Issa Qaraqea, the head of Palestinian detainees and ex-detainees body, said in a statement that 470 prisoners are sentenced to life while 42 prisoners spent more than 20 years in Israeli jails.
16 of these prisoners spent more than 25 years in prison, with Kareem Younis and Nael Albargouthi being the oldest serving prisoners in Israeli jails.
Qaraqea said in a press statement today, “The conditions of prisoners amount to a catastrophe and it rarely happens in human history that there are prisoners who spent more than 35 years on prison, such as Kareem Younis.”
He noted that the priority for the Palestinian leadership is to release all veteran prisoners from the Israeli occupation prisons, as was agreed upon between the PA and Israel in 2011.
The number of Palestinian prisoners who have been handed life terms reached 490 yesterday as the Israeli… https://t.co/DFCtE8crSh
— Team Palestina (@TeamPalestina) July 12, 2016
He concluded that the catastrophe of Palestinians in Israeli jails is that prisoners have very high sentences and there are also hundreds of sick prisoners.
Qaraqea added that the last few years have seen an increasing number of child prisoners which also included issuing laws that legalize sentencing them to high sentences and violating their basic human rights.
(PC, Palestine Today)
