Guest contribution by Warda K.
Arbitrary arrests. Administrative detention. Abductions. Enforced disappearances. Torture. Rape. Beatings. Interrogation centers. Detention camps. Secret prisons. Unprovoked attacks on peaceful protesters. No right of free movement. Censorship of Information. Discrimination. Intimidation. Humiliation. Military-enforced curfew. Property destruction. Mass graves. Gang rapes. Ethnic cleansing. Occupation. These are words that immediately bring to mind the brutal 64-year-old occupation of Palestine by the Apartheid State of Israel. However the perpetrator of these identical heinous crimes committed under a 62-year military occupation in Kashmir, is the Republic of India.
Today is International Women’s Day, and so we celebrate women from around the world for their dedication, compassion, and strength. It is among them that we must acknowledge the valiant women of Palestine and Kashmir, who continue to endure decades of brutal, repressive, and inhumane military occupations. Under the belligerent occupation by Israel and India, countless women have lost their loved ones to a a systematic and predetermined crime, as Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance.
International Human Rights Law states that an enforced disappearance is an arbitrary abduction or detention of a person by a state or a political organization, who conceals the whereabouts and denies custody, which ultimately, places the detainee outside of the protection of the law. Amnesty International recognizes enforced disappearances a crime against humanity, as it directly violates, “the right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to a fair trial, or if killed, the right to life.” [Read more...]
An intifada stirring from within Israel’s prison walls
Today is a day of power for Palestinians living under Israel’s occupation. It was recently confirmed that hunger striker Khader Adnan returned safely to his friends and family. And as tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank commemorate this year’s Prisoners’ Day, upwards of 1,600 Palestinian prisoners began an open-ended hunger strike while another 2,300 refused meals.
Adnan recently went on a 66-day hunger strike to protest his incarceration without charge by Israel. As word spread of his hunger strike, the world took notice of Israel’s administrative detention policies. Investigative journalists with The Guardian released a special report about children illegally imprisoned in Cell 36 of Israel’s Al Jamale jail. Hana Al-Shalabi began her hunger strike weeks later in protest of her incarceration for unspecified reasons. After her action attracted international media attention, Israel was pressured into releasing her. Since then, at least five more Palestinians embarked on hunger strikes including Thaer Halahlah who, according to reports on Sunday, began coughing up blood as his health declined. [Read more...]