On Oct. 22, an Israeli military court rejected an appeal by the lawyer for Ahmad Sa’adat, the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Sa’adat’s legal team had demanded that he be returned to a joint cell with his comrades, having already spent six months in solitary confinement. Instead of ending Sa’adat’s isolation, the Israeli Central Court in Be’er Sheva rejected his appeal and extended his confinement by another six months.
 Soumoud Sa’adat at demonstration to demand the release of her father, Ahmad Sa’adat |
Comrade Sa’adat is currently being held in the Negev prison. According to the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, he has been deprived of basic human rights. He has no access to television, newspapers, books or other sources of information. For the past three months he has been denied family and legal visits. In June of this year, he went on a nine-day hunger strike. According to the PFLP, he is suffering from poor health, with back and stomach problems, as a result of the inhumane conditions in the Israeli prisons.
The PFLP responded to the continued abuse of their leader with mass protests. In Damascus, Syria, hundreds of Palestinians sat-in outside the European Commission, calling for an end to the isolation of Sa’adat and for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners. A delegation delivered a statement to the European Commission demanding action in defense of Palestinian human rights. There are over 8,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
A similar protest took place at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, demanding action by international bodies and human rights organizations. Dr. Maher Taher, a member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP spoke at the rally. He called upon all to act to stop the abuse of Palestinian prisoners and to take action to defend prisoners’ rights, saying that the prisoners are at the core of the Palestinian national cause.
