Jailed PFLP leader Ahmad Sa’adat joins hunger strike
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July 31 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Statement No. 11: Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat joins hunger strike for freedom in occupation prisons
As the imprisoned leader Bilal Kayed enters his 47th day of hunger strike, representing the meaning of steadfastness and pride despite his pain and deteriorating health, he is determined to defeat the oppressor, the killer, and achieve his date with freedom. At the same time, the prisoners of the Front who are engaged in the battle in support of their comrade Kayed, are being hit by Zionist repression. They emphasize that no matter what forms of terror and repression are used against them by the prison administration, the jailer will not be able to stop the march toward victory in this battle and the achievement of freedom for Bilal.
To the steadfast Palestinian masses,
We have previously stated and we do once again, before the prisons and intelligence services of the occupation, that the continued imprisonment of Comrade Bilal Kayed and his transfer to administrative detention, including his suffering now in the hospital under harsh repression, will be met with the escalation of struggle by the prisoners of the Front. From the leaders of the Front to the youngest imprisoned children, the prisoners will not leave their comrade Kayed alone in isolation, transfer, or sanctions and repression. The prisoners confirm that they are in the struggle against time to achieve freedom for their comrade, and that in light of the ongoing struggle with the prison administration, they have succeeded in destabilizing the prison administration. We have seen this in its failure to confront or suppress this struggle despite its attempts to impose all forms of sanctions and punishment against the prisoners of the Front. Those who are marching toward the continuation and conclusion of this battle declare that we are entering a new era of the march toward victory, in which tyranny and terror are defeated by will and determination.
We in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organization in Israeli jails emphasize the following amid the escalation of the battle for freedom of our Comrade Kayed:
1) With his position of high responsibility, the General Secretary, Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat is launching a hunger strike from Sunday, 31 July. This is a strategic decision of a leader who is fighting this battle alongside his fellow strugglers. The commander does not leave his soldiers but joins in the battle, and emphasizes that his participation in the battle will continue until Comrade Bilal achieves his freedom.
2) A new group of leaders of the Front, including the prominent leader Comrade Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, and a new batch of prisoners in Ramon and Ofer prisons, are joining the open hunger strike.
3) The step being taken by the General Secretary to join the hunger strike alongside a group of PFLP leaders is a new escalation step that sends several messages to the occupation. The prisoners will not stand by as the health of Comrade Bilal Kayed deteriorates. They are all determined to fight this battle and continue to escalate the struggle toward an overall strategic strike of all prisoners in all prisons. And they carry another message to the masses of the Palestinian people and the people of the world to continue to keep up the pressure and escalate the struggle to release Bilal and expose the occupation practices against the prisoners, especially the policy of administrative detention against hundreds of prisoners.
To the masses of our people, we are fighting this battle beside you. We are determined not to back down or to weaken. The fascist procedures and policies of the prison will do nothing but increase our determination to achieve freedom for our comrade Bilal Kayed.
Freedom for the prisoners! Victory is inevitable! The leadership of the PFLP in Israeli jails July 31, 2016