On Friday, April 17^th, 2020, to mark Palestinian Prisoners Day, Sahar Francis, Director of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association will give an online public talk hosted by the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).

It will take place at 7pm Irish time and stream live on Facebook at this link – https://www.facebook.com/USPCN/ (Yo DO NOT need a Facebook account to watch). 

Immediately following her talk on the 17^th, there will be a TwitterStorm from 8-10PM the hashtags #PalestinianPrisonersDay and #FreeOurPrisoners. 

Ms. Francis will discuss the current state of Palestinian prisoners, their organizing demands, and what can be done to support them.  Some of the issues that Ms. Francis will address in her talk will be:

– The issue of child prisoners and the abuse of children within the system – UNICEF has stated that Israel’s child prisoner “practices are in violation of international law”
– The COVID-19 threat to Palestinian prisoners
– The issue of torture in Israeli prisons.
– Hunger strikes in Israeli prisons.
– Denial of prisoners rights and violations of international law in Israel’s prison system.
– Administrative detention – A form of internment without trial, which Amnesty says is used “to suppress the legitimate and peaceful activities of activists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
– The 99.7% conviction rate for Palestinian security prisoners, tried before Israeli military (non-jury) courts “whose proceedings do not meet international standards for fair trial”, according to Amnesty.
– The detention of Palestinian parliamentarians and civil society leaders.

About the speaker:

Sahar Francis is the General Director of ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian NGO providing legal and advocacy support to Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. An attorney by training, she joined the association in 1998. With two decades of human rights experience, including human rights counselling and representation, Ms . Francis has also been on the boards of Defence for Children International Palestine and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.

About Addameer

Addameer is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. Established in 1992 by a group of activists interested in human rights, the center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international level, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns. Addameer believes in the importance of building a free and democratic Palestinian society based on justice, equality, rule of law and respect for human rights within the larger framework of the right to self-determination. Addameer’s work is based on a belief in the universality of human rights as enshrined in international law.

Addameer has been actively involved in the development of Palestinian civil society since its establishment. In particular, in its role as an executive member of the Palestinian NGO Network and the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations, Addameer plays an important role in structuring the response of civil society to human rights violations, as well as directing strategies for increased community awareness. This has also placed the association in a unique position because of its strong commitment and relationship to the local community. Community involvement remains the backbone of the organization, in the form of volunteerism and support for all activities of the association and its campaigns. Addameer strives to be more than a service-oriented association, but rather a resource for the local and international community to address human rights violations. In that regard, Addameer also works closely with international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, OMCT and FIDH to provide regular information on the situation of Palestinian political detainees.

Event hosted by US Palestinian Community Network.