Above photo: Red Ribbons campaign by the Palestinian Forum in Britain in support of Dr Hussam Abu Safiyyah and Palestinian detainees.
The Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) has announced the launch of a new solidarity campaign calling for the release of Dr Hossam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli occupation prisons. The campaign will take the form of a calm, symbolic action titled the “Red Ribbons Campaign”, to be held on Saturday 20 December at Oxford Circus in central London, at 1:00 pm.
The Forum explained that the event is neither a demonstration nor a protest march, but a silent, peaceful act of solidarity. Participants will hang red ribbons and display specially designed posters carrying clear demands for freedom and justice, conveying a humanitarian message to British and international public opinion about the suffering of Palestinian prisoners.
The Forum invited participants to bring red ribbons if possible, stressing that presence alone is a statement, and that quiet, symbolic solidarity can be more powerful than slogans, particularly amid ongoing attempts to criminalise or restrict pro-Palestine advocacy in the British public sphere.
The red ribbon: a global symbol for the prisoners’ cause
In a clarifying statement, the Palestinian Forum in Britain emphasised that the campaign aims to establish the red ribbon as a global symbol for raising awareness of the Palestinian prisoners’ cause, and to highlight their situation as hostages of the occupation—especially in light of what it described as an “unprecedented escalation in policies of arrest, isolation, starvation and enforced disappearance”.
The Forum noted that the choice of red reflects danger, urgency and the ongoing human bleeding inside prisons, serving as an open call to the global conscience not to normalise silence in the face of these violations.
Shocking figures on the reality of prisoners as of December 2025
The campaign draws on documentation by Palestinian prisoners’ rights institutions and figures released by the Israeli Prison Service up to December 2025, which reveal a stark and brutal reality:
- The total number of prisoners and detainees in Israeli occupation prisons stands at approximately 9,300, the majority of whom are detainees and administrative prisoners, excluding those held in Israeli army camps.
- The number of sentenced prisoners has reached 1,254.
- There are 51 female prisoners, including two children.
- Around 350 child prisoners are being held in Ofer and Megiddo prisons.
- The number of administrative detainees has reached 3,350.
- Some 1,220 detainees are classified as “unlawful combatants”—a figure that does not include all Gaza detainees held in army camps, and which also includes Arab detainees from Lebanon and Syria.
The Forum stressed that these figures point to a system of mass detention based on the denial of the most basic legal and human rights, constituting a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
An open call for solidarity
The Palestinian Forum in Britain concluded its statement by calling on all people of conscience in Britain to take part in the Red Ribbons Campaign, affirming that the prisoners’ cause—foremost among them Dr Hossam Abu Safiya—is not solely a Palestinian issue, but one of justice and human dignity that deserves to remain at the heart of public discourse, regardless of mounting attempts at marginalisation or exclusion.
