Palestinian Prisoners: why the Red Ribbon campaign matters.
Since its inception, the state of Israel has imprisoned and maltreated Palestinians. The system of Administrative Detention allows for imprisonment without charge or trial for up to six months: that term can then be extended indefinitely. The numbers of Palestinians put in jail is staggering: one in five Palestinians will be imprisoned at some point in their lives, including children. This decades-old system has grown even worse since October 2023 and now abuse, and torture are commonplace across the prison system.
Read more here
Key events for Palestinian prisoners in Sheffield
In March 2026, on international women’s day, we were privileged to hear Sahar Awudallah’s impassioned plea for women prisoners. You can find the text for this here.
On 5th April 2026, Day of Palestinian Child, we held an event focusing Palestinian child prisoners held in Israeli gaols. Our event focused on the narratives of a number of children, commemorated in placards. People read out a summary of the child’s story, making the event a dignified and sombre symbol of our collective outrage at the abuse of children.
In June 2026 at small park BIG RUN, we hosted on zoom Palestinian ex prisoners who told us of the brutality and injustice of their experience. Here is a short piece from Anas Abu Sroar
July 2026 Sheffield Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid had a silent march in support of the prisoners and in order to launch the red ribbon campaign locally.
Navigating pages for this campaign
Why it matters…
As UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese says in her report:
A system that has long been used to dominate, degrade and break Palestinians has evolved and hardened into state doctrine. It is defended by politicians, rationalised by legal institutions, sanitised by media narrative and tolerated by governments that continue to arm and shield Israel.
Her report warns that since October 2023:
- more than 18,500 Palestinians have been detained across the occupied Palestinian territory, including at least 1,500 children
- thousands remain in detention without charge or trial
- many have been forcibly disappeared
- nearly 100 detainees have died in custody
- detainees have been abused in unfathomable ways, including rape with bottles, metal rods and knives, starvation, breaking of bones and teeth, burning, being spat upon, and being attacked and urinated upon by dogs
Francesca Albanese’s reports shows that torture extends beyond prison walls. Through relentless bombardment, forced displacement, starvation, the destruction of homes, hospitals and infrastructure, pervasive surveillance, and terror inflicted by soldiers and settler terror militias, Israel has created what the report calls a “torturous environment” across the entire occupied Palestinian territory.
And now the Execution Law adds a new dimension. This Law applies only to Palestinians, underlining the apartheid nature of the Israeli regime. As Amnesty International observed: “For years, we have seen an alarming pattern of apparent extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings of Palestinians – with the perpetrators also enjoying near-total impunity. This new law which allows for state-sanctioned executions is a culmination of such policies.”
See Francesca Albanese’s full report here
Other keynote reports you might be interested in
- UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, presented a Report to the UN, saying that torture has become a state doctrine in Israel
- “Another genocide behind walls”: A report by Euro-Med which documents testimonies of rape and sexual violence in Israeli prisons
- B’Tselem “Welcome to Hell: The Israel Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps.”
https://www.btselem.org/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell
Links to further resources
- Links to the work of Addameer and DCIP (Defence of Children International – Palestine). Both organisations focused on promoting understanding of what is happening to Palestinbians in prison and raising international understanding. These have been declared “terrorist” groups by Israel.
- Addameer can be found here https://addameer.ps/
- DCIP can be found here https://defenceforchildren.org/dci-palestine/
- Interactive map of Israeli prisons – published by Addameer. This map gives links to the vast majority of Israeli detention centres, describing their location and some key details of their history. https://addameer.ps/prisons-and-detention-centers
- Films: “Bodies of Evidence: Israel’s Darkest Weapon” (a difficult watch, so we viewed it before public showing and gave advice on the nature of the content. However, the brave evidence of the released prisoners was the lasting impression; their dignity, integrity and determination to speak out was inspiring.)
Leaflets
Leaflet to join red ribbon campaign
