Khader Adnan Dying in Israel chained to hospital bed

As Khader Adnan entered his 59^th day on hunger strike, his wife Randa has appealed to us, the international community, to end his isolation and save his life.

As he lies dying, his Israeli captors have chained him to his military prison hospital bed.


“My husband is dying inside an Israeli jail. The world should make sure I am able to see him,” Randa said. “And it should pressure the Israeli government to release him before it’s too late.”


According to Joe Catron of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Khader, a 33-year-old baker, a graduate  economics student of Birzeit University, and Islamic Jihad Movement activist, was detained in a 3:30 am raid on his home in Arraba, Jenin on December 17.

He began a hunger strike the same day to protest Israel’s administrative detention policy and the brutality of his captors, and to demand his own freedom and the freedom of thousands of other prisoners held in Israeli jails who are being deprived of their simplest human rights


"Israeli interrogators" says Catron, "responded by continuing the beatings that began during his arrest, tying him into painful positions for hours, ripping hair from his beard, smearing dirt onto his face, throwing him into a “punishment cell” with bright lights and loud noises intended to prevent sleep, and denying him treatment for his gastric illness, the disc problems in his back, and the injuries their fellow soldiers had inflicted on him. After they graphically insulted members of his family, including his two young daughters and elderly mother – a form of psychological torture used by Israeli troops to extract information from Palestinian suspects – he launched a speech strike, refusing to talk with them as well", the ISM report continues


His wife and children were allowed to see him for 15 minutes for the first time last Tuesday but by then he could barely move to greet them. 

Physicians for Human Rights have said that he has been transferred to five different hospitals over an eight day period.


A four hour vigil organised by the IPSC was held outside the Israeli Embassy in Dublin yesterday.  A solidarity vigil outside Ramleh prison in Israel was met with tear gas assault and sixteen people were injured by rubber bullets





The picture shows 4 year old protesting outside Ramleh prison

My First Petition on Change.org

If you look at Change.org the Petition Site you should find a new petition there with one signature so far. If you agree with it please add yours.

It is for President Barack Obama and reads as follows:

OUTLAW ALL WAR STARTING BY OUTLAWING BOMBING MISSIONS


All war is evil. Countless millions have died and are still dying because of it. Add to that the injured in body and mind, the forced carers of the injured, the bereaved, the families and friends of the bereaved, the warped indoctrinated minds and personalities of its soldiers - and above all the children.

Young people at the age of idealism are coaxed into armies where they are taught to hate and kill fellow human beings.

You are the President of the United States of America which has by far the highest military expenditure in the world

In its short two and a half centuries of existence, the United States has engaged in over 100 wars or military interventions in other countries.

This far exceeds the wars or interventions participated in by other countries
As the chief war-maker, the United States has a responsibility to try to end war globally.

Yours is the only country to have used a nuclear bomb.. The use of any kind of bomb is horrendous, barbaric and outrageous, when you think of the frightened civilians, children and adults who are powerless against this mass murder from the sky.

I am requesting you, as President of a very powerful country, to start to undo the damage of war. You can refuse to declare or participate in any other war. You can withdraw from the arenas of war around the globe.

Right away you can suspend all bombing operations in Afghanistan and never again send pilots to unthinkingly or intentionally murder people indiscriminately from the sky.

YES YOU CAN

Protest at the US Embassy re Guantanamo

Yesterday, my friend Colm Roddy and I went to the US  Embassy with our placards to protest against Guantanamo.

That obnoxious prison is still open in spite of Barack Obama's election promise to close it.
In the picture, Colm is in the orange suit. His sign reads:

CLOSE GUANTANAMO   END 10 YEARS ILLEGAL DETENTION & KILLING of SUSPECTS & INNOCENTS
Colm was on his knees for one hour of our 90 minute protest.

He had seen the Ambassador going to a restaurant across the road with two minders.  Later, they returned and, as they did, I stood where  he might see my sign. He peered at it as he came closer. It reads

10 YEARS OF ABUSE AND TORTURE    INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE STILL IN GUANTANAMO        SHAME ON YOU!      SHUT DOWN THIS HELL HOLE

Ambassador Dan Rooney stood before me and I said "Mr Rooney, I have a letter here for you", as I took it out of my pocket.  He turned his head away while one of his minders reacted slightly.  "Will you accept a letter from me?" I asked.  Again, he turned away and pointed to a minder saying "Give it to him" , which I did.

The letter and the envelope were handwritten by me on my way to the Embassy.
The letter read:

"We are protesting at the US Embassy today on the tenth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo prison.  President Obama gave a solemn undertaking to close it - why is it still open?
The shame of the Bush era clings to your President and will take many years or decades to undo.
With best personal wishes  Justin Morahan"

Malaysian Tribunal finds Bush and Blair guilty of war Crimes

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after two years of investigation by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC), a tribunal  consisting of five judges with judicial and academic backgrounds found George W Bush and Tony Blair guilty of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and genocide as a result of their roles in the Iraq War.  The decision was unanimous. (Aljazeera)

The judges gave their verdict after four days of hearing, on 22 November 2011.  Both defendants were absent during the proceedings as they had declined an offer to present a defence or send a representative. The court appointed a defence counsel for them in their absence.

Although the verdict was not enforceable in a normal manner associated with a criminal court operating within a sovereign state or as constituted by international agreement, the tribunal nevertheless hopes that its recommendations will have a legal weight expected to extend beyond a moral condemnation of the defendants.

The tribunal added two Orders to its verdict in accordance with the  KLWCC Charter that controlled its operating framework:

1) Report the findings of guilt of Bush and Blair to the International Criminal Court in The Hague;

2) Enter the names of George W Bush and Tony Blair in the Register of War Criminals maintained by the KLWCC.

The tribunal and its verdict brings into the public domain once again the idea of "universal jurisdiction" whereby states claim criminal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state.

In the celebrated Filártiga v Pena-Irala case, a US court awarded over $10million to the Filártiga family because of the horrific torture of their son Joelito by Inspector General Americó Pena-Irala in Paraguay.  In this case however both the Filártiga plaintiffs and Pena-Irala happened to be in the US jurisdiction at the time the family sued the torturer.

As Bush and Blair were absent from Kuala Lumpur, they may escape punishment but the Tribunal could be a precedent for other such tribunals. At least it's a start.

A few of the bravest and best Palestinians board an Israeli bus

FREEDOM RIDERS TRY TO END ISRAELI APARTHEID

History is right now being made in Palestine. A small number (5) of brave Palestinians have boarded a public bus from which they are barred in Israel.

Avaaz reports: "Lacking their own state, Palestinians are forbidden to use buses and roads reserved for non-Arabs - part of a host of race-based rules that US President Jimmy Carter has called "apartheid"." 50 years ago, blacks in the US challenged these rules by simply and non-violently refusing to follow them."

The Palestinians have just now taken the same approach, and their actions are seen livE at the link below (see comment 1)
As Gandhi did in India and Rose Parks did in the US, these non-violent freedom riders are simply on the bus, quietly making their powerful point to the world.

At last viewing one protestor had ben forcibly removed, the bus had stopped, a soldier and settler got off. The Israeli passengers are having to put up with the delay that Palestinians suffer daily. Soldiers are shouting and bullying people telling them to get off.

They are being forcibly removed