A report released by The International Legal Forum (ILF) NGO is alleging that the pro-Palestinian organization Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has ties to the Iranian government.
The 22-page report released at the end of March states that there is “overwhelming evidence” to prove this connection, noting that “Samidoun has a chapter and operational base in Iran, that is involved in organizing and supporting their global activities.” Additionally, the organization “has advocated support for the regime of Ayatollah Khamenei and an end to sanctions against the Iranian regime” as well as has been supportive of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both of which are terror groups funded by Iran, per the report. The report also noted that Khaled Barakat, who heads Samidoun, has appeared on Iranian state television calling for “Palestinian armed resistance” and lauding Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy terror group, as a “very strong resistance camp.”
Additionally, Samidoun European representative Mustafa Awad received training from Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2015 and in 2018, he “was arrested and convicted by Israeli authorities for belonging to terrorist organizations, participating in unlawful military exercises and transferring of funds for terrorist purposes,” according to the report. The report also states that Samidoun’s leadership has myriad ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group that prompted the Israeli government to designate Samidoun as a terror organization in 2021; the report describes the PFLP as also being an Iranian proxy.
The report concludes with a call for the European Union to add Samidoun and its leaders to their terror list.
“Today, we have irrefutable evidence as to an axis-of-terror between Samidoun, PFLP and the Iranian regime,” ILF CEO Arsen Ostrovsky said in a statement. “How much longer can the EU, United States and Canada, where Samidoun is even absurdly registered as a ‘not-for-profit’ entity, keep turning their collective backs and allowing Samidoun to operate unabated, while Iran further spreads its tentacles of terror? Enough is enough, the international community must take immediate steps, to designate Samidoun and their senior leaders as terrorists in order to outlaw their destructive activities.”
Source » jewishjournal