Fatima Waddah Younes, the daughter of imprisoned Lebanese Waddah Younes, speaks at the Resistance and Liberation Day event in Beirut to call for freedom for her father and all of the prisoners:
To the commission of prisoners, the brothers representing political and social activities, human rights associations, honorable families of the prisoners, distinguished guests, peace be upon you and the mercy and blessings of God.
First, I wish you well on the occasion of Resistance and Liberation Day. This great anniversary... in which our people and our resistance proved that will is stronger than occupation, and that sacrifices create freedom and dignity.
We ask God that we meet soon for a third liberation, God willing, under our wise leadership, with the steadfastness of our heroic fighters, and the patience of our loyal people who never abandoned the path of resistance and truth.
I am honored to open today's speech with a tribute of reverence and pride to our Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, and to the heroic fighters who are writing the most wonderful epics of heroism and sacrifice with their blood, teaching the entire world the meaning of pride, dignity, and steadfastness.
This land is ours; it has been nourished by the blood of our martyrs, and it will remain defiant against occupation, no matter how long it takes.
The highest expressions of loyalty and salutation... to the soul of our most sacred martyr, Ayatollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, to the soul of our Hashemite Sayyed, and to all our righteous martyrs, who paved the path of freedom and dignity with their blood. Through them, the dawn of freedom breaks for our prisoners.
We also salute our heroic prisoners languishing in occupation jails, who face the most heinous forms of torture and violations at the hands of an enemy that knows no humanity, and gives no weight to international laws and conventions regarding the rights of prisoners and the duty to treat them with dignity.
Even the International Red Cross has not been allowed to visit them or reassure us of their well-being.
We have waited for our government for 15 months and knocked on every official door. We visited His Excellency the President and His Excellency the Prime Minister, hoping to see a real step leading to the release of our prisoners and an end to our people's suffering.
But unfortunately, all diplomatic efforts have yielded no tangible results, neither in stopping the shelling and attacks that claim the lives of our youth on the roads, nor regarding the file of our prisoners, whose fate remains unknown to us. We do not know what they are being subjected to inside those prisons.
You entered into direct negotiations, which every honorable patriot rejects, under many pretexts, but until this moment, we have seen no serious stance or actual step toward liberating the prisoners. It is as if this file is not a priority for the state.
From here, we say it today with one voice, on behalf of every heart aching for a missing prisoner:
Our prisoners are a national and humanitarian trust, and their liberation is a duty that cannot be delayed or compromised. They are not just numbers in occupation records, nor just a file mentioned in statements and speeches. They are the sons of this nation. They have families waiting in hope of a reunion. They carry the pain of absence in their hearts, while their loved ones' hearts burn with the fire of longing and waiting.
They are endless stories of patience; faces hidden by chains but never absent from our prayers. They spend their lives behind bars, but their souls remain free, resisting oblivion and clinging to hope and dignity.
In every prisoner's home, there is a waiting mother, a patient wife, and a child dreaming of a long-awaited embrace.
We will not tire, we will not be silent, and we will not back down from demanding the freedom of our prisoners, no matter how long it takes. For their cause is not one of individuals, but of a nation, dignity, and rights.
We will continue to raise their names in every square, carry their pain in our consciences, and demand that the entire world... assume its responsibilities regarding the injustice and violations they face.
Today, as always, our hearts believe that freedom is a promise that never dies, and no matter how long the night, the dawn must break.
The prisoners who endured and remained steadfast behind bars will one day return to their families, with heads held high, victorious through their will and resilience.
Freedom for our prisoners, healing for our wounded, mercy for our martyrs, and victory for a people who do not know defeat.
Peace be upon you, and the mercy and blessings of God.
