position:activist and writer

A few months after creating the Freeconomy Community, Boyle set out on a two-and-a-half year trek from Bristol to Porbandar in India

Quel héro !

However, he was forced to turn back only a month into the trip, as language barriers halted his journey shortly after he arrived in Calais.

Quelle langue ?
#wtf #merci « you made my day » mort de rire ;-)

en effet, c’est « mort de rire ».
Je n’avais pas vu les détails...
Mais la photo du mec m’inspirait moyennement...
 ;-)

Saudi Arabia has arrested Hatoon al-Fassi, a Saudi women’s rights activist and writer, as part of its crackdown on activists in the kingdom, a human rights group said.

ALQST, a UK-based rights group focusing on Saudi Arabia, confirmed to Al Jazeera on Wednesday al-Fassi’s arrest.

Considered a leading figure in women’s rights in the region, and the kingdom, in particular, al-Fassi has long been fighting for the rights of Saudi women, including their right to participate in municipal elections.

As a scholar, her work focuses on women’s history and politics.
WATCH: One year since Mohammed bin Salman crowned prince of Saudi (2:25)

Al-Fassi was among the first Saudi women to drive for the first time since the religiously conservative country overturned the world’s only ban on female drivers.

Last month, the government announced that a number of activists were being held for having suspicious contacts with foreign entities, as well as offering financial support to “foreign enemies”.

Other suspects were being sought, the government said at the time, while state-linked media labelled those arrested as traitors and “agents of embassies”.

Eight of the 17 detained activists, including five women, were later temporarily released “until the completion of their procedural review”.

None of the activists has yet been officially charged, and they are being held incommunicado - with no access to their families or lawyers.

Earlier on Wednesday, United Nations experts urged Saudi Arabia to immediately release a number of women’s human rights defenders arrested in the nationwide crackdown.

“In stark contrast with this celebrated moment of liberation for Saudi women, women’s human rights defenders have been arrested and detained on a wide scale across the country, which is truly worrying and perhaps a better indication of the Government’s approach to women’s human rights,” they said in a statement.

“We call for the urgent release of all of those detained while pursuing their legitimate activities in the promotion and protection of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.”

Basil al-Araj assassinated by Israeli occupation forces after PA imprisonment and months in hiding
March 6, 2017
►http://samidoun.net/2017/03/basil-al-araj-executed-by-israeli-occupation-forces-after-pa-imprisonment-

http://samidoun.net/site/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/basil-araj-685x1024.jpg

In a pre-dawn raid attacking a home in el-Bireh, Basil al-Araj , 31, Palestinian youth activist and writer pursued by Israel for nearly a year, was assassinated by invading Israeli occupation forces this morning.

Al-Araj, from the village of Walaja near Bethlehem, fought back and resisted the invading forces for two hours before the attacking occupation soldiers broke into the home where he was staying and executed him at close range. They then seized his body and took it to an unknown location.

The attack on the home included rocket fire as well as al-Araj’s extrajudicial execution in a hail of bullets. Al-Araj’s family home in al-Walaja had been repeatedly raided by occupation forces for months.

Al-Araj, a writer and activist involved in a wide array of Palestinian grassroots struggles for liberation, was among the Palestinian youth dedicated to reviving the Palestinian national liberation movement. One of six Palestinian youth released from Palestinian Authority prisons after nearly six months of detention when they launched a hunger strike, Al-Araj and other youth had been seized in April in what was touted as a victory for security coordination between the PA and Israel. While they were imprisoned by the PA, they were subject to torture and ill-treatment by PA security forces.

After their hunger strike and widespread attention to their case, including protests after reports of their torture, secured their release, four of the youth – Mohammed al-Salameen, Seif al-Idrissi, Haitham Siyaj, and Mohammed Harb – have been seized by Israeli occupation forces. All four have been ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.(...)

In final letter, slain Palestinian activist Basel al-Araj ponders looming death
March 6, 2017 8:05 P.M. (Updated: March 6, 2017 8:08 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=775829

http://www.maannews.com/Photos/420323C.jpg

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — In a final letter written before he was killed by Israeli forces in a two-hour shootout, Palestinian activist and writer Basel al-Araj revealed his thoughts over his seemingly ineluctable end.

