Israel to release Palestinian MP after 14 Months in Prison

Khalida Jarrar.

Al-Quds, 26 Sya’ban 1437/03 June 2016 (MINA) – Israel is set to release a prominent Palestinian lawmaker who has been in prison since April 2015, Palestinian and Israeli sources said on Thursday.

Khalida Jarrar is to be released on Friday, the Israel Prison Service has confirmed, MME was quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

She is expected to be transferred to the area of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority through a checkpoint in the Tul Karm area.

At her sentencing last year, the court also handed Jarrar a 10-month suspended sentence and fined her 10,000 shekels ($2,600). In the plea agreement, Jarrar’s indictment was amended so that she was convicted of one count of belonging to an illegal organization and another of incitement. She is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

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Human rights groups and advocates on behalf of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel noted that the criminal charges were filed against Jarrar after an administrative detention order under which she was held without trial was rescinded following international pressure and criticism of her imprisonment.

They said a similar scenario played itself out this week in the case of Al-Quds University astrophysicist Imad al-Barghouthi. He was indicted for incitement three days after a military appeals court ordered him released after ruling that there was insufficient evidence to justify the administrative detention order against him.

Both cases, the sources claimed, demonstrate the ease with which prominent Palestinians can be detained. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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