- Please distribute widely - Conscientious objector Omar Saad sentenced to prison for the sixth time for his refusal to join the Israeli Army. Omar Saad, 18 years old from Mghar, a village in the Galil, arrived, Tuesday 23/3/2014, to the Induction Base in Tal Hashomer where he declared his refusal to serve in the Israeli Army. Omar was sentenced to 20 days of imprisonment for his refusal, in the military prison No. 6 near Atlit. We also want to inform you that it has come to our attention that civilian lawyers, including lawyers from New Profile, were banned from visiting Omar and other objectors, during his incarcerations in military prisons. The army claims that civilian lawyers are not certified to enter military prisons. After we appealed to Adalah and the media exposure, the army authorities has set aside the order, and claimed it to be a misunderstanding. Omar Saad is a young guy belonging to the Palestinian Arab Druze community. This community, in contrast to Arab society in large, was the target of a decision by Prime Minister Ben Gurion in 1956 that forced them to serve in the Israeli army. following this decision, mobilization orders were sent to all Druze citizens in deployment age. That decision was faced with serious resistance from the Druze community for many reasons. The main reasons were: refusing to fight against their own people and demanding to be treated just like the rest of the Palestinian Arab society in Israel. (* To read more on this issue follow the reference below). After being sentenced for the sixth time, Omar issued a public statement, as follows: To be honest, I did not expect better than that, an occupying authority that put on trial the Druze Sheikhs because of their visit to their holy sites in Syria, and prosecute members of the Arab Parliament for their political activities, and an occupying authority that kills youth with cold-blood, and detain women and children, cannot be respected or trusted. I Omar Zahr Eldin Mohammad Saad declare again; I will not serve in the Israeli military army, even if they arrest me sixty more times. In his refusal deceleration Omar wrote: I refuse that because I am pacifist, and I hate any kind of violence, and I believe that the army institute is the top of physical and psychological violence, and since I received your order for making the checking procedures my life changed completely. I became very nervous and my thoughts were dispersed. I remembered thousands of hard images, and I could not imagine myself wearing the military uniform and participating in suppressing my Palestinian people, and fighting my Arab brothers. I reject enlisting to the Israeli army or to any other army, because of national and moral reasons. I hate oppression, and I reject occupation. You can read the full declaration here. His prison address is: Omar Saad Military ID 08143090 Military Prison No. 6 Military Postal Code 01860, IDF Israel Fax: ++972-4-9540580 Since the prison authorities often block mail from reaching imprisoned objectors, we also recommend you to send them your letters of support and encouragement via e-mail to: [email protected] (hitting “reply all” to this message will send the message to the same address), and they will be printed out and delivered during visits. Recommended Action First of all, please circulate this message and the information contained in it as widely as possible, not only through e-mail, but also on websites, social networks, conventional media, by word of mouth, etc. Other recommendations for action: 1. Sending Letters of Support Please send Omar letters of support to the prison address above and via e-mail to: [email protected] 2. Letters to Authorities It is recommended to send letters of protest on the objectors’ behalf, preferably by fax, to: Mr. Moshe Yaalon, Minister of Defence, Ministry of Defence, Hakirya, Tel-Aviv 61909, Israel. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Tel.: ++972-3-6975220 Fax: ++972-3-6962757 Copies of your letters can also be sent to the commander of the military prison at: Commander of Military Prison No. 6, Military Prison No. 6 Military Postal Code 01860, IDF Israel Fax: ++972-4-9540580 Another useful address for sending copies would be the Military Attorney General: Denny Efroni, Chief Military Attorney Military postal code 9605, IDF Israel Fax: ++972-3-569-45-26 It would be especially useful to send your appeals to the Commander of the Induction Base in Tel-HaShomer. It is this officer that ultimately decides whether an objector is to be exempted from military service or sent to another round in prison, and it is the same officer who is ultimately in charge of the military Conscience Committee: Gil Ben Shaul, Commander of Induction Base, Meitav, Tel-HaShomer Military Postal Code 02718, IDF Israel. Fax: ++972-3-737-60-52 For those of you who live outside Israel, it would be very effective to send protests to your local Israeli embassy. You can find the address of your local embassy on the web. Here is a generic sample letter, which you can use in sending appeals to authorities on the prisoners’ behalf. Feel free to modify this letter or write your own: Dear Sir/Madam, It has come to my attention that Omar Saad (military ID 08143090), a conscientious objector to military service, has been imprisoned for the sixth time for his refusal to become part of the Israeli army, and is held in Military Prison no. 6 near Atlit. The imprisonment of conscientious objectors such as Saad is a violation of international law, of basic human rights and of plain morals. The repeater imprisonment of conscientious objectors is an especially grave offence, as it means sentencing a person more than once for the same offence, and has been judged by the UN working Group on Arbitrary Detention to constitute a clear case arbitrary detention. I therefore call for the immediate and unconditional release from prison of Omar Saad, without threat of further imprisonment in the future, and urge you and the system you are heading to respect the dignity and person of conscientious objectors, indeed of all persons, in the future. Sincerely, 3. Letters to media in Israel and in other countries Writing op-ed pieces and letters to editors of media in Israel and other countries could also be quite useful in indirectly but powerfully pressuring the military authorities to let go of the objectors and in bringing their plight and their cause to public attention. Here are some contact details for the main media outlets in Israel: Maariv: 2 Karlibach st. Tel-Aviv 67132 Israel Fax: +972-3-561-06-14 e-mail: [email protected] Yedioth Aharonoth: 2 Moses st. Tel-Aviv Israel Fax: +972-3-608-25-46 Haaretz (Hebrew): 21 Schocken st. Tel-Aviv, 61001 Israel Fax: +972-3-681-00-12 Haaretz (English edition): 21 Schocken st. Tel-Aviv, 61001 Israel Fax: +972-3-512-11-56 e-mail: [email protected] Israel Hayom: 2 Hashlosha st. The B1 Building Tel-Aviv Israel e-mail: [email protected] Jerusalem Post: P.O. Box 81 Jerusalem 91000 Israel Fax: +972-2-538-95-27 e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Radio (fax numbers): Kol-Israel +972-2-531-33-15 and +972-3-694-47-09 Galei Zahal +972-3-512-67-20 Television (fax numbers): Channel 1 +972-2-530-15-36 Channel 2 +972-2-533-98-09 Channel 10 +972-3-733-16-66 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ We will continue updating on further developments. Thank you for your support, New Profile Team
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:39:02 +0000
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