Al-Araj, a 31-year-old activist and resident of the village of al-Walaja in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem, had been on the run from Israeli authorities since September, when he was released from Palestinian prison after being detained without charges or explanation for five months, during which he joined a hunger strike amid reports of torture and mistreatment.

Israeli police had accused al-Araj of being the “head of a terrorist cell that planned attacks against Israelis and security forces.”

After a months-long manhunt, Israeli forces surrounded a house in the outskirts of the Qaddura refugee camp, where al-Araj was staying, early on Monday, prompting an exchange of fire between al-Araj and the armed forces, in which the Palestinian was killed after running out of ammunition.

“Greetings of Arab nationalism, homeland, and liberation,” the letter, shared on social media by al-Araj’s family, read. “If you are reading this, it means I have died and my soul has ascended to its creator. I pray to God that I will meet him with a guiltless heart, willingly, and never reluctantly, and free of any whit of hypocrisy.”

Al-Araj went on to ponder the initial difficulty of writing a last testament, like many other Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces.

“How hard it is to write your own will. For years I have been contemplating testaments written by martyrs, and those wills have always bewildered me. They were short, quick, without much eloquence. They did not quench our thirst to find answers about martyrdom,” he wrote.

“Now I am walking to my fated death satisfied that I found my answers. How stupid I am! Is there anything which is more eloquent and clearer than a martyr’s deed? I should have written this several months ago, but what kept me was that this question is for you, living people, and why should I answer on your behalf? Look for the answers yourself, and for us the inhabitants of the graves, all we seek is God’s mercy.”

#Basel_al-Araj

On entend souvent « où est le Mandela palestinien ? ». Comme Basil al-Araj et comme bien d’autres avant lui, les « Mandela palestiniens » peuplent les cimetières palestiniens...

Palestine occupée : Le FPLP dénonce l’assassinat du jeune Palestinien combattant et dirigeant Basil al-Araj
Par FPLP | 6 mars 2017 | Traduction : André Comte
▻http://www.ism-france.org/communiques/Le-FPLP-denonce-l-assassinat-du-jeune-Palestinien-combattant-et-dirigean

http://www.ism-france.org/photos/basil-al-araj.jpg

Le Front Populaire pour la Libération de la Palestine se joint aux masses de notre peuple résistant qui pleurent l’un des plus éminents jeunes palestiniens en lutte, Basil al-Araj, qui a été assassiné aujourd’hui par le lâche occupant sioniste.

Le martyr a mené une bataille héroïque après plusieurs mois de poursuite. Le Front a appelé à des actions de résistance pour le rassemblement dans l’unité et la coordination pour répondre à ce crime et intensifier les opérations contre l’occupation sioniste.

Le Front a souligné que la Palestine aujourd’hui a perdu un des meilleurs jeunes lutteurs de la Palestine, qui a payé de sa vie ses principes et ses valeurs. Il s’était engagé à rejeter toutes les solutions de capitulation, il avait une vision claire de la libération, et il a travaillé pour relater l’histoire de la Palestine et faire face à toutes les tentatives pour liquider la cause palestinienne.

Le martyr Basil Al-Araj était un combattant de la liberté, intellectuel et théoricien de l’insurrection de la jeunesse palestinienne. Il se consacrait à un chemin de résistance, à l’intifada, à l’unité, au retour et à la libération de toute la terre de la Palestine. C’était un intellectuel révolutionnaire qui mettait toutes ses énergies culturelles et intellectuelles au service de la résistance ainsi que de ses propres actions sur le terrain, luttant contre la coordination de la sécurité et la collaboration.

L’assassinat du combattant martyr Basil al-Araj est le fruit affreux de la continuation de la coordination sécuritaire. Basil al-Araj et ses camarades ont été pris en chasse par l’appareil de sécurité de l’Autorité Palestinienne et ont été emprisonnés pendant plusieurs mois, et cette détention a été directement suivie par la traque menée par l’occupation contre lui jusqu’à sa mort.(...)