Amnesty International declares jailed Gaza activist Rami Aman a ‘prisoner of conscience,’ calls for his immediate release

GENEVA, May 6, 2020 — Amnesty International has declared Gaza peace activist Rami Aman, detained by Hamas since April 9th for holding a video call with Israeli peace activists, to be a “prisoner of conscience,” and the group called for his “immediate and unconditional release.” The statement is significant because the world’s largest group dedicated to freeing political prisoners had for the past month refused requests to issue any statement for Mr. Aman and other members of his Gaza Youth Committee arrested for the video call — even as Amnesty’s former researcher was the one who had pressed Hamas to arrest Mr. Aman, as reported by the New York Times. (See full story below on Hind Khoudary.) A number of other human rights organizations and activists have been outspoken since Aman was arrested, yet Amnesty persistently refrained from issuing any statement on the case, restricting itself to making guarded and indirect replies to media queries. “We absolutely condemn arrests of individuals because of practicing their right to peaceful expression and assembly,” said Saleh Hijazi, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East, in a reply to Agence France Presse last month, taking pains not to mention Mr. Aman’s name, or to issue any specific statements, petitions or tweets calling for his release. UN Watch, an independent Geneva-based non-governmental human rights group, led a campaign urging Amnesty chapters worldwide, and its Chair Sarah Beamish, to speak out for Aman’s release. Thousands shared tweets and asked Amnesty chapters to speak out. “Better late than never,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch’s executive director. “We welcome Amnesty’s important designation that Rami Aman and his fellow …

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