Posted by: John Phoenix
‘A people who have presented so many prisoners, and faced all tools of repression, is a people who cannot be defeated and whose will cannot be broken.’
The following statement was issued by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, 17 April 2026.
“Our souls are not broken by the gallows, and our will does not bow to tyranny.”
O masses of our great people … O our Arab nation … O free people of the world …
Our heroic female and male prisoners in the dungeons of the ‘israeli’ enemy,
The seventeenth of April – the National Day for the Palestinian Prisoner — comes this year at a pivotal historical moment, in which the will of our people is embodied in the arenas of heroism and engagement with the zionist system of extermination. In light of this scene, the fascist aggression intensifies with the approval of the so-called ‘execution of prisoners law’, which represents a dangerous shift toward legalising systematic killing and turning prisons into slaughterhouses for execution under a criminal and racist legal cover.
On this day, we recall the epic of struggle that our female and male prisoners have written inside the cells, transforming them into spaces of resistance and schools for revolutionary consciousness; to transform the experience of imprisonment into a living embodiment of the battle of wills between freedom and repression. The prisoner movement has proven that it is an unbreakable vanguard of our struggle, and that the shackles are a helpless tool that shatters on the rock of the Palestinian humans’ steadfastness and their belief in the justice of their cause.
On this occasion, we extend a salute of pride and honor to the martyrs of the prisoner movement, and to our heroic prisoners, foremost among them the secretary-general, Comrade Leader Ahmad Saadat, and the symbolic leaders: Marwan Barghouti, Hassan Salameh, Bassam Al-Saadi, Wajdi Jouda, Ahed Abu Ghulmeh, and all the female and male prisoners who embody the unity of the national struggle, confirming that their sacrifices are a continuous pledge in the consciousness of our people until they achieve their full and undiminished freedom.
O masses of our people …
This anniversary coincides with an unprecedented escalation in the policies of repression and extermination, as prisoners are being subjected to a systematic campaign led by the fascist war criminal Ben Gvir, targeting their physical and moral existence through torture, isolation, medical negligence and administrative detention, leading to the policy of starvation and depriving children, women and the elderly of the most basic necessities of life.
Prisons have turned into modern models of extermination camps, as is happening in the ‘Sde Teiman’ detention centre against the prisoners of Gaza, where the most heinous forms of abuse and physical liquidation are practiced in the shadow of a shameful international silence. This scene represents a stark expression of the fascist and racist nature of the occupation, and a revealing exposure of the inability of the international system to impose the minimum standards of justice and humanity.
We in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in commemoration of this occasion and out of our national responsibility, affirm the following:
- First: We emphasise that the issue of prisoners is a national-liberation issue that tops our priorities, and we stress the need to redefine their status internationally as ‘freedom fighters’, while renewing our absolute confidence in the resistance’s ability to innovate ways to secure their freedom.
- Second: True loyalty to the prisoners is embodied in building a comprehensive national strategy and restoring national unity as a basic guarantee to safeguard their cause, and providing political, legal and media protection for them, in such a way that prevents any attempt to isolate them or marginalise their sacrifices.
- Third: We demand the immediate internationalisation of the prisoners’ issue and their recognition as ‘prisoners of war’, and the launching of an international campaign to strike down the ‘execution of prisoners law’ as a war crime, and to pursue those responsible for the crimes of systematic killing and racist legislation before international courts.
- Fourth: We call for escalating popular and global struggle action to break the barrier of silence, and to build an international solidarity front that practices effective boycotting of the occupation, while extending a salute of honour to the freedom detainees who were arrested for supporting our just cause, especially the issue of prisoners.
- Fifth: We hold the international community and the Red Cross institution fully responsible for the lives of the prisoners, and we demand the dispatch of independent international investigation committees to uncover the fate of the prisoners, especially the prisoners of Gaza, and to put a final end to the policy of impunity.
O masses of our proud people,
A people who have presented such a massive number of prisoners, and faced all tools of repression, is a people who cannot be defeated and whose will cannot be broken. The battle for the liberation of the prisoners is a mirror of the greater battle for freedom, and an integral part of the path of comprehensive national-liberation.
Glory to the martyrs … Healing to the wounded … Freedom to the prisoners!
Ours is a continuing battle until the shackles are broken and freedom, return and independence are achieved!
PFLP central media department