Local Chapters of International Solidarity Organizations Condemn U.S. and Canadian Sanctions on Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Network

Several organizations held a press conference on Wednesday, Oct. 23, in front of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle to condemn sanctions imposed by the United States and Canadian governments on Samidoun. Samidoun, also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, is an international organization advocating for the release of Palestinian prisoners detained by the Israeli government. The Canadian government recently designated the organization as a terrorist group, and the U.S. placed sanctions on the group.

“The International League of Peoples’ Struggle [ILPS] condemns the unbridled escalation in attacks on the people of Palestine, Lebanon, the wider West Asia, and all those who stand in solidarity with them. This includes the recent terror listing of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a member of ILPS Seattle, by the Canadian state and the U.S. Department of Treasury,” said a representative of the ILPS at the press conference.

Samidoun was started in 2011 during a hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails after organizers identified the need for a network to support their efforts. According to its website, Samidoun works “to raise awareness and provide resources about Palestinian political prisoners, their conditions, their demands, and their work for freedom for themselves, their fellow prisoners, and their homeland.”

Standing in support of Samidoun at the press conference, alongside ILPS Seattle, were BAYAN USA, Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return UW, Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, and No Tech for Apartheid. Speakers representing the participating organizations requested to remain anonymous.

On Oct. 15, the Canadian government released a statement announcing its designation of Samidoun as a terrorist entity, stating that the organization meets the definition of a “terrorist group” under Canada’s Criminal Code. 

According to the statement, “The Criminal Code prohibits certain actions in relation to terrorist groups, including those related to terrorist financing, travel and recruitment.” This means any Canadian citizen who donates or provides property to Samidoun could face punitive consequences.

Also on Oct. 15, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a statement announcing sanctions on Samidoun and accusing the organization of being “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”

Like Canada’s Criminal Code, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s sanction on Samidoun also prohibits any transaction or donation of property from a U.S. citizen to the organization.

Activists and organizers within the solidarity groups present at the press conference say they believe the Canadian and U.S. governments’ action against Samidoun is to deter people from continuing to advocate on behalf of Palestinian liberation.

“This act by the governments is an attempt to instill fear in the hearts of millions of people participating in mass protests and actively defying the imperialist agenda of the ruling class and the government,” the ILPS representative stated. “It is an extension of the use of the ‘terror’ tag placed onto the thousands of resistance fighters taking up arms in an anti-colonial [resistance], their right enshrined under international law, against the most terroristic rule of the U.S.- and Canadian-backed Zionist regime.”

Data shared by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories shows that at the end of June 2024, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) held 9,440 Palestinians in custody. According to a July 2024 NPR report, many Palestinian prisoners are abused — including not being allowed to lie down — and not given due process when detained. The Israeli Unlawful Combatants Law says prisoners can be detained for up to 90 days without legal representation. And according to a July 2023 report by a United Nations Human Rights Council rapporteur, over 1 million Palestinians living in the occupied territory have been detained since 1967, including tens of thousands of children.

In 2021, Samidoun denounced former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte for designating the National Democratic Front of the Philippines as a terrorist organization.

“From the armed forces of the Philippines to the Israeli occupation forces that are laying siege to Gaza and Lebanon, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has done so much for this liberation movement and for the community here in Seattle,” said a representative from Tanod Lupa FFPS, a member of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines. “We know that the real terror and violence is being enacted by the U.S. military industrial complex, and we have gathered here today to let the forces know that we denounce this sanctioning and repression just as we will continue to denounce the slaughtering of Palestinians with the funding of U.S. tax dollars [and] the occupation of people’s lands all around the world by U.S. military bases and proxy armies.”

The Samidoun terrorist designation comes amid the region’s most current conflict in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 Israelis. Israel launched a series of retaliatory attacks on the Gaza Strip that have been ongoing for more than a year, resulting in the deaths of over 42,000 Palestinans, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Washington Post states that 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced.