APPEAL FOR THE LIBERATION OF A PALESTINIAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR.

[Mike Friedman <mikedf@xxxxxxxx>]

APPEAL FOR THE LIBERATION OF A PALESTINIAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR.

Yousef Abdul Haq was born in Salfit (Palestine) in 1944.
He went to Ein Shams University (Egypt) to study Economics and in 1980 was
among the founders of the Department of Economics of the recently
established Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at An-Najah
National University (Nablus, Palestine). An-Najah University
(http://www.najah.edu/), with close to 10.000 students, is the largest
university in the West Bank.

In 1982, Yousef Abdul Haq was deported to Jordan. He went back to
Palestine in 1995 and returned to his teaching position at An-Najah
University, offering courses on Economic Development, Palestinian Economy,
Israeli Economy. In 1999, he spent a few months as visiting scholar at the
Universite' Pierre Mendes (Grenoble, France).

Over the last few months, during the occupation of West Bank by the
Israeli Army, Yousef Abdul Haq has shared the destiny of his people: the
destruction of the Palestinian civil infrastructure, round-ups in the
towns and in the refugee-camps razed by the tanks, the annihilation of
basic human rights for the millions of Palestinians living in the Occupied
Territories.

On the 16th of April, 2002, during the occupation of Nablus, he was
arrested by the Israeli occupation forces and taken to Howwara military
camp: with him were hundreds of people, many of whom were very young, and
an old man in a wheel-chair. All of them were tied up to each other and
held blindfolded without interruption for several days; they were beaten
and treated inhumanly by the Israeli soldiers, who, during the night,
walked on the prisoners lying on the floor - as reported by some of the
arrested who have since been released.

Yousef Abdul Haq was later transferred to Ofra military camp for further
investigation, and then to Askelon investigation centre. A first trial,
with no charge, was fixed for the 23rd of May, but the detention was
prolonged for 18 more days, and then again until today.

The investigations, during which they tried in vain to extract a
confession from him, including by threats of deportation to Gaza or in
Jordan - as reported by his lawyer - ended on the 25th of June and, in
the absence of any charge against him, the Court decided to release him on
bail (3000 nis, equivalent to 640 euro).

But this decision was stopped by Israeli intelligence which in one day
presented its accusation: Yousef Abdul Haq is supposed to be a member of
the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine and supposedly occupies in
it a position of responsibility (the Popular Front for Liberation of
Palestine is a political organization working for an independent
Palestinian state, but it is considered by the Israeli government as a
terrorist group). There is no evidence to support this accusation.
The accusation - it became clear in the first trial session, on the 13th
of August, 2002 - is based only on some testimonies; but during the
session the witnesses insisted that their confessions were extracted under
torture.

The second trial session is fixed for the 19th of September, 2002, and
after months of illegal detention Yousef Abdul Haq, who suffers from a
kidney disorder, is still locked in a cell of Askelon prison.


We undersigned consider the detention of Prof. YOUSEF ABDUL HAQ as a
serious violation of human rights; we ASK the Israeli government for THE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF YOUSEF ABDUL HAQ and of all those who, like him, are
detained without valid reasons.

Worried by the frequent attacks against intellectuals and academics for
their opinion, we request RESPECT FOR THE ACADEMIC, SCIENTIFIC AND
CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE PALESTINIANS, and demand the RIGHT TO STUDY,
TEACH, AND CONDUCT RESEARCH for thousands of Palestinians.

http://www.scienzaepace.it/attivita/appello-haq


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