Progressive youth and student groups in Italy have intensified their campaign for the immediate release of Khaled El Qaisi, a Italian-Palestinian student and activist, from Israeli custody. Various groups in Italy are conducting a week-long mobilization from September 25-October 1. A nationwide protest was also called at universities against the attitude of the government, especially Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who hasn’t taken any concrete actions yet to ensure the safe release of Khaled who was detained by Israeli security forces on August 31. Earlier, on September 15, youth groups, including the Communist Youth Front (FGC), students, teachers, and activists from human rights and Palestine solidarity groups organized an event at the Sapienza University of Rome. An online campaign is also being held to secure Khaled’s freedom.
Khaled is a Italian-Palestinian researcher and student of the Department of Oriental Languages and Civilizations at the Sapienza University of Rome. He is the founder of the Palestinian Documentation Center and an activist of the Giovani Palestinesi d’Italia (Palestinian Youth of Italy) group. Khaled was on a trip with his wife and child to Bethlehem last month when he was detained by the Israeli military. He is currently being held at the Petah Tikva interrogation center that is notorious for torture and inhuman treatment. According to reports, as of now, no charges have been filed against him. But at the last hearing on September 21, his detention was extended to October 1 over concerns of “national security.”
On September 26, the Communist Youth Front (FGC) in Italy accused Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani of “pretending to not know that Italian-Palestinian student Khaled had been detained in isolation in Israel for 26 days without knowing what he was accused of, that his rights were violated daily, [and he was] questioned without a lawyer and was not [allowed] to meet a lawyer for weeks.”
“In such a situation, Italy should defend the rights of one of its citizens. The bitter truth is that Israel is untouchable, and that’s why the Italian government is willing to abandon one of its citizens. We are not willing to accept this,” added the FGC.
