SPSC Statement, 14 April 2025
In every struggle against the ultraviolence of colonialism and empire prisoners play a central role; their prestige derived from the huge sacrifices they have made in the national struggle for freedom.
Today, Israel’s brutality and violence have escalated not only in Gaza, the Occupied West Bank, but also against those Palestinian political prisoners they imprison, torture and murder within the Israeli prison system.
Currently, Israel holds over 9,900 Palestinians in their prisons, including 400 child prisoners, 27 women prisoners, and 55 journalists. Since October 2023, some 16,500 Palestinians have been arrested.
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, Israel has unlawfully practiced forced disappearance, withholding information about the fate of Palestinian prisoners. Israel has arbitrarily detained over 1,500 Gazans under the Unlawful Combatant Law without charge or trial. In total, over 3,500 Palestinians are held by Israel without charge or trial – over 100 of them are children, some under 15 years of age.
Palestinian prisoners:
- Are tortured in order to force false confessions
- Are shackled, blindfolded and forced into painful positions for up to 16 hours a day
- Endure starvation, denial of medical care, and consistent maltreatment in detention
- Are isolated from the outside world
- Denied hygiene supplies, clothing and family visits
- Are killed in detention – Israel currently holds the bodies of 72 prisoners they have killed, refusing to release them to their families
In 2024, far right government ministers of the Israeli regime joined demonstrations defending the mass rape of Palestinian prisoners, announcing that ‘everything is legitimate’, views in line with Israel’s then Defense Minister referring to Palestinians in Gaza as ‘human animals’.
Israel has built a regime of mass torture, using every available means, including starvation, medical neglect, savage beatings and sexual violence. Medieval use of tight leg irons and handcuffs for months has led to amputations.
Western governments have consigned Palestinian prisoners to the control of these openly genocidal brutes without any protest. After all, the harsh regime of apartheid and genocide is still viewed from Downing Street as the “only democracy in the Middle East”.
To mark Palestinian Prisoners Day on 17 April 2025, we ask that you join us in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners.
- Pledge your active participation for the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS) campaign to isolate the apartheid and genocidal state of Israel – get involved in SPSC campaigns and activities
- Attend and support the SPSC tour with Palestinian filmmaker Akram Al-Ashqar showing ‘First Picture’ (2006), which tells the story of a Palestinian child born in an Israeli prison – more information here
- Help us show that Scotland stands with the Palestinian people – get involved in the Apartheid Free Zones Scotland campaign
- Become a member of SPSC – we need your support to build and win effective solidarity with the Palestinian people
