March 19, 2009

On March 19, 2009, Ahmad Sa'adat was suddenly transferred from Hadarim prison
and to Asqelan prison, where he is being held in solitary confinement.

Ahmad Sa'adat alongside 11,000 other Palestinian prisoners, has been repeatedly
subjected to solitary confinement and punitive measures at the behest of the
Israeli regime. Sa'adat has been moved repeatedly from prison to prison, and
often placed in solitary confinement or isolation.

Palestinian lawyer Buthaina Duqmaq, president of the Mandela Association for
Palestinian prisoners, stated that this is part of the Israeli policies towards
Palestinian prisoners. Sa'adat has been particularly targeted because he is
both a Palestinian national leader and a leader among the prisoners, whose presence within the prison strengthens the prisoners' unity and steadfastness.

Furthermore, Ahmad Sa'adat is suffering from back injuries that require medical
assistance and treatment. Instead of receiving the medical care he needs, the
Israeli prison officials are refusing him access to specialists and engaging in
medical neglect and maltreatment. Now, they are returning him to isolation
where
he will face even more serious medical neglect and injury.

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat demands an end to this isolation and calls
upon all to write to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other
human rights organizations to exercise their responsibilities and act swiftly
to demand that the Israelis ensure that Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian
prisoners receive needed medical care and that this punitive isolation be
ended. Email the ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the
conditions of prisoners, at jerusalem.jer@icrc.org, and inform them about the
urgent situation of Ahmad Sa'adat!

The imprisonment of Sa'adat, facing a 30 year sentence for his powerful and
political leadership of the Palestinian people, is a symbol of Israel's
attempts to isolate and target the Palestinian people and their national
movement for liberation, through massive imprisonment. They have not succeeded
in breaking the will of the people of Palestine, through imprisonment,
massacres, and siege, and will never succeed in breaking the will of Sa'adat,
the Palestinian prisoners, or the Palestinian people.

Freedom for Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners now!

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/