In the early hours of Wednesday 23rd January 2013, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested Hassan Yasser Karajeh, the Stop the Wall youth coordinator and a well known young human rights defender, violently breaking into his home in the West Bank village of Safa, west of Ramallah. We are gravely concerned to hear reports of Mr Karajah being subject to physical violence already at the very beginning of his detention. This new arrest of a Stop the Wall staff member comes as part of the continued Israeli repression of Palestinian human rights defenders and of Stop the Wall in particular. Palestinian popular action against the increasing Israeli settlement construction and forcible expulsion of Palestinian communities is matched by the condemnation of the illegal Israeli Wall and settlement enterprise by governments across the globe. I ask you now to protect the right of Palestinian human rights defenders to oppose the same policies the international community condemns. As a citizen I urge you to:
- use all the government’s influence to pressure the Israeli authorities for the immediate and unconditional release of Hassan Karajeh and to seek assurances from Israeli authorities that his rights as a detainee will be fully respected for as long as he remains in custody.
- to ensure consular representatives are following the case of Hassan Karajah
- to raise the case of Hassan Karajah and the issue of Israeli repression of Palestinian human rights defenders at the upcoming EU Foreign Affairs Councils