My Trial and the Prosecution of Mr. Mahmoud Abbas

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

On Wednesday, December 28, 2016, I will appear before a court, accused of demanding the application of Palestinian law.

I am accused of demanding the application of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s revolutionary law, and the application of the Palestinian Authority’s Basic Law. Of course, I am accused because this demand indicts the symbols of the Palestinian Authority and the symbols of Oslo, since it is they who violate the laws, tear the people apart, and spread chaos and strife. Whoever oversteps the law, permitting himself what he does not permit others, is deliberately spreading chaos, manufacturing strife in order to bring about internal conflicts and civil wars. And whoever wants to establish a state must understand that respect for the law is the first prerequisite for spreading stability and harmony among people, while whoever violates the law does not want a state at all — he is only laying the foundation for animosity, hatred, and rancor, deliberately sowing division among people and spreading conflict.

Mr. Mahmoud Abbas stands at the head of those violating the laws. He first violates the PLO’s revolutionary law on a number of points, foremost among them collaborating with the enemy. He also violates the Palestinian Authority’s Basic Law, which stipulates that the elected president’s term is only four years. He still, to this day, refuses to step down from his seat, even though we are now in 2016, and his legal term ended back in 2009.

A judge — who apparently does not know the law — detained me in January 2016 for fifteen days because I demanded the application of the law, when it was Abbas who should have been detained, since it is he who violates the law, not I.

Accordingly, I will file two lawsuits against Abbas: one before the military court, which applies the revolutionary law, and the other in the civil court, which examines violations of the Palestinian Authority’s election laws. I am now searching for a courageous lawyer to represent me in both suits. And if I cannot find one, I will be forced to launch a media campaign spanning the world, so that the competent judicial bodies suspend Abbas from his post, arrest him, and bring him to trial. The law knows no distinction between great and small — it knows only equality among people. And we will test the credibility of the Palestinian judiciary. I have faced arrest before, all of it because of the executive authority’s control over the judiciary.

The time has come for Dr. Adel Samara’s trial, and now the time has come for mine. And if the Authority cannot tolerate a small handful of people insisting on speaking the truth against normalization, security coordination, and cooperation with the enemy, then it would be better for it, and for us, if it simply vanished from our sight.

I ask lawyers who find within themselves the courage to contact me at this email address, so that we may file the two suits against Abbas, and afterward against everyone else who violates Palestinian law, such as members of the Palestinian National Council and members of the Organization’s Executive Committee, and so on. Those implicated in corrupting the judiciary and violating the laws are many. And we will find there are judges who fear God not at all, ruling falsely and unjustly to please the executive authority.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “محاكمتي ومقاضاة السيد محمود عباس” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.