Sumud’s Board
Majed Abusalama, Chair
Majed Abusalama is a political activist, writer, and researcher who was born and raised in the Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza. He emerged as a prominent civil society activist, initiating, organizing, coordinating, and leading various local and international humanitarian and political efforts to break the military siege of Gaza, including initiatives like Beats for Gaza and the Gaza Freedom March.
Since leaving Gaza, Abusalama has been actively involved in anti-racist, migrant, decolonial, and solidarity movements across Europe. He tirelessly works against far-right and fascist forces, continuing his commitment to justice and liberation.
He has co-founded several organizations, including Sumud in Finland, Palestine Speaks in Germany, and Alliance for Palestine in Switzerland.
In Berlin, Abusalama won a 3 year-long, well-known trial named the Humboldt3, where he and another two anti-Zionist activists took Israel to court.
In his PhD research at the Palestine Research Group in Finland, Abusalama investigates the colonial control over the generation of the blockade. He regularly writes for many media outlets including Aljazeera, Mondoweiss, NewArab and others.
Lina Jarallah, Vice Chair
Lina Jarallah is a Finnish-Palestinian activist, yoga teacher and sound healer with a deep concern for the lack of equality, justice, and truth in the world. From a young age, witnessing the impact of the occupation on her family in East Jerusalem, and visiting other parts of Palestine throughout her life has developed into a sensitivity towards the struggles of oppressed indigenous people.
Syksy Räsänen, Vice Chair
Syksy Räsänen has been on the board of ICAHD Finland since 2010. He also has been part of the International Solidarity Movement on the West Bank in various years. He is the author of the book Israelin apartheid.
Koko Hubara
Koko Hubara is a Finnish–Israeli–Yemeni author, writer, journalist and doctoral researcher. Since 2015, Hubara has worked in the fields of literature, journalism, research and within the third sector with questions related to decolonization, intersectional feminism, and antiracism. Koko Hubara is a founding member of Ruskeat Tytöt ry and the anti-Zionist network Nahlieli – Jews for Justice in Palestine.
Jenna Jauhiainen
Jenna Jauhiainen is a post-disciplinary artist, writer, curator, researcher, communications strategist and activist organiser whose work brings together institutional critique, digital culture and a commitment to justice.
Jauhiainen was one of the organisers of the Kiasma_strike campaign, which led the Finnish National Gallery to adopt new ethical funding guidelines—the campaign successfully managed to break ties between Kiasma and funding derived from arms trade between Finland and Israel.
Jauhiainen was a key member of the Laki särmään citizens’ initiative, which gathered over 56,000 signatures to demand human rights–based regulation of defence procurement. The campaign was awarded the Global Philanthrophist of the Year 2025 award by Fingo.
Jauhiainen is also one of the initiators of the Flow Strike campaign, which launched criticism toward Flow Festival’s ownership by the international investment firm KKR in 2024. Since then, the critique against KKR has spread across Europe, targeting other festivals under the same ownership structure.
Eero Kivistö
Eero Kivistö is a human rights activist from Kotka who has for years acted as a social media commentator, commenting on various human rights issues. Outside of his social media activism he is active member of the Finnish Green Party and the service sector trade union PAM. His interest in Palestine originally started by reading about the situation of Israeli conscientious objectors, which inspired him to learn more about the history of Palestine and ultimately joining Sumud in fall of 2024.
Iiris Laisi
Iiris Laisi is a dancer-performer, stage poet and an organizer, who’s now active in Students for Palestine Helsinki in addition to Sumud. Previously Iiris has been organizing in Elokapina and Debt for Climate Finland (a local working group part of the global movement). Iiris studies live art and performance at the Theatre Academy in Helsinki. Iiris wants to build bridges and burn them as well as grow the people’s movement.
Aurora Lemma
Aurora Lemma is a Finnish-ethiopian doctor, journalist and writer. Previously, Aurora has worked in anti-racist and feminist groups, including the civil society organisation Fem-R.
Alia Maharzah
Alia Maharzah is a Finnish-Palestinian small business owner, office
manager, and mother of two boys. Since early 2024, she has been part of Sumud’s social media team, focusing on Instagram. In addition to Palestine, Alia is passionate about equality and animal rights.
Hichem Naami
Hichem Naami was born in Tunisia, and has a double nationality, Tunisian and Palestinian, as his father is Palestinian. He would love to introduce himself as an artist, because he believes that art in its purest form is resistance. He studied arts and literature in Tunisia and graduated in sport and physical education. He is a well-known filmmaker in Tunisia. He came to Finland with his wife and son in 2023, and has a long-term idea to make change in Finland as a filmmaker and through content creation on social media.
Hanna Niittymäki, Treasurer
Hanna Niittymäki is a Peace Educator and former Special needs teacher. She co-operates with several NGOs and other actors, but her home base is in the peace movement and especially in The Finnish Peace Committee. Peace has been Hanna’s thing since childhood and it is in her agenda to make it the thing for
many others as well.
Seija-Leena Salo, Secretary
Seija-Leena Salo is a freelance artist, feminist and activist from Turku. She makes performances and community art in strong connection to the surrounding reality. Her work is based in relational, embodied, site sensitive and documentary practices. Seija-Leena wants to take part in deconstructing colonial, patriarchal and capitalist power structures and building justice to all living species regardless of national borders. She is interested in how we as individuals and communities could face difficult issues and still keep being able to feel, sense and communicate in compassionate ways.
Alaa Al Tamimi
Alaa Al Tamimi is a dedicated human rights activist, deeply committed to defending the rights of refugees, advocating for mental well-being, and fight white supremacy, racism, and colonialism. He is also the co-founder of MIITTI Pro Lapinlahti Mielenterveysseura ry, where he works to make a lasting impact on mental health and social justice.
Staff
Lili De Paola, Coordinator
Lili De Paola holds master’s degrees in Middle Eastern Studies and Finnish Language. In her studies, she has focused on Saudi Arabia as well as Palestine/Israel. At Sumud, Lili is responsible for advocacy work, membership affairs, communications, event production and funding applications.
Jasmin Paananen, Executive Director
Jasmin Paananen is a Middle East expert specializing in Palestine. Her work focuses on the status of Palestinian refugees within the international system, with particular attention to their situation in Lebanon. In her free time, Jasmin enjoys knitting wool socks, watching football, and listening to Arabic music.
As Executive Director of Sumud, Jasmin is responsible for the organization’s administration, financial management, and strategic planning and monitoring in collaboration with the board. She also serves as the supervisor for Sumud’s other staff members.
Pilvi Nikarmaa, Organisational Assistant
Pilvi Nikarmaa is a Master of Social Sciences with a degree in Global Politics and Communication. Pilvi has worked with human rights issues in Finland and the Horn of Africa and in her free time, she learns to identify bird species. At Sumud, Pilvi is responsible for the content of the organisation’s website and online store and supports communications and campaigns.
Kevin Soovik, Intern
Kevin Soovik is a future Master of Social Sciences studying Political History and World Politics. In the free time, Kevin organises for Students for Palestine and participates in reading circles. At Sumud, Kevin is responsible for organizing Sumud’s Palestine Summer School 2025.
Recruitment
Sumud’s vacancies are posted here.
