PFLP Secretary General Sa’adat in occupation courts: “Our people are stronger than the occupation and its mockery of legality”

Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, once again rejected the authority of the occupation military courts against Palestinian prisoners, when he was brought to the Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem on Sunday, September 9, 2012.

Sa’adat was brought to the court for international proceedings in a private lawsuit filed in the United States by a Zionist legal group attempting to hold Palestinian institutions such as the Palestine Liberation Organization financially accountable for the deaths of Israelis, including illegal settlers, who died in Palestinian resistance actions.

Sa’adat had been held in isolation for over three years, and this was his first appearance in court since that time. “I will not recognize the legitimacy of this court which is attempting to perpetuate the occupation of our Palestinian land, and is itself one of the fronts of Zionist terrorism against our Palestinian people, and a tool of repression against Palestinian prisoners,” said Sa’adat.

“I say nothing to this court, as I earlier said nothing to this court, which is known to have my name,” said Sa’adat, refusing to provide the court with his name. When asked about not being included in the October 2011 prisoner exchange, Sa’adat replied that “the freedom of the homeland is more important and more dear than my personal freedom, which is inevitable.”

Sa’adat spoke out at the hearing’s close, exposing the occupation: “If the United States is so interested in human rights and fact-finding they should carry out their investigations into finding the murderers of American solidarity martyr Rachel Corrie who was killed by the forces of the Occupation, instead of attacking the resistance and calling it ‘Terrorism’. Resistance is legitimate, will continue, and will grow as long as the occupation exists,” said Sa’adat.

Saadat said that “The Palestinian people will continue to resist until freedom, liberation and independence, and the return of all the Palestinian people to their homeland, Palestine. The justice of our cause and the steadfastness of our people and determination strong, is stronger than the occupation, and its mockery of courts and legality, no matter how severe the restrictions on the freedom of our people, freedom is inevitable.”

Sa’adat was prohibited from touching his new baby granddaughter Mayar, when his family members came to see him at the hearing, once again illustrating the occupation’s practices of separating Palestinian families.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PFLP