Dr. Eyad Rajab El Sarraj Palestine

"Receiving this award reminded me of one of the persons I left behind in prison. He said to me: 'Don't forget me… please… don't forget me.' In the detention centres which I have to visit in my capacity as the Commissioner General for Human Rights in Palestine (a position which also put me in detention), in every prison, in every detention centre I visit in Israel or Palestine, I always call out, with these haunting memories of the sounds of people bleeding: 'don't forget me'….."

Dr. Eyad Rajab El Sarraj, at the Martin Ennals Award Ceremony
in Geneva, November 1998.

Winner of the 1998 Martin Ennals Award
for Human Rights Defender

Dr. Eyad Rajab El Sarraj, is the founder and Medical Director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, an independent health service which provides urgently needed support, such as rehabilitation for torture victims, to the large number of people affected by the upheaval of the Intifada and the organised violence of the Israeli occupation.

His open criticism, including of the Palestinian National Authorities, has placed him in great danger, resulting in his arrests on numerous occasions, where he experienced torture, prolonged solitary confinement and lack of access to an attorney.

Dr. El Sarraj is a member of the International Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims, and the Co-ordinating Committee of the Campaign Against Torture Victims. The untiring efforts of this courageous human rights defender is making a noticeable difference and will do so more in the coming years.