Activists launch global campaign for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 01/16/2026 - 21:40 Red Ribbons Campaign aims to draw attention to more than 9,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including more than 400 children and 150 medical workers Activists placed ribbons and posters highlighting the plight of Palestinian prisoners outside Westminster underground station in London (MEE) Off Activists launched a global campaign on Thursday to demand the release of Palestinian "hostages" held by Israel , days after the United Nations condemned Israel's latest legislative push to allow for the execution of Palestinian prisoners by hanging. The Red Ribbons Campaign was launched in London and expands on an initiative that began there two months ago, when activists placed red ribbons and images of prisoners in public spaces as a visible reminder of their detention. According to the campaign, Israeli authorities are holding at least 9,000 Palestinians unlawfully, including more than 400 children and at least 150 medical workers from Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Thursday's launch comes amid growing alarm over Israeli legislation granting prison authorities expanded powers, including the ability to extend detention, prevent the release of prisoners who have completed their sentences, and impose the death penalty almost exclusively on Palestinian prisoners. Campaign founder Adnan Hmidan said in a statement that the initiative sought to highlight the plight of the "real hostages" held by Israel. "What is happening inside Israeli prisons is no longer a series of isolated abuses," Hmidan said, "but a fully developed system of humiliation and systematic torture that is now being legalised through explicitly racist laws." Palestinian prisoners' rights groups have long accused Israel of widespread torture, physical and sexual abuse, prolonged solitary confinement and medical neglect. Since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, reports of overcrowding, starvation diets and deaths in custody have intensified, particularly among detainees from the Gaza Strip. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Middle East Eye (@middleeasteye) In its statement, the campaign highlighted the plight of paediatrician Hussam Abu Safiya, who was seized by Israeli forces in Gaza during a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in December 2024 after he refused to abandon patients under siege. Footage in the aftermath of the attack showed Safiya wearing a white medical overcoat crossing a street strewn with rubble. The Israeli military said Safiya was being held as a "suspect" and being questioned over "potential involvement in terrorist activity". Safiya has been held without charge since then. In July, lawyer Ghaid Ghanem Qassem revealed that Safiya had lost over a third of his bodyweight in detention in Israel's notorious Ofer prison, was being brutally beaten, and his repeated requests for medical attention had been refused. Collective punishment Administrative detention - which allows imprisonment without charge or trial based on secret evidence - has been widely condemned by human rights organisations as a tool of collective punishment. Palestinians can be held indefinitely under renewable detention orders, often without knowing the accusations against them. At least 3,300 Palestinians are currently being held in administrative detention as of January 2026, according to HaMoked, an Israel-based human rights organisation. As genocide continues in Gaza, the West Bank is pushed into a new Nakba Read More » Earlier this month, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Israel to abandon legislation that would apply the death penalty almost exclusively to Palestinian prisoners, saying there was a risk of irreversible miscarriages of justice in a system already condemned for its treatment of Palestinians. "When it comes to the death penalty, the United Nations is very clear, and opposes it under all circumstances," UN human rights Chief Volker Turk said. "It is profoundly difficult to reconcile such punishment with human dignity and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people." "The proposal also raises other human rights concerns, including on the basis that it is discriminatory, given it will exclusively apply to Palestinians." He said the language of such legislation, along with statements from Israeli politicians, indicates that this is intended to apply only to Palestinians who are often convicted after unfair trials. Hmidan said the campaign sought to "break international silence, mobilise global public opinion, and pressure relevant institutions" to act against the unlawful detention of Palestinians. He also accused Israel of attempting to "rehabilitate its international image following the fragile ceasefire of October 2025, while genocide continues in Gaza, annexation efforts persist in the West Bank, and violations intensify in Jerusalem and across the occupied Palestinian territories." Occupation News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0