AP. 15 January 2003. Palestinians in Syria, Lebanon stage sit-ins in support of Palestinian prisoners.
DAMASCUS -- Palestinian refugees in Syria and Lebanon staged sit-ins Wednesday to protest the Palestinian Authority's detention of Ahmed Saadat, leader of a radical Palestinian group that claimed responsibility for the 2001 killing of an Israeli Cabinet minister. Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, was imprisoned as part of a U.S.-brokered deal that ended a 34-day Israeli siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters on May 1. He and five other Palestinians have been confined to a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho under the supervision of U.S. and British wardens. Four of the prisoners were PFLP members convicted by a Palestinian court of killing Israel's Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in Oct. 2001. The other two were Saadat and a sixth man suspected of organizing an arms smuggling operation. Around 140 Palestinians representing the Committees for Defending Palestinian Detainees took part in the sit-in Wednesday outside the Red Cross offices in Damascus. The Palestinians, carrying photos of the detainees, handed the head of the Red Cross in Syria a memorandum urging his intervention to secure their immediate release. "The continued silence maintained by the international community on the increased Israeli crimes against the unarmed Palestinian people would further encourage the Israeli government to persist with its criminal policy," said the statement which was distributed to journalists. The protesters urged Arafat to take a "clear, courageous and daring decision" to set free Saadat and his comrades. Last June, a Palestinian court in the Gaza Strip ordered Saadat released; the decision infuriated Israel and was later overruled by the Palestinian Cabinet. Around 100 Palestinians staged a similar sit-outside the PFLP offices in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in the southern port city of Lebanon. "Freedom for Ahmed Saadat and his four comrades," read one placard. "We are not terrorists," read another. _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
