Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
A terrorist entity?
On 8 October 2024, Pierre Polievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, issued a statement calling for the Samidoun network to be listed as a terrorist entity under Canadian law. He indicated that if elected Prime Minister, he would list them as such. Readers of this newsletter will know that I often have strong views about who and what can and cannot be listed as a terrorist entity, and this case is no different. So let’s get into it.
What is the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network?
The Samidoun network advocates for the rights of people convicted or accused of terrorism and acts related to terrorism. The network has chapters in the Palestinian territories, Sweden, Iran, Paris, France (broadly), Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Albuquerque, New Jersey, Portland, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Brazil, Greece, and Hungary. Samidoun is also a federally registered not-for-profit corporation. In 2021, Israel designated Samidoun as a terrorist organization and an arm of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a listed terrorist entity here in Canada. Germany banned Samidoun in October 2023 after the October 7th Hamas-led attack. Their activities include organizing protests and marches.
What Samidoun Says
Samidoun has courted controversy with its stance on a number of issues. Instead of paraphrasing their writings, I have pasted excerpts from two pages of their website. These writings, broadly speaking, support Hezbollah and the actions of October 7th (Al-Aqsa Flood). Read them for yourself:
These posts do not leave a lot to the imagination of what these folks believe.
While absolutely distasteful, “glorification” of terrorism or speaking in support of it is not a terrorist offence, and we have a high bar for what constitutes hate crimes. These comments would likely prove challenging to prosecute. (There are defences for public incitement of hatred that include public interest.)