UPDATE ON THESE TRIALS -ISRAELI AUTHORITIES ARE TORTURING THESE YOUNG MEN AGAIN BY MOVING THE DATE OF THE TRIAL FOR THE THIRD TIME - TO OCTOBER 19, 2021 - CAUSING EMOTIONAL TRAUMA FOR THE FAMILIES AND THE YOUNG MEN
Contact: Rochelle Santos email: rochellesantosw55@gmail.com Media Correspondent, Free Gaza movement
New York, July 27, 2021: For almost three months, the military occupation has imprisoned these 7, first in Moscobiyeh jail where they were tortured and then all but one transferred to Ofer prison where they remain. They are from the farming village of Bil’in, occupied Palestine, well known for its nonviolent protests against the Israeli confiscation of their farmland.
Israel has incarcerated them on highly dubious charges in line with a directive,” Operation Law and Order”, launched May 24th.That directive included sweeping arrests and torture of Palestinian prisoners in order to suppress opposition from Palestinian civil society.
Israel is torturing these young men into giving false confessions.
A week later, international activists began a petition signed by dozens of well-known activists including Roger Waters, Colonel Ann Wright, Coleen Rowley, Jafar Ramini, Huwaida Arraf, Baroness Jenny Tonge, and Miko Peled. Their names as well as other signers are listed on the petition asking for the release of the Bil’in Seven.
As of this writing, there are nearly 1100 international signatures.
We are asking that charges be dropped against the following;
Abdel-Khaleq Iyad Bernat: Released on 5000 shekels bail until his court hearing. He was under interrogation & tortured, and held in solitary confinement for 55 days underground in Moscobiyeh jail.
Hamza Ghazi Al-Khatib: Sentenced to six months prison time a week after arrest.
Muhammad Ahmad Hamad: Sentenced to six months ‘administrative detention; for allegedly throwing stones.
These four you men listed are all charged with the same ‘security act’ inside a settlement.
Issa Ahmed, Ismail Muhammad Abu Rahman, Jalal Hassan Khatib, Muhammad Iyad Bernat.
This alleged ‘security act’ is setting a bus on fire in the Mod’in Ill’it settlement. Anyone who’s been to Bil’in knows it’s impossible for any Palestinian to get near the barricaded settlement. If they approach the 24-foot wall separating the illegal settlement from Bil’in, they’d have been arrested or shot, as the area is always monitored by CCTV. No Israeli papers have reported the event, except for a settlement paper that did not mention any Palestinians
All the hearings have been scheduled for July 28th. If the hearing date goes as scheduled, we want the officials at Ofer prison as well as the government of Israel to know we are watching and recording, and the press has been notified. As one supporter wrote,
“Free the Bi’lin Seven from Ofer Prison immediately! Kidnapping, torturing innocent Indigenous Palestinians, including minors, not only violates a plethora of international laws & Human Rights; it’s cruel and inhumane. Bi’lin residents are renowned for their peaceful protests and non-violent resistance, wanting peace, justice and freedom to be able to live on their homeland, without brutal occupation.”