The Red Ribbon Campaign for the Freedom of Palestinian Prisoners is an international solidarity campaign that exposes the violations suffered by the prisoners in the prisons of the Israeli occupation, and calls for the immediate release of the Palestinian detainees, this campaign aims to break the international silence and raise awareness about the issue of prisoners, and demand their immediate release, especially in light of the difficult humanitarian conditions and the escalating violations they are subjected to. The red tapes are not just symbols, but represent the blood, pain and illegal detention of Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip.
Objectives of the Red Ribbon Campaign
The objectives of the Red Ribbon Campaign are to break the silence, achieve justice and expose the suffering and violations suffered by the prisoners in all of Palestine, focusing in particular on the prisoners from the Gaza Strip.
1. Stories of prisoners.
The campaign aims to document conditions in prisons, such as lack of health care, prolonged isolation, psychological pressure, and ongoing torture, as well as different categories of affected children, women, doctors, journalists and activists. The campaign also works to raise international awareness about these violations and to support human rights efforts to demand the release of detainees.
2. Awareness of violations against prisoners
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the ongoing violations of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli prisons, which include physical and psychological torture, deliberate medical neglect, and systematic starvation that affects their daily lives and physical and psychological health. These violations are worsening day by day, increasing the suffering of prisoners and making life in prisons unbearable, especially with their detention without clear charges or a fair trial. These conditions affect all groups, including children, women, doctors, journalists, and activists who are detained solely for their civic activism or profession. The campaign also aims to highlight the scale of legal and human rights violations that violate international laws, and increase pressure on the international community and human rights organizations to take effective steps to ensure the protection of prisoners and justice for them.
3. Demand immediate release
The main demand of this campaign is the immediate and unconditional release of all Palestinian prisoners, including administrative prisoners held without charge or trial, as well as children and women subjected to harsh conditions of detention that violate their fundamental rights. It is estimated that about 9,200 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli prisons, including 3,400 administrative prisoners arbitrarily detained for varying periods, more than 50 prisoners suffering from difficult conditions including isolation and medical neglect, and about 460 children detained mostly for reasons related to their activities or because of their families.
Read More Media silence in Gaza
Current Situation of Prisoners in Gaza
The conditions of Palestinian prisoners have recently witnessed a serious escalation, especially in the Gaza Strip, where the number of prisoners exceeded ten thousand, including about 3,400 detainees held without charges or trials, in the framework of the so-called "administrative detention" policy, in addition to a large number of detainees, women and children, journalists and activists, and face a deterioration in health situation, where the Israeli occupation deliberately neglects the health condition of prisoners.
Torture also remains part of the Israeli prison system, where violations and the harshest forms of torture are practiced against prisoners of all categories, even children. In addition to preventing them from communicating with their families even by phone, it is similar to the psychological isolation of detainees held by the Israeli authorities.
Severe overcrowding and lack of hygiene causes diseases to spread faster despite being denied treatment.
- Hossam Abu Safiya The director of the Martyr Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip, detained by the occupation authorities without clear charges, deprived of communication with his family, as he lost 40 kg of weight and exposed to the most severe types of torture, which threatens his life at the moment, and his case represents thousands of prisoners who face enforced disappearance and detention Dot charges or trials.
- Prisoner. Omar Abdulhadi Released after 425 days of detention, he received news that Israel had killed his entire family.
Read More Campaign to Support Prisoners in Gaza Donate
Besides the known names, there are thousands of Palestinian detainees who are subjected to the most severe physical and psychological torture and denial of treatment and food, many of whom have already been martyred as a result of the torture practiced by the occupation soldiers against them. The role of the red tape campaign is to call for the urgent release of Palestinian detainees, who have been deprived of the most basic necessities of life.
