#FreeSalah: Send a message to your governments now!
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#FreeSalah: Send a message to your governments now!

We need your support to #FreeSalah – Please take one minute and send the below message to your government and authorities! Salah Khawaja's  shocking conditions after 15 days of almost non-stop interrogation cannot but move us to redouble our efforts to #FreeSalah, to denounce Israeli illegal and inhumane practices inside its prison system and as part of its institutionalized and structural regime of repression against the Palestinian people and all those opposing Israeli violations of human rights.

Please contact your governments and urge them to take action. To make it easier for you to address relevant authorities, please find below a model letter and a selection of authorities to contact: (Please, don't forget to sign the message at the end!)

European Union:

Canada:

United Kingdom:

South Africa:

Norway:

Switzerland:

United States of America:


Subject: Arrest of prominent Palestinian human rights defender Salah Khawaja

Dear [choose the relevant authority],

I am writing to ask you to urgently intervene with Israeli authorities in the case of imprisoned human rights defender, Salah Khawaja. He is being held without any charges being brought against him so far and and interrogated under extreme duress. I am deeply concerned about his well being and ask you to demand his immediate release and to ensure his rights are being upheld while in prison and observer presence is guaranteed at his hearings. I ask you to build a proactive and effective policy to end Israeli repression of human rights defenders.

On November 9, Salah Khawaja was brought in front of the military court in Petah Tikva after being arrested on October 26. The hearing at the Israeli military court in Petah Tikva revealed Khawaja’s shocking physical conditions after having been subjected to two weeks of almost non-stop interrogation and has ruled he would be subjected for another 8 days of interrogation. Denial of access to legal council has been extended until November 13. In only 15 days, Israeli intelligence officers have conducted 27 rounds of interrogation with Salah – practically non-stop interrogation.

Salah Al Khawaja, 45 years old, has dedicated his life to the defence of Palestinian human rights and empowering local communities. Al Khawaja is part of the Stop the Wall coordination committee, secretariat member of the Palestinian Boycott, divestment and Sanction Committee (BNC) and one of the leaders of the Palestinian National Initiative (Mubadara). He is widely respected for his work, has addressed numerous national and international civil society conferences and has as well met the diplomatic community in Palestine in many occasions.

His arrest and detention conditions have to be understood in a wider context of persistent illegal practices in the Israeli prison system, including widespread torture and ill-treatment, and increasing Israeli repression against Palestinian human rights defenders and activists who, like Al Khawaja, have been successful in their lobbying efforts, at home and abroad, against Israeli violations of human rights. It is crucial that the international community combat Israeli attempts to criminalize human rights defenders and in the meanwhile suspends or maintains non-cooperation with Israeli national institutions overseeing and implementing the above mentioned illegal policies of repression.

Looking forward to your kind reply,

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