05 July 2010 By Stephen Lendman Detailed information about him
can be accessed through the following link: http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/bg.html He's the 1967-founded Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine's (PFLP) General
Secretary, one of thousands of Palestinian political
prisoners, sentenced in 2002 to 30 years in prison
"for a range of 'security-related' political
offenses,' " including his prominence in a prohibited
organization, a 1993 document stating that: "The strategic aim of the PFLP's
struggle alongside the other forces of the Palestinian
revolution is to liberate Palestine from Zionist
colonial occupation. The PFLP aims for the
establishment of a democratic state on the entire
Palestinian land, with its capital in Jerusalem. This
state would guarantee legal rights and equality of
opportunity to all citizens, without discrimination on
the grounds of religion, sex, belief or color. It
would oppose Zionism and imperialism and be oriented
towards democratic unity with other Arab countries." "Achieving this aim presupposes a
radical solution for the Palestinian national cause
and readiness to wage a prolonged, complicated and
difficult struggle (against Zionism), a racist,
aggressive, expansionist, settler-colonial entity
which aims at elimination of our people." Great
sacrifices are needed to prevent it. Sa'adat's Background Born in 1953 in Deir Tarif
village near Ramallah in the West Bank, the son of
dispossessed refugees, he became activist after the
1967 Six Day War. In 2001, he was elected PFLP General
Secretary, replacing Abu Ali Mustafa, assassinated by
Israel on August 27 that year. In February 1969, Israel first
arrested him for PFLP activities, detaining for three
months - then for 28 months in 1970, 10 months in
1973, and 45 days in 1975. That year, he graduated
from UNWRA's Ramallah Teaching Training College,
specializing in math. In 1976, he was arrested again
and held four years. In April 1981, he was elected to
PLFP's Central Committee. In 1989, he was arrested and
detained nine months, again in 1992 for 13 months,
then released but declared a "wanted person," subject
to re-arrest without cause. In 1994, he became the PFLP's
West Bank leader, arrested again in 1995, briefly
detained by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1996,
then arrested by the PA with other PFLP members. On
February 27, 1997, following a hunger strike, he was
released without charge, authorities fearing he might
die in prison. In fact, he collapsed, became comatose
and needed emergency treatment in Ramallah Hospital. Arrested again in 2002, the PA
held him at Jericho Prison for over four years. On
August 20, 2002, Israeli forces assassinated his
brother, Mohammed. On January 25, 2006, he was elected
to the Palestinian Legislative Council on the Abu Ali
Mustafa slate. On March 14, 2006, the IDF stormed the
prison, abducting Sa'adat and five others,
incarcerating them in Israeli military prisons. He committed no crime, was given
a military trial by three military judges, with no
legal training, in a military court, charged with
organizing the assassination of Israeli Tourism
Minister, Rehavam Zeevi on October 17, 2001, and was
convicted by "an illegitimate manifestation of an
illegitimate system...." In June 2002, Amnesty
International called for his immediate release after a
Palestinian court ordered it, Fatah's cabinet
overriding the decision the same day, abiding by a
US-brokered deal ending Israel's 34-day siege on PA
Chairman Yasser Arafet's Ramallah headquarters on May
1. After Israel abducted him, a
Sa'adat wrote: "The Quartet (US, EU, Russia and
the UN) provide a cover for occupation. What happened
at Jericho Prison has made the British and US
governments an integral part of the conflict and
forever buried any illusions (of) their neutrality" -
referring to American and UK guards abandoning their
posts, letting Israeli forces storm the prison, abduct
Sa'adat and others, kill two detainees, and injure 23
more. On December 25, 2008, he was
sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, Israel's harshest
political punishment, illegal under international law.
According to a PFLP statement, he was "sentenced to 30
years in Israeli jails for political reasons and not
for any other crime," Sa'adat refusing to recognize
the court's legitimacy, calling himself "a prisoner
for freedom." His alleged crimes included a
laundry list of "security offenses," among them
belonging to a forbidden organization, holding a post
in it, and "incitement" in a speech condemning
Israel's assassination of the man he succeeded, Abu
Ali Mustafa. On March 18, 2009, he was
transferred from Hadarim to Asqelan Prison solitary
confinement, a punishment repeatedly used against him.
In June, he went on hunger strike for nine days in
protest. On August 10, he was moved to Ramon Prison
isolation in the Naqab desert. He's been denied family
visits, outside communication, books, newspapers,
magazines, television, and cigarettes, and has been
systematically harassed and abused, including painful
shackling and handcuffing outside his cell. In October, a Bir Saba military
court gave him six additional isolation months, what
Sa'adat calls a "living death." Palestinian political prisoners
include men, women and children against Israel's
illegal occupation, held not for crimes, but for "organiz(ing),
act(ing), or f(ighting) for the freedom of their
land." They're now "a highly organized
group, operating prisoners' associations, political
organizations within the prisons and representative
committees, and engaging in protests and hunger
strikes that have drawn the attention of the world to
their cause." They're honored for having
sacrificed to liberate their people and land, enduring
extreme hardships including torture, other abuses and
humiliations, long imprisonments, solitary
confinement, and, for some, death, assassinated for
devotion to their cause. "The imprisonment of Palestinian
political prisoners - some of the strongest
organizers, activists and leaders of Palestinian
society - is a deeply felt wound in the Palestinian
community. The freedom of these prisoners, imprisoned
because of their desire to see their homeland free, is
a necessary part of achieving justice for the
Palestinian people." Sa'adat's wife, Abla, also a
political activist, faced Israeli harshness numerous
times, including her January 23, 2003 Allenby Bridge
border crossing arrest, preventing her from addressing
the Porto Alegre, Brazil World Social Forum. On June 22, 2010, the Bir Saba
District Court for Administrative Affairs again denied
Sa'adat family visits and affirmed other hardships,
claiming "secret evidence" for justification. Also on June 22, he sent a
message to supporters at the June 22 - 26 US Social
Forum, this year in Detroit, saying: "I greet you from inside the
walls of the prisons of the occupation, with the
voices of thousands of Palestinian and Arab political
prisoners. On behalf of the Palestinian prisoners'
movement, the Palestinian national movement, and the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, I carry
our salutes to the US Social Forum, this coming
together of movements of oppressed peoples to organize
and stand together against racism, colonialism,
oppression and imperialism." Sa'adat explained that
Palestine's struggle is theirs also, united for
"liberation, international racial and economic
justice, and an end to occupation, colonialism and
imperialism....Our struggle is your struggle, and (your's)
is ours." He highlighted US complicity in
Israel's crimes, collaborating Arab regimes, and
lamented the fallout - thousands of political
prisoners, millions of refugees denied the right of
return, ethnic cleansing, home demolitions,
occupation, targeted killings, mass arrests and
imprisonments, apartheid, and entrenched racism,
ongoing against Palestinians for over 62 years. He commended the courageous
Flotilla activists and others to follow, those killed
martyrs "who will inspire us all to struggle in their
path of courage, strength, indomitable solidarity and
commitment to justice in the face of brutal
oppression." He concluded calling for "a
global left front - for socialism, equality, justice
and liberation! We join in your call: Another World is
Possible! Another US is Necessary!" Ahmad Sa'adat General Secretary Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine Stephen Lendman lives in
Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished
guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the
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