Who ever heard of Salah Hamouri? Not many one must think .
Salah Hammouri is the son of a Palestinian from East Jerusalem and a French woman, that is to say as much French as is Gilad Shalit, the young Franco-Israeli soldier prisoner by an armed group in Gaza .
For three and a half years now, Salah Hammouri is a prisoner of another armed group: the IDF. After three years of detention without trial, Salah Hamouri was given the choice between admitting the facts alleged against him and thus receiving a seven years imprisonment sentence or not pleading guilty and be sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment.
Although he always denied and despite the fact that the Israeli army was unable to produce a single witness or any evidence of earnest, faced with this choice Salah Hamouri pleaded guilty. He is now considered a terrorist and should serve the remainder of his sentence.
(Thanks to Jemmy who broke the story here)
<span>A Letter from Salah Hamouri to l’Humanité
ReplyDeletePalestine.
The young Franco-Palestinian prisoner in Israel has managed to write to us from his prison cell. We publish his letter here in its entirety.
Dear friends, dear comrades, dear fighters for liberty and solidarity,
After the written request by the French president Nicolas Sarkozy to the Israeli prime minister concerning my anticipated liberation, I wish to speak on several points.
The Israeli minister of the interior Eli Ishay considers that the request by Mr. Sarkozy is insolent.
If one knows a bit of contemporary Israeli history, one must recall Plato Sharon, a Franco-Israeli who was mixed up in dubious business dealings in France. He avoided extradition from Israel to France, where he was to be judged and imprisoned, because he managed to become deputy to the Israeli parliament, in that instance also after dubious financial transactions that cost him several months in prison.</span>
http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/spip.php?article1311
Cont.
ReplyDelete"In Israel, there is justice of two brands: for Jews and for Arabs.
In 2001, an Israeli colonizer, Nahum Korman, beat to death an 11 year-old Palestinian child, Hilmi Shosha, in the Hebron region.
After a plea-bargaining Korman was condemned to six months of labor in the public interest. The message is clear: the Israeli can kill Palestinians with impunity.
For Mr. Ishay, nothing insolent in that. Does the destruction of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem constitute insolence? Or the continuation of colonization, the theft of Palestinian land?
Of course I would like to be liberated, to join my family circle again, but I wish above all for a European decision truly to defend the Palestinians, victims of an occupation that has already lasted 61 years. This means also a French position that respects and defends the legitimate right of Palestinians to live in dignity and in peace in a free state.
is this demand also insolent?
Salah Hamouri, Guilbia prison, section 1, 11 August 2009."
I am glad his story is out, haw many more are there like him? It is said that there is close to 8,000 political prisoners in Israeli hell holes many who we do not know. Faceless, victims of oppression and murderous occupation.
ReplyDeleteI heard 10,000.
ReplyDeletei think it's 10k prisoners total.
ReplyDeletethis guy is another "palestinian gandhi".
Did you know a huge support comittee has been set up in France? One of them is the actor Francois Cleuzet..
ReplyDeleteJemmy reads 'L'Humanite' and found it..Hat tip to him.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to try to parse true criminal activity and political prisoners in Israel, that is because the legal system is totally illegitimate. Even individuals who are "criminally" prosecuted (Palestinians) can be defined as such by completely bogus charges. So, it is probably correct to say there are over 10,000 prisoners mostly for totally unjustified reasons, because we have a pariah state in charge.
ReplyDelete