Ramallah, MINA – The first Palestinian imprisoned by Israel, Mahmoed Bekir Hejazi, passed away at the age of 85, on Monday, half a century after his release.
The Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Agency and the Palestinian Prisoners Society issued a message of condolences to Mahmoud Bekir Hejazi.
“Hejazi, a symbol of sacrifice, left behind important struggles and a national heritage,” he said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also sent a message of condolences to Hejazi, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
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Hejazi buried on Tuesday with a military funeral.
Hejazi, who was born in 1936 in Jerusalem, was arrested by Israeli forces after an operation in the occupied city of Beit Jibrin in January 1965.
Being the first Palestinian to enter an Israeli prison, he was sentenced to death, but the verdict was not executed due to objections from the international community.
He was released on a prisoner swap deal in 1971 between the Fatah Movement and Israel. Then, Hejazi stayed in Lebanon until 1994, after which he returned to Ramallah in the West Bank.
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More than one million Palestinians have been incarcerated in Israeli prisons since 1965, citing figures from the Palestinian Prisoner Society. (T/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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