Raji Sourani

{{Short description|Palestinian human rights lawyer}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} thumb|Raji Sourani, 2009

'''Raji Sourani''' ({{langx|ar|راجي الصوراني}}; born 31 December 1953 in Gaza City<ref name="WaPo2013">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/right-livelihood-awards-alternative-nobels-to-us-congolese-palestinian-swiss/2013/09/26/53556076-2684-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130926104009/http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/right-livelihood-awards-alternative-nobels-to-us-congolese-palestinian-swiss/2013/09/26/53556076-2684-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 26, 2013 |title=Right Livelihood Awards, 'alternative Nobels,' given to US, Congolese, Palestinian, Swiss |newspaper=Washington Post |date=September 26, 2013 }} </ref>) is a human rights lawyer, the director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, and a former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

He was an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sourani-raji |title=Raji Sourani: Profile |work=The Guardian |accessdate=6 July 2012 |location=London |date=20 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.amnestyusa.org/middle-east/palestinian-statehood-bid-at-un-and-its-implications/ |title=Palestinian Statehood Bid at UN and Its Implications |author=Edith Garwood |date=6 October 2011 |publisher=Amnesty International |accessdate=6 July 2012}}</ref> in 1985 and 1988, member of International Commission of Jurists EXCO and IDAL EXCO, and Vice President of the International Federation of Human Rights. 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert F Kennedy Center Laureates|url=http://rfkcenter.org/2013-ragia-omran-egypt-3?id=1613&lang=en|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407045517/http://rfkcenter.org/2013-ragia-omran-egypt-3?id=1613&lang=en|archivedate=2014-04-07}}</ref> In 1995, he founded the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and is its director.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3034:director&catid=54:organisation-a-staff&Itemid=181|title=PCHR - About Us - Director}}</ref>

Sourani was active in the cases of Palestinians representing deportation, and in monitoring the conditions of Israeli prisons and detentions. He remains an unreserved critic of human rights violations 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.<ref> [https://oakinstitute.colby.edu/fellowship/previous-fellows/2003-oak-fellow-raji-sourani/ 2003 Oak Fellowship:Raji Sourani] </ref> He was denied a permit to exit Gaza to attend a human rights conference in September 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pchrgaza.org/en/pchr-director-denied-permit-to-exit-gaza-for-international-human-rights-conference/|title=PCHR Director Denied Permit to Exit Gaza for International Human Rights Conference}}</ref> Sourani was co-awarded the Right Livelihood Award on September 26, 2013 for "his unwavering dedication to the rule of law and human rights under exceptionally difficult circumstances".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dw.de/alternative-nobel-prize-awarded-for-fight-against-chemical-weapons/a-17116300 |title='Alternative Nobel Prize' awarded for fight against chemical weapons |newspaper=Deutsche Welle |date=September 26, 2013 }}</ref>

Sourani served "a three-year sentence [1979-1982] imposed by an Israeli court which convicted him of membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization by Israel. 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. Sourani was named a ''Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International'' during his 1988 detention.<ref>[https://ps.boell.org/en/2013/10/03/raji-sourani-wins-alternative-nobel-prize Raji Sourani wins the Alternative Nobel Prize], Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2 October 2013</ref> During the Israeli detention Sourani was beaten and subjected to mental and physical torture.<ref>[https://rfkhumanrights.org/person/raji-sourani/ Raji Sourani], Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights</ref>

Since the signing of the Declaration of Principles by the Government of Israel and the PLO in 1993, and the establishment of limited Palestinian self-rule, he has advocated strict adherence to international standards for the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. In his principled stance, he has won respect and recognition by international organizations for his work.<ref>Kerry Kennedy:[https://web.archive.org/web/20100713071216/http://www.speaktruth.org/defend/profiles/profile_19.asp Speak Truth To Power Defender]</ref>

As leader of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, Sourani organized the first mission of human rights observers after the overthrow of Muammar al-Gaddafi in Libya in 2011 and trained lawyers and human rights advocates in Syria.<ref name="WaPo2013" />

