As part of the growing campaign to support human rights defender, Ameer Makhoul, activists taking part in the International Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Day of action demonstrated at the offices of the Chicago Sister City Program on July 9 to demand that the Chicago drop ties with the Israeli city of Petach Tikva and call on Israel to release Makoul, tortured at Petach Tikva.

Protesters drew connections between Guantanamo and Israel’s Petach Tikva detention center, where Palestinian BDS leaders like Ameer Makhoul are tortured and demanded its closure. One activist, dressed in an orange jumpsuit with his hands handcuffed to educate the passersby about the torture methods used at the detention center in Petach Tikva, said, “I know that this campaign is part of freeing political prisoners tortured there like Ameer Makoul and I am determined to keep up the pressure.”

In a more formal move, the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) addressed a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, to expose Israel’s violations of Makhoul and the political prisoner, Omar Said’s human and legal rights. In its letter, AOHR pointed out that the arrests and subsequent trials were “part of an escalated Israeli campaign to restrict civil society organizations and public action, in an attempt to crush the popular movement to defend the rights and existence of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel.” In conclusion, the letter urged the Human Rights Council “to act urgently to guarantee immediate release of Mr. Makhoul and Mr. Said”

For her part, Janan Abdu, Makhoul’s wife, commented on US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s Krakow speech, in which she focused on civil society and spoke of “the cowardice of those who deny their citizens the protections they deserve.” Abdu argued that “Ameer is a civil society activist… Clinton criticized several governments by name – but not Israel – for intimidation and assassination of activists. Why does America’s drive to promote human rights stop at Israel’s door?” Abdu insists that Makhoul deserves the protection of the law, including his right to meet his lawyers in private, which Israeli officials have been violating by taping those meetings; the right to see the evidence against him, much of which the prosecution plans to withhold on security grounds; freedom from torture; and inadmissibility of confessions secured under torture. At the end, Abdu asks, “When will Clinton call for a Palestinian activist’s human rights and an end to his persecution?”