Imagine, in the blink of an eye, your entire life is uprooted. One morning, you are waking up in the comfort of your home, having breakfast with your wife and kissing your baby goodbye. The next morning, you are waking up shackled in a prison cell, not knowing when you will see your family again.
It is a difficult reality to imagine. But that is the current reality of our friend and colleague, Anas Abu Srour.
On Tuesday, November 28, Anas, 35, was driving in the occupied West Bank on his way home to the city of Bethlehem when he was abducted by Israeli forces. Earlier that day, he had traveled to the city of Ramallah to complete the IELTS exam, the necessary next step for his goal of pursuing a master’s degree in England.
At 11:45 a.m., he texted his wife, Maysan, to tell her he was on his way home and called his friends to tell them in jest that he had “traveled to Ramallah for nothing,” as the computer had broken down in the middle of the exam. That was the last time Anas’ family and friends heard from him.
For twelve grueling hours, no one knew where Anas was. It is not like him to disappear for hours without telling anyone about his whereabouts. His family and friends frantically made phone calls, trying to locate him. They feared he may have been detained by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint – a common occurrence in the West Bank, one that has become even more routine since October 7.
Just after midnight that day, our worst fears were confirmed. The Palestinian Authority Liaison Office informed us that Anas had been arrested by the Israeli occupation army while passing through a checkpoint near Ramallah. In the week that followed, we have barely received any information on where he was being kept and for what reason.
For one week, we have been hoping and praying that Anas would be returned home to his family, as he has not committed any crime. But unfortunately, the opposite has come true.
Today, one week after his arrest, Anas appeared in front of an Israeli military court for the first time since his detention. In a matter of a few minutes, an Israeli military judge “sentenced” Anas to six months administrative detention.
The reason we put the word “sentenced” in quotation marks is because Anas did not have a trial. He was not afforded due process. He was not even charged. So to say he was sentenced would imply that somehow the military court that imprisoned him did so upon just grounds.
That could not be further from the truth.
Administrative detention is an inhumane practice used by Israel’s military kangaroo courts exclusively against Palestinians living in the occupied territory. It allows the military to imprison Palestinian men, women, and children indefinitely without charge or trial.
Administrative detention is typically used in cases just like Anas’, where Israel does not have any evidence of a crime committed by a detainee but seeks to jail them anyway – be it for their political affiliations, activism, or in Anas’ case, we suspect, for their community service and leadership.
Military prosecutors and judges use “secret evidence,” which cannot be seen by the detainee or their lawyers, to justify such detention orders under the pretense that this person could commit a crime in the future.
Plainly, Anas did not commit a crime. But the Israeli army is choosing to imprison him anyway, without giving him or his lawyers a fair shot at mounting a defense.
This form of arbitrary detention is yet another way to keep innocent Palestinians, mostly men, separated from their families and their communities. It is yet another aspect of Israel’s military occupation, yet another method of control.
Administrative detention is also renewable, indefinitely. Meaning that at the end of his 6-month administrative detention sentence, the military court could decide to renew it for another three, four, or six months. And again, and again, and again.
Anas is not alone. It is reported that there are around 2,873 Palestinians currently being held in Israeli prisons under administrative detention. More than half of those prisoners were arrested after October 7 as part of Israel’s revenge campaign to arrest and imprison Palestinians en masse.
In addition to facing arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, Palestinian prisoners and detainees are also being harassed, tortured, and abused by Israeli forces. We cannot imagine the kind of horrors Anas and the other political prisoners must be facing in Israel’s carceral system. Released prisoners have spoken of the inhumane conditions prisoners are kept in, which have severely deteriorated since October 7: prisoners don’t receive enough food, are often kept in cells without windows, and are subjected to beatings and other physical and psychological torture.
Though he has not committed any crime, Anas is now facing at least six months in prison, which means six months away from his family and his humanitarian work in his community.
As the Executive Director of Aida Youth Center (AYC), a grassroots organization in the Aida refugee camp, Anas’ reach and positive influence in his community are immeasurable. Every week, some 300 children and youth from the camp come to Aida Youth Center for academic, sports, and arts programs. The Aida Youth Center also coordinates humanitarian responses in times of crisis and serves as a social space for the community. Under Anas’ leadership, the Aida Youth Center provided a steady flow of medical and humanitarian aid to the residents of the camp during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anas is a pillar of his community and can always be found coordinating programs at the Center, speaking to families in need about how he can support them better, and building relationships with like-minded international organizations to ensure the Center’s work can continue. His absence is deeply felt by all those who rely on the Center, which will struggle to maintain the high standard set by Anas in an environment where services are already scarce.
Six months in prison also means Anas would be away for six months from his newborn son. At the end of the summer, Anas became a father. Before his arrest, he spent hours every day playing with his three-month-old son, Hassan, and held him through the night so that his wife, Maysan, could sleep. And every day, he went to his parents’ house in Aida refugee camp to check on his father, who has diabetes and has been unwell. For years Anas has been the primary person taking his father to doctor’s appointments and supporting his parents financially due to his father’s inability to work.
The imprisonment of Anas, who is a committed humanitarian, a dedicated father and husband, and a dutiful son to his parents, is a grave injustice. Depriving Anas of his freedom and of his right to watch his son grow up is a cruelty that many in the free world outside of Palestine cannot imagine.
But unfortunately, this is the reality of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and their families, who are being deprived of their most basic liberties and human dignity, simply for being Palestinian.
Despite our outrage and sadness, we have not given up.
Under the military court system, Anas’ lawyers have seven days to appeal the court’s decision. While we know that this system is an unjust one, designed to suppress and subjugate our people, we must do everything we can to try and bring our friend home.
We have launched a social media campaign under the hashtag #FreeAnasAbuSrour and have set up a petition to get as many people as possible to call for Anas’ immediate release from detention. This petition, which has already garnered over 1,400 signatures from friends and organizations from around the world, will be presented to the court alongside other evidence to support his release.
We are pleading with people of conscience around the world to stand with us in our demands to free Anas and bring him home to his family and his community.
Please sign this petition to help Free Anas.
