Palestinian parliament member Khalida Jarrar was released on Friday by Israeli authorities, after being imprisoned for 14 months in an Israeli prison.
Jarrar is an executive committee member of the PLO and leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was detained on April 2, 2015, from her home in Ramallah and initially sentenced to six months of administrative detention, the Israeli policy of imprisonment without trial or charge.
However, due to international pressure Israeli authorities were forced to bring charges against her. She was then charged due to her membership and activities with the PFLP, and accused of inciting violence. In May Jarrar was ordered to be released based on a lack of evidence. This decision was then reversed, ordering her to remain in prison until her trial.
In December, an Israeli military court sentenced Jarrar to 15 months in prison and a fine of 10,000 shekels ($2,582), with an additional suspended sentence of 12 months within a five-year period.
Speaking at a press conference in front of her home in Ramallah on Friday evening, Jarrar called attention to the difficult conditions she faced in custody, such a filthy prison cells and reduced family visitations
Jarrar has said of the Israeli military courts, “I do not trust them and my detention has been political since the beginning.” She stated that charges against her were “ridiculous” and related to completely legal activities, including social and political work as a member of parliament.
Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar released after 14 months in Israeli prison – including 6 months without charges. pic.twitter.com/mI8YpAEYSu
— The IMEU (@theIMEU) June 4, 2016
Jarrar also heads the PLC’s prisoners’ committee and acts as the Palestinian representative in the Council of Europe, an international organization promoting human rights and democracy around the world.
Addameer has stated that there is a 70 percent increase in the detention of Palestinian women and girls increase between 2013 and 2015. More than 10,000 Palestinian women have been detained by Israeli forces since 1967.
(MA’AN, PC)
