Israeli authorities have resentenced a Palestinian man to life in prison, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported on Monday, more than 30 years after he was released in a prisoner swap deal.
Yousif Hassan Ahmad Abu al-Kheir, a 74-year-old Palestinian from the coastal city of Akka in Israel, was serving a life sentence in Israeli custody for what Israeli news outlet Ynet called “serious security offenses” when he was released in 1983 as part of a prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Fateh movement, PPS said.
Following his release, Abu al-Kheir’s Israeli citizenship was revoked, and he moved to Greece.
Hamas refuses to negotiate prisoner & body exchange until Israel 1st releases about 45 prisoners rearrested from the Shalit exchange in 2011
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) June 3, 2017
A few years later, he started attempting to recover his Israeli citizenship in order to travel back home and live with his family. In late May, PPS said, Abu al-Kheir’s lawyer notified him that he had been allowed to return to Israel.
However, Israeli authorities detained him when he arrived at the airport, and a special Israeli committee ruled that he serve his life sentence, 34 years after he was released.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, 6,300 Palestinians are being held in Israel as of April, 458 of whom are serving life sentences.
(IMMC, PC, Social Media)
