Ferguson urges release of internees at Derry demonstration on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day

Sinn Féin’s Ciara Ferguson was speaking on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, held annually on April 17.

As of March 2025, the number of Palestinians held in Israeli occupation prisons, detention centres and military camps, she said, exceeded 9,500 people.

“For decades, the inhumane Israeli regime has implemented systematic genocide, incarceration, detention, occupation and discrimination practices against Palestinians.

“Thousands of Palestinians are now in Israeli detention, including hundreds of children.

“To paraphrase Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot, many of these individuals have not been charged; they are interned and should be released,” she stated.

She accused the Israelie premier Benjamin Netanyahu of unleashing ‘a campaign of barbaric terror on the defenceless population of Gaza’.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. The actions of the Israeli government in Gaza and the West Bank are devastating communities and breaching international law, with little or no accountability.

“On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, I reiterate Sinn Féin’s call for an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire, including the full withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza and the West Bank.

“Until Israel heeds these calls, it must be isolated internationally, with boycott, divestment and sanctions implemented until its brutal systems of apartheid are halted.

“It is time to bring this genocide to an end and focus efforts on building a future for the children of Palestine filled with hope, freedom and peace,” said the Sinn Féin MLA following a demonstration in the Bogside last Thursday.