OPT 001 / 0725 / OBS 041
Judicial and administrative harassment /
Obstacles to freedom of assembly
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) / United States of America
11 July 2025

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in the United States of America.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed of sanctions imposed by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association (Addameer). Addameer is a Palestinian civil society organisation that provides legal aid to Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. It also engages in national and international advocacy and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners' rights through monitoring, legal procedures, and solidarity campaigns.

On 10 June 2025, the OFAC, acting under Executive order 13224, announced sanctions against five individuals and five civil society organisations allegedly involved in terrorist financing. The Observatory makes no statement regarding the other nine individuals and entities sanctioned. With respect to Addameer, however, the designation appears to be based on politically motivated and unverified allegations of affiliation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

According to the U.S. Treasury press release, Addameer’s designation is based on vague and unsubstantiated allegations of affiliation with other previously sanctioned organisations. These accusations appear to originate from a longstanding smear campaign led by Israeli right-wing groups, whose politically motivated claims have repeatedly been discredited by international experts. No credible or public evidence has been presented to support the U.S. sanctions, and Addameer was not accused of any ties to Hamas.

These sanctions block all property and interests of Addameer under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit transactions by U.S. persons. This effectively cuts part of Addameer’s funding and affects its ability to provide legal support and protection for Palestinian detainees, which increases the risk of abuse and human rights violations.

The Observatory recalls that this is not the first attempt to criminalise Addameer’s work. In October 2021, the Israeli authorities designated Addameer and five other leading Palestinian civil society organisations as "terrorist” entities, a move widely condemned by the UN human rights experts and international civil society as baseless and politically motivated.

The Observatory strongly condemns this ongoing pattern of attacks on Palestinian civil society through the misuse of counter-terrorism frameworks. These practices were already denounced in 2021 by UN experts, who called on the Israeli authorities to end their misuse of anti-terrorism legislation to suppress leading civil society organisations in Palestine.

The Observatory is particularly alarmed by the direct impact of these sanctions on Palestinian prisoners, who rely on Addameer’s legal aid and monitoring. Reports by UN experts in 2024 pointed to a rise in the use of torture and ill-treatment in Israeli custody since October 2023. Restricting Addameer’s operations removes a key layer of protection for detainees and worsens their vulnerability.

The Observatory urges U.S. authorities to immediately lift these sanctions, which contribute to the shrinking of Palestinian civic space and the broader persecution of Palestinian human rights organisations and defenders.

Action required:

Please write to the U.S. authorities urging them to:

1. Lift all sanctions against Addameer, which directly obstruct its legitimate human rights work and advocacy for Palestinian detainees;
2. Ensure that Addameer is able to access the human and financial resources required to carry out its legal and humanitarian work without restrictions;
3. End the misuse of counter-terrorism legislation to target civil society actors and human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Addresses:

• H.E. Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, Email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact, X: @WhiteHouse
• H.E. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States of America, Email: https://register.state.gov/contactus/, X: @SecRubio
• Mr. Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, X: @USTreasury; SecScottBessent
• H.E. Mike Huckabee, Ambassador, Embassy of the United States of America to Israel, X: @usembassyjlm
• Mr. Tim Richardson, Chargé d’Affaires at the United States Embassy to the Kingdom of Belgium in Brussels, Email: BrusselsPress@state.gov, X: @usembbrussels
• Ms. Tressa Rae Finerty, Chargé d’Affaires for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, Email: GenevaUSmission@state.gov, X: @usmissiongeneva

Please also write to the diplomatic representations of the United States in your respective countries.

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Paris-Geneva, 10 July 2025

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken, quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.