Palestinian Prisoner Samer Issawi to Be Released

Palestinian Prisoner Samer Issawi who has been on hunger strike for eight month is to be early released from Israeli jail.

The hunger strike by Samer al-Issawi, 32, from a suburb of al-Quds (Jerusalem), had stoked weeks of street protests and concerns by the Zionist entity that his death might lead to mass unrest, especially after his health was repeatedly deteriorated.

Issawi agreed on a deal brokered by Israeli and Palestinian officials to serve eight months for allegedly violating bail conditions for an earlier release, after which he will be freed to his al-Quds home, Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian prisoner organization, told Reuters.

Issawi’s lawyer and sister conveyed the offer just before midnight to his bedside in the Israeli hospital of Kaplan, where he had been under Israeli guard and receiving intravenous vitamins but was refusing food.

Israel convicted Issawi of opening fire on an Israeli bus in 2002, but released him in 2011 along with more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas movement.

He was re-arrested last July after Israel claimed he violated the terms of his release by crossing from his native East al-Quds to the West Bank, and ordered him to stay in jail until 2029 – his original sentence.