IRSP Demand Release of Ahmad Saadat

[Danielle Ni Dhighe <nidhighe@xxxxxxxx>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

24 June 2002
Irish Republican Socialist Party

IRSP Demand Release of Ahmad Saadat

A spokesperson for the International Department of the Irish
Republican Socialist Party dismissed the Palestinian Authority's
justification as "transparently false" and "yet another example of
caving in to the Zionists' demands."

Ahmad Saadat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine.  He was arrested by Arafat's Palestinian
Authority police for allegedly having ordered the assassination
of a right-wing member of the Israeli cabinet.  When Zionist troops
overran the West Bank, the American and British governments agreed to
ensure Saadat was held. Subsequently, the Supreme Court of the PA
ruled that Saadat was not guilty and ordered him released.  Yet he
remains incarcerated, with Arafat claiming this is to protect him
from Israeli assassination squads roving the countryside.

The IRSP spokesperson declared:

"In the interests of justice, the IRSP are demanding that the
Palestinian Authority immediately release PFLP General Secretary
Ahmad Saadat.

"The Palestinian Authority is on record as having recently proclaimed
the the independence of the judiciary must be respected.  Yet,
despite the Zionists and Western imperialists demanding that the
Authority immediately undertake a series of reforms to become more
democratic, none of them are insisting that it abide by the ruling of
its own Supreme Court.  The Palestinian Authority's Supreme Court
found no evidence that Ahmad Saadat was guilty of any crime and
ordered his release, yet he is still being held in incarceration.

"This demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Israeli government, the
United States, the European Union, and others who have taken up the
demand for a complete overhaul of the Palestinian Authority as a
requirement for the renewal of peace negotiations.  They are merely
supporting Sharon's attempt to completely reverse the small gains
made by the Palestinians under the previous government.  As Secretary
Saadat himself recently stated, the Israeli violence visited upon the
Palestinian people is: 'a military strike aimed at destroying the
Palestinian infrastructure, whether that was the infrastructure of
the Palestinian Authority, or the political infrastructure of the
national movement, or the social and cultural infrastructure.  There
is a feverish effort now on the part of the American administration,
the government of Ariel Sharon, and the staff of Zionist entity to
gather the political harvest, by which I mean to exploit the military
campaign and impose the Zionist Israeli concept of a settlement on
the Middle East region.'

"Similarly they repeatedly denounce so called 'suicide bombers', but
remain mute regarding Israel's killing far more Palestinian
civilians.  Forty percent of those killed by the Israeli Army have
been children, and the Zionists have killed roughly four times as
many Palestinians as Israelis have been killed by the Palestinian
resistance.  Can we expect a condemnation of this genocidal terror
from the United States?  Probably not, since they killed more
civilians in Afghanistan than were killed in the attacks of last
September 11th, which were used to justify attacking Afghanistan.

"The Palestinian Supreme Court has found Saadat guilty of no crime
and ordered his release.  This ruling has been supported by Amnesty
International, whose recent report concluded that Saadat should be
released immediately, on the grounds that there is no evidence of his
having committed any crime.  We in the Irish Republican Socialist
Party join in demanding the immediate release of Ahmad Saadat and
call upon the Palestinian Authority to demonstrate their respect for
the independence of their judiciary by abiding by its ruling to
release Saadat.  Saadat's only crime is his continued opposition to
the Zionist state and the threat the PFLP poses by combining the
campaign for national liberation with that seeking social justice for
the masses of working people within Palestine."

Reflecting a moment, the IRSP spokesperson concluded:

"Ahmad Saadat is the Dessie O'Hare of Palestine.  In both cases, the
courts have ruled that they should be released and in both cases a
government disregards its own courts and manufactures excuses for
continuing to incarcerate someone on purely political grounds,
displaying absolute disregard for human rights and justice."

###

Republican Socialist Publicity Bureau
392 Falls Road, Belfast, BT48 6DH, Ireland
Tel: 028 90 321024 Fax: 028 90 330786

Republican Socialist Press Office
4 Cavendish Row, Dublin 1, Ireland
Tel/Fax: 01 8735620

http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html


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