A rally held at the American University in Cairo highlights the lack of due process for detained Palestinians, and one in particular. Reem Nafie reports "Free Qassam Barghouti", read the flyers held by the gathered crowd during a rally at the American University in Cairo (AUC) on Monday. A large crowd of students, faculty and staff stood at the far end of the Greek Campus attentively listening to speakers who voiced their hopes and concerns for Qassam Barghouti, detained in an Israeli prison. Eighteen-year-old Barghouti, who is an AUC student, is the son of Palestinian MP Marwan Barghouti. He was arrested on 24 December 2003 at the Allenby border crossing with Jordan and has been held ever since. Qassam had set out to visit his family in Ramallah in the West Bank during the mid- semester break after completing his first semester with the university's English Language Institute. Barghouti never made it. Shortly after he was arrested and questioned at the border, he was transferred to Ofer Detention Camp near Ramallah. Barghouti was interrogated about an alleged incident of him handling grenades and giving them to another who used them against Israeli Defence Force vehicles in Ramallah, 31 March 2003. The allegations stem from testimony given by another detainee, Kamal Qinaan, who was arrested in November in connection with the same incident. On 4 December Qinaan claimed he saw Barghouti, among others, giving those that carried out the operation hand grenades. Barghouti not only denies all these allegations, but also denies knowing Qinaan. Despite the fragility of the evidence, Israeli security forces pressed charges. Barghouti subsequently appeared before of a military court on several occasions, and his detention order was renewed under the guise of continued investigations. On 15 January 2004, Barghouti appeared once again before an Israeli military court. This court renewed his arresting order for an open period. It is not known when, or if, Barghouti will be brought to a full trial. Jawad Boulos, a family lawyer, said that the case against Barghouti is legally weak, depending on questionable testimony. Boulos noted that the supposed witness, Qinaan, gave two statements to the Shin Bet (Israel's security forces). The first statement, given on 30 November, did not mention Barghouti at all. Only the second statement, given on 4 December and which runs to some length, did Barghouti appear "in three lines". Boulos has requested information on whether a military report on the incident in question was made. "If grenades were thrown at military vehicles, the officer would naturally write a report," reasons Boulos. The fact that the witness is from Nablus and not Ramallah has raised further questions concerning the validity of his testimony. "What they have is one witness who is from another area," Boulos said. Barghouti doesn't know anything about this person, he added. Presented with pictures of the witness when he appeared in court, Barghouti replied, "I don't know him, I've never seen him before in my life." Efforts to help Barghouti have been building momentum since his arrest nearly two months ago. His AUC English language teacher, Virginia Stevens, initiated these efforts 31 December. She sent an e-mail to the AUC community informing them of the arrest and asking them to "do anything they could to help free him and to spread the news of the arrest to anyone who might be able to influence his case". Stevens told Al-Ahram Weekly that Barghouti was a gentle-mannered student who "did not talk about his father and did not even tell his colleagues at first that his father was Marwan Barghouti, a leader of Fatah, being held in an Israeli jail in solitary confinement for over a year". AUC administration responded to the plea and AUC President David Arnold told those gathered at the rally on Monday that he had "registered AUC's official concerns for our student with the Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Eli Shaked and the Palestinian Ambassador to the Arab League Mohamed Sobeih". Both parties had promised to keep AUC officials informed of the charges and judicial proceedings. However, Sara Hussein, editor-in- chief of AUC's Caravan student newspaper told the Weekly that upon contacting the Israeli press attaché last Thursday he had no new information to share, and could not confirm for how long Qassam's detention order had been extended. When the Spring semester started and Barghouti had still not returned to continue his studies, the AUC Student Union (SU) and the "Faculty 4 Palestine" group decided to organise a rally that would bring the subject to wider attention. According to Maissa Hidmi, official representative of Sobeih, this effort was well appreciated: "the rally might help in worrying the Israeli side, by showing them that someone cares and that Qassam is not forgotten." SU President Wael El-Sahhar agreed, saying, in reference to demands for Qassam's freedom, it was important to "keep the goal alive". Professor of Drama and member of the "Faculty 4 Palestine" group, Mahmoud El-Lozy, told the Weekly that, "without constant fighting back, we can never make our point. The Israelis want us to endure their brutality and accept it as divinely induced by God. But Hizbullah in Lebanon fought back and kicked them out. Therefore, we have to do the same." Many of those who gathered on Monday see the basic injustice alleged: that Qassam is indicted for reason of his family name (that he is the son of leader Marwan Barghouti) and nothing more. Qassam's mother, Fadwa Barghouti, sent a message to be read during the rally saying that: "it has been clear to us from the start that Qassam's detention was based on a political decision and not anything he has done. This arbitrary detention is intended to exert pressure on Qassam's father, whose interrogators had threatened to detain his own son. It seems that the interrogators have waited for Qassam to turn 18 in order to execute their threats." Throughout the one- hour rally a petition was circulated and signed in the name of AUC students, staff and faculty. By the end of Tuesday it had gathered more than 800 signatures. Attached to the names was a list of concerns pointing out that "the proffered charges against Qassam, as well as the length of his detention without trial, and the fear that Qassam may be subjected to torture, violate provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention and of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Israel, as signatory in to both, is legally obliged to implement." The signed petitions are to be sent to the Israeli and American embassies. While the goal of the rally was clear to those who participated, some doubts were raised that it could help free Barghouti. While emphasising that protest was highly important, Hidmi said: "I highly doubt it this will help set him free, I think that they are using Qassam as a tool to pressure his father. It won't be that simple." Barghouti's classmate and friend, Ahmed Abdallah, was upset that he was unable to contact Qassam, noting that he "was a very kind person that did not participate in any political activities in AUC, he could never have done any of the things he was accused of doing." "All Qassam ever wanted was to learn English well, because he realised that he needs to be able to get his message across. When Qassam gave an oral presentation to the class on the topic of Palestine, he simply explained the history of the situation and gave various solutions without advocating violence," Stevens said. Unfortunately, Barghouti's dreams have been put on hold and according to his mother, his family dream of pursuing an education to help build his country were "destroyed" by the "dark forces of occupation".
