Israel to release Palestinian MP after 14 months in prison

Israel is set to release a prominent Palestinian lawmaker who has been in prison since April 2015, Palestinian and Israeli sources said Thursday.

Khalida Jarrar will be set free at the Jubara checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Friday morning, the Israel Prison Service and Palestinian Prisoners Club told AFP. 

Jarrar, a senior member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a well-known political figure, had been sentenced by Israel to 15 months prison for encouraging attacks against Israel and violating a travel ban.

The prison service spokesman said she was being released a month early as part of an "administrative release," which can take place when prisons are filled beyond capacity.

Israel considers the PFLP a terrorist organisation and at the time of her arrest the Israeli army said Jarrar posed "substantial security risks".

Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian parliament which has not met since 2007 after elections a year earlier were won by the Islamist movement Hamas.

After Jarrar's release, six Palestinian lawmakers will remain imprisoned by Israel, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club. 

Source: AFP