GAZA: Thousands of Palestinians welcome a Gazan footballer who had been imprisoned for three years without trial in Israel.

Record ID: 340830

  • Title: GAZA: Thousands of Palestinians welcome a Gazan footballer who had been imprisoned for three years without trial in Israel.
  • Date: 10th July 2012
  • Summary: SARSAK BEING CARRIED BY CROWD, BEING PUSHED INTO HOME MORE OF CROWD IN STREET
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3663ESE2HH82XX3MKNEKJ57D3
  • Story Text: Thousands of Gazans welcomed a member of the Palestinian national soccer team who Israel released on Tuesday (July 10) after holding him in jail without trial for three years, during which he staged an intermittent four-month hunger strike in protest.
    Twenty-five year old Mahmoud al-Sarsak, alleged by Israel to have been active in the Islamic Jihad militant group, received a hero's welcome on his return home to Islamist-ruled Gaza.
    Soccer legend Eric Cantona and other international figures had signed a letter drawing attention to Sarsak's plight. Sepp Blatter, president of world soccer's governing body FIFA, also wrote to the Israeli soccer authorities to seek their help.
    Islamic Jihad gunmen fired into the air and thousands crowded around as Sarsak as he arrived at his family home in Rafah.
    Israel had detained Sarsak in 2009 when he left Gaza to play soccer in the occupied West Bank.
    Israel said he belonged to Islamic Jihad, a group involved in lethal attacks against it, but he denied the allegation. Sarsak was never charged but was jailed as an unlawful combatant.
    Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 but still controls most of the territory's borders.
    Islamic Jihad issued a statement proclaiming Sarsak's freedom as "a victory of will, determination and steadfastness."
    Sarsak was the latest of several Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel in the past three months after intermittent hunger strikes protesting against their detention without trial and demanding better prison conditions.
    An Israeli official confirmed Sarsak was being released on Tuesday but had no other details.
    Israel struck a deal last month with representatives of 1,600 Palestinian prisoners under which they stopped hunger strikes of up to 27 days in exchange for Israel ending their solitary confinement, permitting family visits and making other improvements in prison conditions.
    Another Gaza man, Akram al-Rekhawi, a member of the Islamist Hamas group who has served eight years of a nine-year sentence in Israel, has been on an intermittent hunger strike for 90 days seeking an early release due to illness, Palestinian officials said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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