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Olmert and Abbas, Monday
Photo: Amos Ben Gershom, GPO
Zakariya Zubeidi. Clemency
Photo: AP

List of Palestinian prisoners eligible for release published

Special ministerial committee approves 256 prisoners for release, including six women, 11 minors and deputy secretary-general of PLFP. List published on prison service website

The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) published a list of the 256 Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released as part of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's gestures to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

 

Among those scheduled for release is PLFP deputy secretary-general Abdel Rahim Mallouh.

 

Considered the most senior political prisoner arrested since the beginning of the second intifada, Mallouh was one of the more moderate forces in the PLFP.

 

He was arrested in 2002 during an IDF operation in Ramallah and charged with affiliation in an illegal organization. He was scheduled for release in 2009.

 

The prisoners' list was finalized by Olmert and Abbas on Monday and includes prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front from the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and Fatah.

 

The list was approved earlier Tuesday by a special ministerial committee headed by the prime minister and was posted on the IPS website.

 

According to the guidelines approved by the government, none of the prisoners scheduled for release have "blood on their hands".

 

Those named were jailed for a variety of lesser offenses, including weapons trafficking, possession of ammunition and explosives, affiliation in an illegal organization, attempted murder and aiding and abetting fugitives. The list also includes six women and 11 minors.

 

Senior security officials from both the IDF and the PA met over the weekend to discuss broadening the list to include clemency for hundreds of Fatah militants wanted by the IDF.

 

According to the agreement, they would relinquish their arms and any other terrorist-linked activities and would be cleared from the wanted lists.

 

Among those to be eligible for clemency is IDF's most wanted Zakariya Zubeidi.

 

All of the security prisons in Israel have upped their level of alertness in anticipation of Friday's release.

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.17.07, 18:30
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