As Ahed Tamimi's next court session approaches her father has called on Uruguayan Grammy winner Natalia Oreiro to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv. Ahed, who was 16 years old when she was imprisoned for hitting two Israeli soldiers who attempted to enter her house, faces up to 10 years in prison.
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“Your concert would undermine our efforts to free Ahed and the over 300 hundred girls and boy prisoners in Israeli jails”, Bassem Tamimi expressed in a letter to Oreiro who is expected to perform in Israel, where she is highly popular, on May 20.
If found guilty, Ahed could serve up to 10 year in prison for “assault” and “incitement” charges.
The video that shows Tamimi slapping and hitting the two armed occupation soldiers was filmed shortly after Ahed was informed that her 15-year-old cousin Mohammed had been shot by Israeli forces in the face.
Ahed is not the only one who has been detained from the Tamimi family.
On Feb. 26 Israel’s occupation forces conducted an overnight raid in the town of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, abducted and arrested 10 members of Ahed’s family, including her cousin Mohammed who remains in a delicate condition after part of his skull was removed to dislodge the rubber-coated steel bullet from his head.
Tamimi’s request to Oreiro is framed within the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement “inspired by the international boycotts that helped South Africans put an end to apartheid in the 1990s,” he explained.
In his letter Bassem Tamimi cites Oreiro’s involvement in a campaign against the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility in Uruguay, reminding her Ahed was only 16 when taken prisoner.
“Ms. Oreiro, my daughter was dragged from our home in the middle of the night, after her teenage cousin was shot in the head. She is facing a military trial with charges that can lead to years of unjust and inhumane incarceration,” he wrote.
Ahed's case has been widely condemmened by international human rights organizations and Jewish groups in the United States.
The letter, which was published and circulated through social media since Feb. 26, has not yet been answered.