ISRAEL TO FREE YOUNGEST PALESTINIAN PRISONER

Ramallah, 22 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/12 February 2015 (MINA)– Malak al-Khatib, the youngest Palestinian currently held by Israel, will be released on Friday, a Palestinian NGO has said.

Friday will be the final day of a two-month jail term handed down against 14-year-old al-Khatib, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said Thursday, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

On Jan. 21, al-Khatib became the youngest of 280 children currently being held in Israeli jails after an Israeli court sentenced her to two months behind bars and fined her 6,000 Israeli shekels (roughly $1,500), according to the Ahrar Center for Prisoners’ Studies and Human Rights, another Ramallah-based NGO.

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The 14-year-old was detained by Israeli forces on Dec. 31 of last year while on her way back home from school in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

She was later charged with throwing stones at Israeli police and possessing a knife.

Israeli forces routinely arrest Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on the pretext that they are “wanted” by the authorities.

Over 7,000 Palestinians are currently languishing in prisons throughout Israel, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs. (T/P010/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)