As we honour women worldwide today, the Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative issued a statement in support of the calls of the Coalition of Women for Peace to the Israeli authorities to immediately release Hana Shalabi. Hana has been in administrative detention since February 16 and immediately began a hunger strike to protest her arrest. The Laureates call upon the Israeli government to heed the calls of the international community in eliminating the unlawful practice of administrative detention.

With more than 300 Palestinians lingering in prisons without charges or trials, women are particularly at risk of sexual violence. Too often, women endure sexual harassment during arrest and interrogation and do not have access to independent medical care. “Her strike calls the attention to the physical and mental violence – all part of a pattern of systematic discrimination – suffered by Palestinians, and particularly women, in Israeli jails” state the Laureates.

Hana declared that she will continue her hunger strike despite an announcement by the military court to reduce her sentence from six months to four. She is steadfast in her commitment to see an end to administrative detentions. She had previously spent 25 months in administrative detention suffering sexual harrassment and solitary confinement while Isreali officials brought no allegations against her.

The Coalition of Women for Peace is asking all concerned citizens to send letters to the Israeli Minister of Defense to demand the release of Hana.

Read the full statement here

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TAKE ACTION

Send a letter to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and your Foreign Affairs Ministry