Amnesty International Australia (AIA) – Tas Urban Group, with Friends of Palestine Tasmania are holding a vigil.
Saturday 2 April 14-15.00
Hobart – Parliament House Lawns, Hobart
Launceston – Brisbane St. Mall, under the shade roof
And at the same time in other states through AIA with APAN (Australia Palestine Advocacy Network).
The vigil is for Mohammed El Halabi, Program Manager for World Vision in Gaza arrested on his way back to Gaza in 2016 and accused of funnelling millions of dollars of aid money to Hamas. Mohammed required external approval for any spending over $15,000 and also hard to divert the alleged US$50million as the budget for the past 10 years was approximately US$22.5million. The Australian Government commissioned an investigation, which found ‘nothing to suggest any diversion of funds’.
Mohammed has been imprisoned for over 5 years and faced constant pressure to plead guilty. He has been tortured, sustaining hearing damage. There have been 151 court hearings. See https://apan.org.au/free_elhalabi/
Join us at this vigil is to raise awareness of Mohammed’s plight. As the Rev. Tim Costello has said:
“Why is Israel keeping a humanitarian hero behind bars?”
