At 2am on 6 March, gunfire echoed through the el-Bireh district of Ramallah in Palestine’s occupied West Bank. Heavily armed Israeli troops stormed an upstairs apartment and, in a hail of bullets, shot dead 31-year-old activist Basil al-Araj. The soldiers then seized al-Araj’s body and removed it to an unknown location.
Al-Araj had been on the run from Israeli occupation forces for the last six months. In early March and late April last year, he was one of six Palestinian youths arrested and detained by the Palestinian Authority. After nearly six months in custody without charge or trial, and subject to torture, the activists launched a nine-day hunger strike. They were released in September following an international solidarity campaign.
However, their freedom was short-lived. Four of al-Araj’s comrades were promptly seized by Israeli occupation forces and continue to be held without charge or trial under “administrative detention”. Al-Araj went underground; his family home has been repeatedly raided by occupation forces.
Read the full article by Nick Everett at Red Flag.