The Palestinian Detainees Affairs Commission said today that 283 Palestinian freedom fighters, nicknamed “deans of the prisoners”, have been in Israeli jails for more than 20 years.
It said in a report that the “deans” include 38 freedom fighters who are in prison for at least 25 years, and are nicknamed “the generals of endurance”, and they include 25 freedom fighters who have been in prison since before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority and who were supposed to have been released in a US-brokered deal by 2014 if Israel had not reneged on the deal.
The Commission said 17 of the “generals” have been in prison for more than 30 years and are nicknamed “icons of the prisoners”, the longest serving among them are Karim Younis and Maher Younis who have been in prison for almost 40 years.
Among the 283 freedom fighters who have been in prison for more than 20 years, dozens were actually released in a prisoners’ exchange deal signed in October 2011, and then re-arrested in 2014 and their former sentences were reinstated, the most prominent among them is Nael Barghouti whose cumulative period in prison adds up to 42 years.
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency