GOLAN HEIGHTS: Two prisoners from the Golan Heights released by Israel after 25 years in jail.

Record ID: 788956

  • Title: GOLAN HEIGHTS: Two prisoners from the Golan Heights released by Israel after 25 years in jail.
  • Date: 17th October 2009
  • Summary: WOMEN ON BALCONIES THROWING RICE AT RELEASED PRISONERS
  • Embargoed: 1st November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVADRNAAMUNOL6UL7IV25L4AO26D
  • Story Text: Two prisoners from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights were released unexpectedly on Thursday (October 15) after serving 25 years in an Israeli jail.
    Thousands of people turned out in the Golan Heights town of Majd El Shams to greet the newly-freed men and to celebrate their release.
    44-year-old Bisher Suleiman Ahmad Maqt, who had been serving a 37-year sentence and Assem Mahmud Ahmed Wali was almost at the end of his 27 year sentence, were both hailed as heroes.
    "These are the sentences of the (Israeli) occupation and the sentences of Israel. They sentenced them to 27 years and they don't deserve to serve 27 years, but they were released two years early. What is two years early? Nothing when you talk about 27 years," one resident, Hassan Fakhr ElDeen, who came to greet the liberated prisoners, told Reuters.
    The prisoners told the crowds they had been imprisoned for resisting the Israeli occupation and called for a prisoner release deal which would allow thousands of Palestinian and other Arab prisoners in Israeli jails to be freed.
    Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and unilaterally annexed the area several years later, in a move not recognised internationally. Damascus has repeatedly demanded its return as a non-negotiable condition for peace between Israel and Syria.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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