In 2014 he said that had been in the ranks of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.<ref>{{cite news |title=الشعبية تكرم المناضل الأستاذ راجي الصوراني تقديراً لدوره في نقل رسالة شعبنا. |url=https://video.alwatanvoice.com/view/2014/02/17/496986.html|publisher=Donia Al-Watan |date=14 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018125346/https:/video.alwatanvoice.com/view/2014/02/17/496986.html |archive-date=18 October 2018 |language=ar |quote=وقال الصوراني "كنت داخل صفوف الجبهة الشعبية}}</ref>

In October 2023, at the onset of the Gaza war, Sourani was living with his family in the Tel al-Hawa district of Gaza City. Shortly after he had given an interview to ''Democracy Now!'''s Amy Goodman, on October 22 Israel blew up his two-storey home with a {{Convert|900|kg}} bomb, He believes he was targeted and, while insisting on staying, was persuaded by others to exit the Gaza Strip to protect his life.<ref>Patrick Wintour, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/15/gaza-at-risk-of-becoming-graveyard-of-international-law-palestinian-lawyer Gaza at risk of becoming 'graveyard of international law' – Palestinian lawyer,'] The Guardian 15 October 2024.</ref><ref>[https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/23/raji_sourani_gaza_new_nakba Palestinian Human Rights Lawyer Raji Sourani Describes Surviving Israel Bombing His Home in Gaza], Democracy Now, 23 October 2023.</ref> From his 65 colleagues from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, two young lawyers were killed. Sourani eventually managed to flee to Paris, where he assessed the role and limits of the international justice system to affect the war devastating Gaza.<ref>{{cite web |title=Israel-Hamas war: 'Not forcing Israel to respect international law is to be complicit in genocide' |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/04/01/israel-hamas-war-not-forcing-israel-to-respect-international-law-is-to-be-complicit-in-genocide_6667040_4.html |website=Le Monde |access-date=25 April 2024 |archive-date=1 April 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240401155635/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/04/01/israel-hamas-war-not-forcing-israel-to-respect-international-law-is-to-be-complicit-in-genocide_6667040_4.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

In November 2024 Raji Sourani was - with Richard Falk, Ahmet Köroğlu, Hilal Elver, Lara Elborno, Penny Green, Wesam Ahmad, Craig Mokhiber - a member of the Gaza Tribunal steering committee, a people's tribunal established in London as an independent initiative with humanitarian and moral objectives to investigate Israel's war crimes in Gaza.<ref>[https://gazatribunal.com/steering-committee/ Gaza Tribunal], 2025</ref>

In January 2025 Sourani was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Assoc. Professor James Mehigan of Canterbury University. <ref>https://profiles.canterbury.ac.nz/James-Mehigan</ref>

In September 2025 Sourani's organization, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, announced that its head office had been destroyed in the attack on al Roya tower in Gaza city. <ref>https://x.com/pchrgaza/status/1965037590018412883</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100713071216/http://www.speaktruth.org/defend/profiles/profile_19.asp Speak Truth To Power Defender] by Kerry Kennedy, 5 May 2002 * [https://www.wrmea.org/1995-september/a-matter-of-principle-gaza-human-rights-lawyer-raji-sourani.html Special Report – A Matter of Principle: Gaza Human Rights Lawyer Raji Sourani] by Janet McMahon, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September 1995 * [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7z8dm_interview-raji-sourani Interview Raji Sourani - Vidéo Dailymotion] FIDH Interview with Raji Sourani, 9 January 2009 * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpSMLTx-pjs Lawyers accuse British Israelis of Gaza war crimes], submission on behalf of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the British-based Public Interest Law Centre, 8 April 2025

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sourani, Raji}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:People from Gaza City Category:20th-century Palestinian lawyers Category:21st-century Palestinian lawyers Category:Human rights in the Gaza Strip Category:Palestinian people imprisoned by Israel Category:Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Israel Category:Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureates