are ruled by Israeli civil law - yet another example Israel's Apartheid system). These courts, biased from the outset, do not meet international fair trial standards.[2]
Over four decades of illegal Israeli military occupation, Palestinians from all walks of life have been illegally detained by Israel. Since the beginning of the occupation in 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This forms approximately 20% of the total Palestinian population in the OPT. Considering the fact that the majority of those detained are male, the number of Palestinians detained forms approximately 40% of the total male Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Regards,
Kevin Squires
IPSC National Coordinator
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