About the Campaign

Why Do We Need a Prisoners Campaign

The Zionist entity has always utilized imprisonment as a way to suppress national leadership, punish those who resist the Zionist state, dismember each family and collectively punish Palestinians. The historic Palestinian political prisoners movement have transformed Zionist prisons into sites of organization resisting any attempts to dismantle their struggle.

Since 1967, over 750,000 Palestinians have been held in Zionist jails and tried in a military court system with a 99% conviction rate. From as young as the age of 12, Palestinian children and adults alike are interrogated for up to 90 days, denied access to lawyers, routinely subjected to physical, sexual and verbal torture, starvation, denial of medical treatment, as well as other cruel, degrading, and inhumane forms of abuse, deprivation, and detention.

Since October 2023, Israel has escalated their violence against Palestinian political prisoners, carrying out a genocide hidden behind closed doors, unseen and unaccounted for by the international community. Today, more than 9,300 Palestinians, including over 340 children, are behind Israeli bars. Political prisoners freed from Israeli detention after October 2023 have given harrowing testimonies of the inhumane conditions, torture, infectious outbreaks and humiliation tactics faced by Palestinian men, women, and children.

“I cannot describe what I felt; I wished for death every moment.”

— Testimony from N.A., a 42-year-old woman from Gaza psychologically tortured, blindfolded and beaten, electrocuted, and raped multiple times while being filmed by Israeli soldiers.

As the Zionist entity moves forward in legalizing the execution of political prisoners, it is clear that Israel is not only using prisons as an instrument of control to instill fear in the collective Palestinian psyche — they are turning prisons into specialized death camps as a form of collective punishment to deter any form of resistance against the brutal occupation. The documented assault against Palestinian political prisoners is part of the same colonial project of domination that has targeted Palestinians for decades: an instrument of control, degradation, and humiliation enacted against an entire people. In a time of escalated attacks against the Palestinian people everywhere — from Gaza, to the West Bank and beyond — we understand the intensification of Zionist attacks against political prisoners as another tactic to dismantle the infrastructure of Palestinian society and eliminate its most vital elements in Israel’s war of extermination.

Our Demands

• 01 Independent investigation & disclosure of the identities and conditions of Palestinian political prisoners. +

  Systematically, Israel restricts the flow of information to and from occupation prisons. Since October 2023 restrictions have been placed on visits from legal representatives while all family visits and visits by international organizations, including the Red Cross, have been entirely prohibited.

  Thousands of Palestinians from Gaza have been forcibly disappeared, detained, and remain in Israeli detention, while Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank have been abducted and held in administrative detention without charge or trial to date.

  The prevention of information from leaving or entering Israeli occupation prisons — including the identities of political prisoners — provides cover for prison authorities to continue their crimes of slow and deliberate killing.

• 02 An end to all forms of torture. +

  Historically the Zionist entity has utilized brutal tactics of torture against political prisoners such as prolonged shackling, sleep deprivation, psychological abuse, and prolonged placement in stress positions, known as "al-shabah".

  Since October 2023, these acts of torture have intensified, subjecting political prisoners to endure the most depraved physical, psychological, and sexual torture by their Israeli captors.

  Prisoners report being electrically shocked, menaced by dogs, stripped and blindfolded while being beaten, set on fire, attacked with chemicals, and raped with batons.

  Israel's torture is designed to break our prisoners in both body and spirit — turning prisons into death camps.

• 03 Immediate access to legal representation, family visits, health care, and adequate access to water, food and hygiene. +

  Human rights organizations and international bodies have documented a severe and systematic deterioration in the conditions of Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel.

  From as young as the age of 12, Palestinian children and adults alike are interrogated for up to 90 days, denied access to lawyers and any other visitation rights.

  Reports have shown that Palestinian prisoners are systematically abused and deprived of their basic needs: denied showers, bathroom use, and basic hygiene tools, leading to the outbreak of diseases like scabies.

  Prisoners are not given sufficient nutrition and food, if any; as a form of collective punishment, guards give one meal to an entire cell of people.

• 04 Restoration of all rights achieved by the political prisoners movement. +

  For decades the Palestinian Political Prisoners have used their bodies as weapons against the occupation, establishing their rights through collective action, and fulfilling their demands against the brutal occupation prison authorities.

  The Palestinian Prisoners Movement has obtained legitimate rights, such as in the "Battle of Empty Stomachs" — which led to improvement in cruel detention conditions.

  Political Prisoners have established rights related to medical care, family and legal visits, communication, and education.

  All of which have been violated by the Zionist occupation, and must be restored immediately.

• 05 Accountability and sanctions against all perpetrators of war crimes against Palestinian political prisoners. +

  The documented assault against Palestinian political prisoners is part of the same colonial project of domination that has targeted Palestinians for decades: an instrument of control, degradation, and humiliation enacted against an entire people.

  All those responsible for the crimes being committed against Palestinian political prisoners must be investigated, sanctioned, and prosecuted as demanded by international law.

• 06 Free them all. +

  Political Prisoners are the compass that points to liberation. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all Palestinian political prisoners who continue to be held in occupation prisons.

  Until light reaches the darkest corner of every cell, until all the occupation prisons are emptied.

Watch the Launch Webinar

Watch the campaign launch webinar of the International Campaign to Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners: End the Genocide Behind Bars.