Ramallah protest calls for freedom for writer and journalist Ali Jaradat

Posted on the PFLP website

The National and Islamic Forces and the Union of Palestinian Journalists, alongside the Popular Campaign to Free Writer and Journalist Ali Jaradat, held a protest in solidarity with the imprisoned Palestinian writer in Ramallah on January 23, 2009, calling for his release from administrative detention and highlighting his slow death in the prisons of the occupation as he struggles with several life-threatening diseases.

The protest, including a large number of journalists and writers, representatives of national and Islamic forces and human rights organizations, gathered in Manara Square in Ramallah. Comrade Abdel-Rahim Mallouh, Deputy General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, addressed the rally, calling for international legal and human rights organizations to act to save the life of Ali Jaradat and all ill prisoners and, collectively, all of the Palestinian prisoners and detainees, demanding that all of the prisoners be freed.

Jamil Shehadeh, speaking on behalf of the National and Islamic Forces, reiterated the call for the release of all Palestinian prisoners from the jails of the occupation, and pledging to struggle until the liberation of all of them.

Naim Tubasi spoke on behalf of the Union of Palestinian Journalists, saying that writers and journalists stand behind their colleague Ali Jaradat, calling for a global humanitarian campaign for his release.