Action. Arrest of Jamal Juma’, coordinator of the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign + article
Reageer (0)Encourage your members to join this campaign through petitions, demonstrations and / or letter writing / phone calling. Please provide them with contact information and details.
Urge your representatives at consular offices in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem/Ramallah to advocate for the immediate release of Jamal Juma’, Mohammad Othman, Abdallah Abu Rahmeh and the other anti-Wall activists. See pro forma letter below. (For your consular contacts, see: http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Israel#11725)
Let the Israeli Embassy in your home country know that you are campaigning for the release of Jamal Juma’ and the other anti-Wall prisoners.
Bringing the case of the anti-Wall prisoners to the attention of local and national media outlets
20-12-2009
Ramallah,
Dear friends,
I am addressing you out of concern over the recent arrest of a leading Palestinian civil society organizer, Jamal Juma’, coordinator of the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. We see this latest arrest by the Israeli authorities as yet another step of escalation of Israel’s attack on Palestinian human rights defenders and clamp down on the right to freedom of expression and the right to association. We therefore ask your intervention.
Jamal Juma’, 47 years old, has dedicated his life to the defense of Palestinian human rights. Jamal Juma' was born in Jerusalem and attended Birzeit University, where he became politically active. The main focus of his work is on grassroots activism and empowering local communities to defend their human rights in the face of violations brought about by the occupation. He is a founding member of several Palestinian NGOs and civil society networks. Juma' has been the coordinator of the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign since 2002. He is widely respected for his work and has been invited to address numerous civil society and UN conferences. His articles and interviews are widely published and his work has been translated into several languages. During last year’s World Social Forum held in Belem, Juma’ had the opportunity to meet his Excellency, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and to exchange views on the Palestinian issue.
On the evening of December 15, Jamal Juma’ was summoned by the Israeli authorities for interrogation at Qalandiya military center, the same night at midnight. Two and a half hours later, Jamal Juma’ was brought handcuffed to his home. In the presence of his three young children and his wife, the army searched his home for two hours and confiscated his computer and cell phones. Juma’ was then brought to the Russian Compound Interrogation Center in West Jerusalem. Before leaving the home one soldier threatened Juma’s wife that she would only see her husband again through a prisoners’ exchange.
According to Israeli law applying to Israeli citizens, Jamal Juma’, as a permanent resident of Jerusalem and Jerusalem ID holder, should have been brought before a court within 24 hours of his arrest. However, it seems that instead the authorities decided to apply the military court system created for West Bank ID holders and which does not comply with international standards of fair trial and due process. In fact, when his lawyer, attempted to see Jamal Juma’ on Thursday December 17, he was presented with a document stating that according to the Military Order on Security Matters (Judea and Samaria) no. 378 of 1970, the legal counsel was barred from seeing his client. The ban will expire on Monday at 11:59 pm. No reason was given for the ban on lawyers visits. No date for a court hearing has been set. The lawyer intends to present a complaint against this procedure.
Jamal Juma’s arrest has to be seen in the context of increasing repression of grassroots mobilizing against the Wall and the settlements by the Israeli authorities. Initially arresting local activists from the villages affected by the Wall, the Israeli authorities moved towards the detention of internationally known human rights defenders such as Mohammad Othman and Abdallah Abu Rahmeh and are now targeting Palestinian civil society leaders with national and international standing. It can only be assumed that Israel aims to weaken Palestinian civil society and its influence on political decision making at national and international level.
This process clearly criminalizes the work of Palestinian human rights defenders and any form of peaceful, civil disobedience. It clearly undermines the efforts of the international donor community and civil society organizations to foster an active and vibrant Palestinian civil society and democracy.
The case of Jamal Juma’ once again underlines the need for the international civil society to raise their concerns about the Israeli judicial system and to protect Palestinian human rights defenders.
In fact, already in the case of Mohammad Othman, the European Union as well as relevant UN Special Rapporteurs have started raising serious concerns and some member states have raised the issue of arbitrary detention and non compliance of the Israeli judicial system applied to Palestinians with international standards of due process and fair trial. We expect similar action in the case of Jamal Juma’.
We know about the importance your organization gives to the defense and promotion of human rights and international law. As Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign we therefore ask you to:
Encourage your members to join this campaign through petitions, demonstrations and / or letter writing / phone calling. Please provide them with contact information and details.
Urge your representatives at consular offices in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem/Ramallah to advocate for the immediate release of Jamal Juma’, Mohammad Othman, Abdallah Abu Rahmeh and the other anti-Wall activists. See pro forma letter below. (For your consular contacts, see: http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Israel#11725)
Let the Israeli Embassy in your home country know that you are campaigning for the release of Jamal Juma’ and the other anti-Wall prisoners.
Bringing the case of the anti-Wall prisoners to the attention of local and national media outlets
For updates, campaign alerts and how to join our facebook, twitter and other online campaigns, please see the campaign alert on the Stop the Wall homepage: www.stopthewall.org
We would highly appreciate if you would coordinate with us your actions. We have pro forma letters and can let you know if there are other organizations that are taking similar action. The better we can coordinate, the more effective our action will be.
Thank you for your support,
Suhail Salman,
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign – coordinator for the popular committees
www.stopthewall.org tel: +972-22971505
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Jamal Juma’, coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign, in Israeli jail
20-12-2009
Israeli security first summoned Juma’ for interrogation at midnight of December 15. Hours later, they brought him back to his home. Juma’ was handcuffed while soldiers searched his house for two hours as his wife and three young children looked on helplessly.
The parting words of the soldiers were directed at his wife: she would only see her husband again through a prisoner exchange. Since then, Juma’ has been detained, and banned from speaking to a lawyer or his family, with no explanation for his arrest.
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Jamal Juma’s is the most high profile arrest within an intensifying campaign of repression of grassroots mobilization against the Wall and the settlements. Initially only arresting local activists from the villages affected by the Wall, the Israeli authorities have recently begun to shift their attention to the detention of internationally known human rights defenders such as Mohammad Othman and Abdallah Abu Rahmeh. Mohammad, another member of the Stop the Wall Campaign, was arrested nearly three months ago when returning from a speaking tour in Norway. After two months of interrogation, the Israeli authorities were still unable to find charges to level against Mohammad and therefore issued an administrative detention order so as to prevent his release. Abdallah Abu Rahma, a leading figure in the nonviolent struggle against the Wall in Bil’in, was taken from his home by masked soldiers in the middle of the night a week before Jamal was jailed.
With these arrests, Israel aims to weaken Palestinian civil society and its influence on political decision making at national and international level. This process clearly criminalizes the work of Palestinian human rights defenders and Palestinian civil disobedience.
It is crucial that the international community combat Israeli attempts to criminalize human rights defenders struggling against the Wall. The Israeli policy of targeting organizers calling for Israeli accountability is a direct challenge to the decisions of governments and global bodies such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hold Israel to account for its violations of international law. This challenge shall not go unmet.
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