PEN America decries Israel’s assault, detention of Palestinian author, urges investigation
A writers’ advocacy group, PEN America, has denounced the Israeli assault and detention of Hanan Awwad, a Palestinian author and poet, in East al-Quds.
“We condemn and are deeply distressed by the assault and detention of Hanan Awwad by Israeli forces,” PEN America said in a statement on Sunday.
“The assault is not just an attack on an individual, but on free expression at a moment when it is most needed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Writers and artists must be able to express their thoughts, share their stories, and speak truth to power without fear of violence or repression.”
The organization called for an “urgent investigation” into the incident and for the immediate withdrawal of the summons against Awwad, who is also the President of PEN Palestine.
Awwad has told PEN International that she was stopped on her way home, held at gunpoint, physically assaulted, and threatened by Israeli forces.
According to the report, Awwad was detained for four hours, where she was beaten by Israeli soldiers and subjected to verbal abuse and called a terrorist.
The author was repeatedly interrogated about the content of her writings, and was given summons to appear at a police station as charges of incitement against the Israeli occupying regime are being probed.
According to the group, Israel detained 17 individuals, most of them Palestinians, in 2023. All were detained after October 7, 2023.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.
Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 38,584 Palestinians and injured 88,881 more. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.
Dozens of Palestinian journalsits and writers have been detained by Israeli forces since the Hamas operation, according to Palestinian prisoners’ groups.
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