#FreeKhaledElQaisi
Anti Imperialist Action Ireland demand the immediate release of the Palestinian-Italian academic and researcher Khaled el Qaisi.
On August 31 as Khaled was returning from visiting family in Bethlehem Palestine to Italy, he was arrested by Zionist terrorists at the Jordan Bridge Border Crossing and has been held without charge since.
Khaled’s Italian wife and 4 year old son who where with him at the time, were given no reason for his arrest and were given no details of his condition and were forced by Zionist terrorists into Jordan without any money or belongings. Thanks to some Palestinian women at the Jordanian border, Khaled’s family were able to make it to Amman and to the Italian consulate.
The arrest of Khaled el Qaisi,l while on a family holiday is yet another crime by Zionism against the Palestinian People. Khaled, a translator and researcher is also a student at the Department of Oriental Languages and Civilisations at Sapienza University of Rome. Khaled is the co founder of the Palestinian Documentation Centre that works to archive, translate and make historical Palestinian documents, items and works available to a wider audience. Khaled and works with the Giovani Palestinesi d’Italia- The Palestinian Youth of Italy.
Anti Imperialist Action Ireland will be launching a campaign do demand the immediate release of Khaled El Qaisi and we call on all supporters of Palestine to do the same. The crimes of the Zionist occupation must be challenged around the world.
Khaled’s family have released the following open letter about the situation. We send them our solidarity and will stand shoulder to shoulder with them as they fight for his freedom:
On 31 August Khaled El Qaisi, husband and son respectively of the writers, was
detained by the Israeli authorities and is still imprisoned by virtue of a precautionary measure pending verification.
Last Thursday, Khaled, who has dual citizenship, Italian and Palestinian,was crossing the ‘Allenby’ border crossing with his wife and son after spending the holidays with his family in Bethlehem, Palestine.
At the luggage and document check, after a long wait, he was handcuffed under the incredulous gaze of his 4-year-old son, his wife, as well as all those who were waiting to resume their journey.
The wife’s requests for explanations were not answered, rather she was asked questions and then sent off with her son to Jordanian territory, without telephone, cash or contacts, in a foreign country.
In the late afternoon, the wife and child were able to reach the Italian Embassy thanks to the human generosity of some Palestinian women.
Khaled, a translator and student of the department of Oriental Languages and Civilisations at the University of Rome, esteemed for his passionate commitment to the collection, dissemination and translation of Palestinian historical material, is one of the founders of the Palestinian Documentation Centre, an association that aims to promote Palestinian culture in Italy.
His family and friends, but also those who simply had the opportunity to meet him, are anxiously waiting for updates.
At the moment, he has not been able to meet his lawyer and there is still little news about his safety.
All we have heard from the consulate and his lawyer is that he will face a hearing on Thursday, 7 September.
In the meantime, we imagine Khaled in complete isolation, with no contact with the outside world, with no real perception of the passage of time, under the pressure of continuous interrogations, anguished about the fate of his own son and his wife left in the lurch with the only image in their eyes of his deportation in handcuffs.
The situation is therefore very serious.
We await with great anxiety the resolution of this unjust imprisonment.
We call on whoever has the power to do so to ascertain Khaled’s health condition and, above all, to exert all necessary pressure for his speedy release.
Francesca Antinucci, wife
Lucia Marchetti, mother