April 17 2008



PRESS RELEASE



As the principal human rights monitoring and advocacy organization in Namibia and in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people, Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) wishes to partake in the commemorations of this April 17 2008 day, as the Palestinian Prisoners' Day.



NSHR is informed by the Jerusalem-based United against Torture (UAT) that this day has been set aside to commemorate the release, on April 17 1974, of Palestinian political prisoners in the first prisoners' exchange, following the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War of October 1973. According to UAT, the significance of this day also lies in the fact that one fifth of the Palestinian people has been arrested by the occupationist Israeli security forces since the 1967 war. UAT also suggests that over 11 000 Palestinians, including dozens of Members of Parliament as well as other officials, are currently being held in Israeli jails for political reasons,



“In marking this Day, we demand an immediate abolition of torture in both Israel and the occupied territories as well as the immediate release of all Palestinian and other political prisoners, be they being held in Israeli-controlled jails or in those prisons and other pro-longed detention facilities run by the Palestinian authorities themselves”, said NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh in the Namibian capital Windhoek, this afternoon.



Financially sponsored by the European Union (EU), UAT is an international coalition consisting of The Italian Consortium of Solidarity (ICS), in partnership with the Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI), the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC) and Mandela. The coalition is designed to combat torture and it contributes to the progressive and substantial eradication of torture and ill-treatment in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.





For further information please call: Dorkas Phillemon or Phil ya Nangoloh at Tel: +264 61 236 183 or +264 61 253 447 (during office hours only) or E-mail: nshr@nshr.org.na or visit www.nshr.org.na.