Raji Sourani ( ar, راجي الصوراني, born 31 December 1953 in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

) is a

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

lawyer in the Gaza Strip. He is married and is the father of two children, and lives in the Gaza Strip. He was an

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

prisoner of conscience in 1985 and 1988, member of

International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and inte ...

EXCO and IDAL EXCO, and Vice President of the

International Federation of Human Rights The International Federation for Human Rights (french: Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; FIDH) is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international h ...

. He was a recipient of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1991, given each year to an individual whose courageous activism is at the heart of the human rights movement and in the spirit of Robert F. Kennedy's vision and legacy. In 1995, he founded the

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR, ar, المركز الفلسطيني لحقوق الإنسان) is a Palestinian people, Palestinian human rights organization based in Gaza City. It was founded in 1995 by Raji Sourani, who is its d ...

and is its director. Sourani was active in the cases of

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

representing deportation, and in monitoring the conditions of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i prisons and detentions. He remains an unreserved critic of

human rights violations Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

occurring on both sides of the conflict. Sourani was selected for the 2003 Oak Institute for Human Rights Fellowship at Colby College in

Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The city is home to Colby College and Thomas College. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the populatio ...

. However, his visa was not approved and he was unable to travel to the United States at that time. Sourani was also denied a permit to exit Gaza to attend a human rights conference in September 2008. Sourani was co-awarded the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob v ...

on September 26, 2013 for "his unwavering dedication to the rule of law and human rights under exceptionally difficult circumstances." Sourani served “a three-year sentence 979-1982imposed by an Israeli court which convicted him of membership in the illegal Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization. He was also denied a US entry visa in 2012. Sourani was imprisoned an additional three times, in 1985 and 1986, and held in administrative detention in 1988.

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External links

Speak Truth To Power Defender

Kerry Kennedy Mary Kerry Kennedy (born September 8, 1959) is an American lawyer, author and human rights activist. She is the seventh child and third daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. During her 15-year marriage to former New York Gove ...

Interview
Special Report A Matter of Principle: Gaza Human Rights Lawyer Raji Sourani

Interview Raji Sourani - Vidéo Dailymotion
FIDH Interview with Raji Sourani Human rights in the Gaza Strip 20th-century Palestinian lawyers People from the Gaza Strip 1954 births Living people Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Israel Palestinian people imprisoned by Israel Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureates 21st-century Palestinian lawyers {{Palestine-law-bio-stub jp:ラージー・アッ＝スーラーニー