According to an advocacy group and his son, the oldest Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail was released on Monday after completing a 17-year term for arms smuggling.
Fuad Shubaki, 83, was released from Ashkelon prison and is “on his way to Ramallah” in the occupied West Bank, according to a spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, which Shubaki’s son Hazem confirmed.
Shubaki, a senior member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, was arrested by Palestinian security forces during the second intifada, or uprising, in 2002.
He was suspected of attempting to transfer weapons from Iran to Gaza’s coastal enclave onboard the Karine A ship, which Israel seized in the Red Sea.
UPDATE: US, Israeli And Palestinian Leaders Join Forces To End Gaza Conflict
The Israeli military claimed the ship was carrying 50 tonnes of weapons, including short-range Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives from Iran and the Lebanese-based Shiite movement Hezbollah.
In 2002, he was detained by the Palestinian authorities, and held in the West Bank town of Jericho under US and British supervision.
In 2006, the prison was stormed by Israeli forces and Shubaki was taken to Israel were he was tried in a military court.
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