Support Zaid* with prison and family bills

SUPPORT ZAID* HELD IN A DETENTION CENTRE IN BULGARIA AND HIS FAMILY DIVIDED BETWEEN TURKEY AND GAZA 

Although we are aware that broad-based projects for wider groups and communities are preferable to campaigns for individual people (with the risk of sensationalizing their condition), Zaid's situation is truly critical and the urgency of support has pushed us to take action this way. 

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Zaid* is a detainee from Palestine who's been held captive since April 2024 in Busmantsi Detention Centre near Sofia, Bulgaria. 

His support network currently needs a hand to cover his food, medicine and phone bills. 
 His friends are taking in food for him on a weekly basis because the prison canteen food is notoriously of poor quality and extremely processed. Zaid also doesn't eat pork which cuts out a big chunk of the food provided by the prison. He needs extra funds to pay for his phone bill which is very expensive because of the frequent calls to his family in Gaza and Turkey. Medicines also need to be brought in from the outside when the prison doctor is not able to provide them. What is more, Zaid just found out about a kidney condition which he's waiting to be seen for in the hospital (with the prison delaying the visit) and we are waiting to hear more about the treatment to follow.
 On top of this, we have just learnt that his family in Turkey is really struggling to make ends meet: their rent is due and they're unable to cover the costs, risking so to be evicted from their home. The food and medicine bills are also high and hard to cover.

🧾 The prison bills currently are approximately:
 • Food: £15-20 per visit, once or twice a week
 • Phone: £80-100/month 
 • Medicine: a minimum of £30/month at the moment, but potentially increasing after the kidney health assessment. 

🏡 Zaid's family bills in Turkey are approximately:
 • Rent: £190/month
 • Gas, electricity & water bill: £50/month
 • Household bill (food & non food items, medicine): £150/month 

🇵🇸 The costs of Zaid's family in Gaza are unknown but we are aiming to send a part of the funds raised to them as well. We had the confirmation that an intermediary person is able to send the money to the Bank of Palestine, via Western Union, and that this has worked successfully in the recent past. 

Because Zaid is being indefinitely detained and we don't know either when he will be released or if he will ever get a status that will allow him to seek employment to then start providing again for his family, we are aiming to raise enough money to cover at least the next 12 months of expenses.


MORE ABOUT ZAID'S STORY... 

Since the escalation of the attacks in Gaza at the end of 2023, the ongoing brutal violence of the genocide and the devastating bombings happening on a weekly basis, Zaid's newly built home was destroyed, as well as his own hairdressing salon and only source of income for his family. 
 He then decided to attempt the crossing into Europe in order to get two of his children, who are suffering from a chronic condition, to access healthcare, and at the same time seek employment in Europe to support his family from a distance while working towards getting them out of Gaza through the legal means of family reunification. 
 He managed to get to Turkey with his wife and kids in spite of the many challenges the crossing involved and in April last year, Zaid arrived in Bulgaria hoping to work his way towards getting his family to safety.
 Instead, he was arrested by the Bulgarian authorities and imprisoned in detention centre.
 Shortly after, the Bulgarian National Security Agency (SANS) declared him a 'threat to national security' and started his arbitrary, indefinite detention on racist and baseless grounds. This has been enough to override the court ruling in favour of his release and to stop the proceeding of his asylum claim. 
 We know of times before, when SANS has been racially profiling people and weaponising the use of special procedures onto those seeking asylum because of the political nature of their case or because of a dissent history back in their home countries. Apparently, the mere fact of being a Palestinian in itself is enough to be seriously criminalised. 

🔍 We also remember the case of Abdulharaman Al-Khalidi, a Saudi human rights activist, political dissident and journalist, who's also being detained in Busmantsi for over 3.5 years and whose release the SANS has been preventing in spite of multiple court rulings issuing the order. 

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ABOUT ZAID'S FAMILY 

In the meantime, while Zaid is indefinitely detained, his family is divided: a part, still in Palestine struggling for survival together with all other Gazans; the other in Turkey, facing both financial and legal difficulties and a potential home eviction, on top of the already existing psycho-emotional toll and struggles with accessing healthcare.

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HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT PRISONERS & DETAINEES AND GET INVOLVED IN PRISONER SOLIDARITY WORK 

🔴 Donate to this fundraiser!
For non-GBP payments: Open Collective uses Wise exchange rates, which are some of the best on the market. Find more info here: https://wise.com/gb/compare/wise-exchange-rate
Check out your own bank for commissions over payments in foreign currencies. Bear in mind that most banks in Europe these days have got competitive rates and that for smaller payments the commissions will amount to very little.
If you would like to make a large donation in a currency different from GBP and you're worried your bank will charge for extra fees, please leave a comment on this page and we can look into finding a solution together.

🧺 We are looking into organising more fundraisers in the future for detainees in Busmantsi and Lyubimets (detention centre in the Haskovo province, Bulgaria). Lots of people end up being deported back to Bulgaria from all over Europe under the Dublin regulations, because for many Bulgaria is the first port of entry in the EU and where they have their fingerprints taken. The funds will be used to pay for essentials such as food & non-food items, medicine and phone bills. 
➡️ Check out No Name Kitchen's BLOODY BORDERS archive of testimonies of violence on people on the move and the latest report THE BULGARIAN TRAP: www.bloodyborders.org/reports/

🧩 Organise regular fundraisers for prisoner solidarity groups, including those for migrant solidarity or at the borders. 

🌍 Join or start a local prisoner solidarity network in your region. Find out where prisons and detention centres are in your area and see if there are any active groups on the ground.
 
📚 Find here a practical guide made by Bristol ABC on how to start a prisoner solidarity group:
 👉 https://bristolabc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ABC-Zine.pdf
📌 More material available here:
www.bristolabc.org/resources
❗ Do you have any further resources to recommend? Please leave a comment on the crowdfunder page.