Addameer Under Attack: A Global Call to Resist the Criminalisation of Liberation
Solidarity Statement of Britain-based groups on the sanctioning of Palestinian Prisoner’s Advocacy Group Addameer
Last week, the US Treasury Department imposed shameful sanctions on the Palestinian prisoner’s advocacy group Addameer, placing Addameer on the US ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ list. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has worked for over 30 years to advocate on behalf of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in prison under Israeli occupation through critical legal aid and advocacy, documenting Israeli human rights abuses against prisoners and reporting on the systemic use of administrative detention, torture and trial of Palestinians by military court. This work is not only vital - it is courageous and necessary. We stand in unwavering solidarity with Addameer and reject this criminalisation.
We unequivocally condemn this decision. This shameful move is a deliberate political attack aimed at criminalising all forms of Palestinian resistance.
Such sanctions demonstrate how anti-terror laws are used to defang and repress legitimate work in the service of justice, dignity and anticolonial liberation. The Trump Administration is spearheading a broader strategy of repression that Britain has also aligned itself with - one that seeks to dismantle the infrastructure of Palestinian resistance by labeling it as ‘terrorism’ or ‘extremism’. These are the same labels that have historically been used to suppress anticolonial, Irish and black liberation movements across the world and we reject them outright. Unsurprisingly, Trump’s decision follows years of Israeli sanctions on Addameer and repeated IOF raids on their offices.
We recognise these tactics of repression because we see them here in Britain, too. The Prevent strategy is used to criminalise political dissent, especially among Muslim, black and migrant communities. Protesters are arrested for participating in anti-genocide demonstrations. Activists are charged under terror offenses for taking action to stop arms shipments. Local authorities are pressured to adopt anti-BDS stances or ban pro-Palestine speakers under the pretext of ‘safeguarding’ and ‘public order.’ The repression of Addameer must be seen in this global context. It is an extension of the same system that upholds prisons over welfare, policing over housing and militarism over life. The same forces that deny justice in Israel’s ongoing genocide on Gaza are at work denying justice in Grenfell, in Windrush and in our communities every day.
Credit: Martin Pope
Since the violent inception of the Israeli settler-colonial state, incarceration and criminalisation have always been used to try to break Palestinian resistance - this has drastically escalated since the start of the genocide. As of June 2025, 10,400 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, including 3,562 administrative detainees and 400 children. This does not include Palestinians detained out of Gaza since the start of the recent genocide - estimated to be in the thousands. IOF arrest campaigns have also escalated beyond measure in the West Bank since October 2023, with over 17,000 Palestinians arrested.
We, the undersigned groups, stand in unwavering solidarity with Addameer, with the Palestinian liberation struggle and with all those resisting repression and empire. We encourage organisations to publicly reject the criminalisation of Palestinian resistance, make use of Addameer’s critical solidarity work within your spaces and amplify their existing resources - especially following the blanket erasure of their website, reports and social media this past week.
Signed:
Abolitionist Futures
Books Against Borders
CAGE International
Chorley 4 Palestine
Copwatch Network
Cradle Community
Leeds Students for Palestine
Level Up
London 4 a Free Palestine
Maslaha
Medact
Nejma Collective
Nijjor Manush
No More Exclusions
Parents 4 Palestine
South Asians 4 Palestine
Queers 4 Palestine