On 14 March, Israel released nonviolent Palestinian activist Abdullah Abu Rahma, one of the chief organisers of weekly demonstrations against the Israeli separation wall near the West Bank village of Bil’in. A schoolteacher, Abdullah was arrested in December 2009 and subsequently convicted of “incitement” and organising illegal demonstrations. After being sentenced to 16 months in prison, he was recognised as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Abu Rahma’s lawyer, Gaby Laskey, said: “I believe that the charges against Abu Rahma and his sentence were of a political nature to try and put an end to the nonviolent demonstrations in Bil’in.” In February, Bil’in marked six years of protests. www.popularstruggle.org
Topics: Israel-Palestine