Join us on Friday 1st March at 2pm outside G4S HQ, 105 Victoria Street SW1E 6QT (3mins from Victoria station), to show solidarity with Arafat Jaradat and to protest G4S's complicity in his murder.
Arafat Jaradat had been arrested on suspicion of throwing a stone, 5 days later he was dead. Postmortem revealed clear signs of torture: beating on chest, lashes on his back, shoulders near spine. Autopsy showed two broken ribs, blood in his nose and bruises inside his mouth.
Arafat Jaradat died in Megiddo Prison following interrogation in al-Jalame interrogation centre.
British-Danish security firm G4S help Israel secure both these prisons. At Megiddo the whole central command room is provided by G4S. It also provides security systems for the notorious al-Jalame interrogation centre in northern Israel with its infamous Cell 36 where Defence for Children International reported children are locked in small filthy cells in solitary confinement, some for 65 days, with their only escape being the interrogation room where they are shackled by their hands and feet to a chair whilst being abused, sometimes for hours.
The protest is also in solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers, all of whom are in critical condition. Ayman Sharawna and Samer Issawi have both been without food for over 7 months whilst Jafar Azzidine and Tarek Qa’adan have each been without food for over 3 months, and Hazem Awni Tawil one week.
We received a powerful message of support from the Shireen Issawi, former prisoner and sister of the hunger striker Samer Issawi who himself was was held in Ofer prison in the occupied territory where G4S provides the perimeter defense system and the central command control room for the entire facility :
In the name of Allah,
Love and respect to all of you, brother and sister,
who are fighting for Samer
whose battle of the empty stomach [hunger strike]
is now for 185 consecutive days.
You tell the whole world that Samer is not alone.
Samer’s fight is of every free man rejecting injustice.
Samer is suffering greatly in the so-called hospital, Asaf Harofeh;
he is suffering from medical neglect and is left shackled
to his bed day and night without any regard for his
critical condition and the importance of treating humanely..
We greet the demonstrators against G4S
that provides equipment for the prison administration.
G4S realizes that they are used in non-humanitarian ways
against Palestinian prisoners.
Deliver the voice of the oppressed prisoners
and hold this company G4S accountable
for its responsibility towards these prisoners
and its partnership to the occupation in its inhumane practices.
It must stop providing these supplies to the occupation...
Freedom for our prisoners; for our heroes
Shireen Issawi (sister of Palestinian hunger striker Samer Issawi)
We will, inshAllah, be tweeting live from the protest with live photos being uploaded to our facebook page. So if you can't join us on the day, please help us by sharing the photos as they get uploaded.