At 1pm on Saturday, 25th April members of the South East Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign will gather at the Bullpost at Ballybricken, Waterford city, to unite in solidarity with the thousands of Palestinian prisoners imprisoned by Israeli apartheid.
The rally begins at Ballybricken and will make its way down Patrick Street, left onto Broad Street towards the Clock Tower and on to Meagher’s Quay where it will finish at William Wallace Plaza.
Mary Lyng, Chairperson of the IPSCSE, says that: “We call on the people of Waterford and the South East to join us for this rally to demand justice for Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The rally highlights the depraved and illegal treatment of thousands of Palestinians, including children, and with the introduction of the Prisoners’ Execution Law, we raise our voices to say, once again, business with Israel must end. We will not be made complicit in war crimes and genocide. Israel must be held accountable. We call for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners”.
Currently, there are more than 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including: 9,600 political prisoners, 342 children, 84 women, and 3532 administrative detainees (those who were arrested in the occupied West Bank).
According to Addameer, the Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, approximately 50% of political prisoners are held without trial. Palestinians are denied fairness and equity in trials, as there is a conviction rate of 99.7%.
Palestinian detainees describe inhumane conditions and depraved treatment in Israeli prisoners, including physical, mental, and sexual violence and insufficient food, water, medical care, or sleep. Detainees are stripped, confined to cages, blindfolded, and shackled to beds.
On the 30th of March, Israel passed a new death penalty law, which targets Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
Addameer describes the law as “a profound violation of fundamental human rights and exposes decades of international complicity, lack of will, failure and refusal to hold the settler-colony of Israel accountable”.
