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OSLO, (PIC)-- The European network to support the Palestinian prisoners (UFree) has called on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to take a “clear and firm stance” as Israel continues to hold 19 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) prisoner.

The call comes after PACE recommended that the PLC be accepted as a observing member and awarded it the title of “a partner in democracy”. Those recommendations are slated to be weighed in September.

UFree, which is headquartered in Oslo, praised the decision, saying it would provide an opportunity to take a position that exerts pressure for the release of the Palestinian legislators being held in the Israeli prisons.

UFree chairman Mohammed Hamdan said in a press statement that the move infers that PACE should urgently addresses the detained legislators issue in its upcoming session on 6 September, given that those legislators were arrested over their political backgrounds, in violation of international laws and conventions.

Hamdan added that UFree has been working to keep European parliamentarians informed about issues relating to Palestine’s legislators alongside the thousands of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have spent more than thirty years behind bars.