Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) again affirms its opposition to the conditions that Palestinian political activist Raed Salah continues to suffer at the hands of the Israeli prison authorities and joins with calls made recently for a renewal of activism in his defence.
Salah has been the target of official harassment for decades, including numerous arrests and periods of detention. This current period of incarceration began in August 2020, after Salah was moved from house-arrest following his statement against the placing of metal detectors in the al-Aqsa mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, or al-Quds as it is known in Arabic.
Salah has been held in solitary confinement since then. He has been denied access to books, newspapers, and other media, and has been provided with only very limited access to prison yards.
Salah has been transferred numerous times over the past year, his lawyer has said, though he is currently held in the notorious Ramon prison in the south of the Negev desert, meaning a hugely increased burden on his family when visiting him.
AOHR UK has previously condemned Israeli authorities’ extraordinary mistreatment of Salah.
To mark the one-year anniversary of the start of this bout of detention, activists will hold a mass prayer outside the Ramon prison on Friday 13 August.
The first demand of this action is that Salah be freed from solitary confinement – a cruel measure, one was obviously taken to break Salah’s will.
And the campaign will protest the decision to transfer Salah from house arrest into the prison system for expressing a legitimate political opinion. The mass prayer and subsequent actions will demand that the Israeli state respect Salah’s rights as a prisoner.
AOHR UK condemns his mistreatment at the hands of the Israeli state and joins with these calls to act in defence.
