Protests in support of Syrian-Golan prisoners in Israeli jails
Syria-Lebanon, Politics, 4/22/1998

Marking the day of solidarity with Syrian prisoners of the occupied Golan Heights in Israeli jails, which falls on April 21, a crowd of citizens on Tuesday staged a sit-in at the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus.

The protesters delivered a statement to the Red Cross' delegate in Damascus, Claude Viollet, addressed to the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva and calling upon him to become acquainted with the situations of Syrian detainees in Israeli jails.

The statement demanded the release of prisoners in the Israeli jails, to end physical and psychological torture to which the detainees are exposed, to organize visits for their families and to permit them to have cultural books.

Another message was delivered by the protesters to Syrian prisoners from the Golan in Israeli jails. The message stressed that the sit-ins staged in Damascus, the Golan and Lebanon are expressions of solidarity and appreciation for the Arab detainees struggle in the occupation jails.

There are 21 prisoners from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights in Israeli prisons serving 27-year sentences -- of whom seven are under 18 and another four were never tried.

Meanwhile, the follow-up committee in solidarity with Lebanese prisoners detained in Israeli jails said it received on Tuesday a program from the Golan committee for reviving solidarity with Golan prisoners. The program called for declaring April 21 a day for voicing solidarity with Golan prisoners detained in Israeli jails and for the mothers of the prisoners to carry out a sit-in at Red Cross headquarters as well as for holding a central rally in the main square of the occupied Golan town of Majdal Shams.

The program also called for circulating memoranda of protest though local and foreign media against the Israeli continued detention of Arab prisoners.

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