HTML clipboard
Press Release
PCHR Expresses Solidarity with Azmi Bishara
Date: 27 February 2002
Ref: 25/2002
PCHR expresses its full support for and solidarity with Dr. Azmi Bishara, a member of the Israeli Knesset, who goes on trial in Israel today for statements made earlier this year. PCHR considers Dr. Bishara’s current trial to be a violation of the right to freedom of speech and the latest in a series of politically motivated measures taken against him by the right wing in Israel because of his nonviolent struggle to ensure equality for all of Israel’s citizens without consideration of national or religious affiliation.
Dr. Bishara faces trial for statements supporting the legitimacy of resistance to Israeli occupation in Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). He is the first Knesset member to be placed on trial for his statements rather than his actions. If convicted, Dr. Bishara faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
A Palestinian citizen of Israel, Dr. Bishara is a leading Palestinian political leader and intellectual known internationally for his struggle on behalf of Palestinians who remained on their land in 1948 and became citizens of Israel. He was elected to the Knesset in 1996 and is a leader of the Balad party. Dr. Bishara has repeatedly challenged Israel’s pretensions to being a democratic state and has called on it to ensure equality for all of its citizens. Since its creation in 1948, Israel has persistently discriminated against, marginalised, and repressed its 1.2 million Palestinian citizens.
PCHR expresses its complete solidarity with Dr. Bishara and notes with dismay that while Dr. Bishara is placed on trial for exercising his right to free speech, the Israeli government refuses to take legal action against political and military leaders for ongoing violations of international humanitarian law in the OPT, including war crimes. PCHR would like to seize this opportunity to reiterate its call for global civil society – including human rights organisations, NGOs, and individuals – to raise their voices against the persecution of Dr. Bishara and to condemn Israeli efforts to silence his voice and the voices of other victims of Israel’s racist policies.
