by Dalal Zainabi and Saheli Chowdhury, published on The Orinoco Tribune, October 16, 2024
Editor’s note: Aside from the domestic political implications of this bizarre decision, we can consider the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, often without charge, brutally tortured in many cases, and suffering unlimited sentences. The one organization that openly supports them across the Western world has been persecuted one way or another in several European countries and is now designated a “terrorist organization”.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Orinoco Tribune strongly condemns the designation of the Palestinian prisoner solidarity organization Samidoun as a “foreign terrorist entity” by the governments of the United States and Canada. Orinoco Tribune also condemns the branding of Palestinian activist Khaled Barakat, a Canadian citizen, as a “terrorist” by the US government and the imposition of targeted sanctions against him.
Orinoco Tribune considers this designation to be a thinly veiled attempt to silence Palestinians and pro-Palestine voices and suppress the legitimate humanitarian efforts of Samidoun and other organizations working for the Palestinian people.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has been working for years providing assistance to, and raising awareness for, Palestinians who are terrorized and tortured in the prisons of the Zionist entity. By labeling Samidoun as “foreign” although it is registered in Canada as a non-profit, and branding it as a “sham charity,” the US and Canadian governments are trying to delegitimize the organization’s important work and restrict its ability to operate effectively.
Before the US and Canada, the Zionist entity and Germany had already banned Samidoun. On Tuesday, October 15, the day the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the arbitrary designation, it was reported that the Dutch parliament had voted to declare Samidoun a “terrorist organization,” which indicates that this was a coordinated action by the United States and its “allies.”
Earlier, the Vancouver Police Department had launched a hate-speech investigation into Charlotte Kates, Samidoun’s international coordinator in Canada and Barakat’s wife, for her speech supporting the Al-Aqsa Flood operation at a rally in Vancouver in March this year. Thus, more legal actions may be expected against Samidoun members and associates in the coming days.
In the US, the terrorist designation means that any property owned by Samidoun or Barakat has to be reported to OFAC. Any banks or individuals carrying out financial transactions with them could be at risk of secondary sanctions or criminal enforcement, a standard terror tactic practiced by the US government against states, organizations, and individuals it considers contrary to its imperial and colonialist interests. US unilateral coercive measures are also regularly applied extraterritorially, that is, outside the US legal jurisdiction, in violation of international law.
These actions against Samidoun and Barakat are part of a larger pattern of repression in the United States, Canada, and other Western countries against individuals and organizations that support the people of Palestine in their legitimate struggle against Zionist occupation and colonization. The terrorist designation, which is an expression of this repression, reveals the broad involvement and complicity of the United States and Canada in the Zionist genocide of the Palestinians and the extreme human rights violations that the occupation regime is carrying out against Palestinian prisoners.
Orinoco Tribune reiterates its solidarity with Samidoun, Khaled Barakat, and the just cause of the Palestinian people. In addition, Orinoco Tribune repudiates any form of illegal sanctions that affect individuals fighting for justice or that affect nations, such as Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, and others, opposing US hegemony.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by Dalal Zainabi and Saheli Chowdhury
Saheli Chowdhury is from West Bengal, India, studying physics for a profession, but with a passion for writing. She is interested in history and popular movements around the world, especially in the Global South. She is a co-editor and contributor for Orinoco Tribune.
Dalal Zainabi is a contributor and volunteer for Orinoco Tribune.