During the pre-dawn hours of July 7th, 21 year old Layan Nasir, a 4th year Nutrition student at Birzeit University, was arrested, bound, gagged and blindfolded by Israeli Occupation Forces. She was interrogated at the Ofer Military Prison without benefit of legal counsel and her family was unable to visit her.
Layan was later charged with membership in Democratic Progressive Student Pole (Al-Qutub Al-Tulabi), a university-based organization composed of left-leaning students. Israel’s designation of the Democratic Progressive Student Pole as an unlawful organization in October 2020 is one of many attempts to suppress student activism and silence Palestinian demands for freedom.
Layan now awaits trial from Damon Military Prison with seven other female students. In total, seventy-four Birzeit University students were similarly “detained” and many remain in Israeli prisons for non-violently expressing their opposition to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
The freedoms of expression and peaceful association are fundamental, universal human rights. We call on our elected representatives, and those in authority within our government, to demand and pressure the Israeli government and military forces to immediately release Layan and her fellow students.
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