----- Forwarded message from P Society <[log in to unmask]> -----
    Date: Wed,  2 Jul 2008 21:17:15 +0100
    From: P Society <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: P Society <[log in to unmask]>
 Subject: RIGHT TO EDUCATION URGENT APPEAL
      To: P Society <[log in to unmask]>

RIGHT TO EDUCATION URGENT APPEAL

RELEASE PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE NOW!
RIGHT TO EDUCATION CAMPAIGN, BIRZEIT UNIVERSITY, 1 JULY 2008
http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/news/article543

On Sunday 25th November 2005, the president of Birzeit University's Student
Council, Fadi Hamad, was arrested by Israeli military Special Forces while
travelling on the road between the al-Jalazoon refugee camp and the city of
Ramallah in the occupied Palestinian territories. Eyewitnesses reported that
the car carrying Fadi was suddenly ambushed in what seemed like a premeditated
operation.

As a student leader, Fadi represented the interests of some 7,000 students
before the university administration, and was responsible for welfare
programmes for students, providing them with sports and cultural activities as
well as help with registration, paying fees, their studies.

Since 1967, the Israeli army has passed military orders outlawing all student
societies which promote Palestinian nationalist ideas or parties, including
Fatah, despite the fact that Israel officially negotiates with all such
political parties at different moments in time. In this way, the army can
'legally' detain any student leader simply on the grounds of his or her
political affiliation and in practice, persecute certain political opinions
over others thus aggravating political tensions in Palestinian society at any
given moment.

On the day of his arrest, Fadi was taken to Ofer detention centre where he was
held without access to legal counsel for about 14 days (as is usual of such
detention centres). Fadi was immediately charged with breaching a probation
order which banned him from engaging with a student group for the next 3 years,
and for 'holding a position of responsibility' and 'belonging to an illegal
organisation'.

His probation order was issued in September 2004 after he had served 10 months
on account of having been a member of the Islamic Bloc and the then acting
president of the Student Council after the elected president had been arrested
5 months earlier in July 2004. The elected president at that time was Mohammad
Quran who was also charged with 'belonging to an illegal organisation' and
sentenced to 16 months. As history tends to repeat itself when it comes to the
silencing of political voices, Fadi's second arrest in 2007 was followed by the
arrest of his replacement, Abdullah Owais, who was also taken at a checkpoint 3
months later in February 2008 and charged with the same: 'holding a position of
responsibility' and 'belonging to an illegal organization'.

The Right to Education Campaign believes that Fadi Hamad and Abdullah Owais are
Human Rights defenders who were defending the welfare and rights of students at
the time of their arrest and are incarcerated simply because of these
activities and their political views. They have never been involved with, or
charged with, any security-related offenses. The Campaign calls for their
immediate release.

The Right to Education Campaign would also like to point out that 21 out of 40
cases represented by Birzeit University's lawyer are prisoners of conscience
who are serving time solely for their belonging to student societies or
political parties, many of whom held positions of leadership in the Student
Council at the time of their arrest. These students are not only being denied
their freedoms of association, thought, and liberty; they are being denied
their education.

"The arrested students who worked for the Student Council focused solely on
providing local academic support for students and nothing else. In reality,
these arrests serve to discredit and obstruct the work of the Student Council
as an institution and are not about providing security for Israel"
- Fadi Hamad (before his arrest) when asked about the detention of other
Student
Council members.

PLEASE WRITE to your government representatives asking them to raise questions
in Parliament or Congress, and to put pressure on the Israeli government to
release student prisoners of conscience and to respect their rights to freedom
of association, thought and liberty - ultimately, calling on Israel to respect
the right to education of Palestinian students.


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