Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Hunger-striker to be freed: Prisoners' Club

-

RAMALLAH, Palestinia­n Territorie­s, March 17, 2013 (AFP) - A Palestinia­n prisoner on longterm hunger strike has inked a deal with Israel which will see him freed to exile in Gaza for 10 years, a prisoners' rights group said Sunday.

Ayman Sharawna is one of four Palestinia­n prisoners who have been refusing food for months over the conditions of their detention by Israel. Their whose cases have sparked expression­s of concern from the United Nations and the European Union.

“Palestinia­n prisoner Ayman Sharawna, who has been on hunger strike since mid-July, has reached a deal with the Israeli side under which he will be released to Gaza and exiled there for 10 years,” Qadura Fares, head of the Ramallah-based Prisoners' Club, told AFP.

A spokeswoma­n for the Israel Prisons Service who initially con-

Palestinia­n prisoner Ayman Sharawna, who has been on hunger strike since midJuly, has reached a deal with the Israeli side under which he will be released to Gaza and exiled there for 10 years

firmed the deal, telling AFP Sharawna “will be released in a few hours,” later backtracke­d and said the deal was not going ahead “for the time being.” She did not explain further.Sharawna, 36, is a long-term security prisoner who was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 38 years behind bars, but released in October 2011 under terms of a prisoner swap deal.

But he was rearrested three months later and charged with violating the terms of his release, although the evidence against him was kept secret.

 ??  ?? Ayman Sharawna, long-term hunger strike, reacts upon arrival at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on March 17, 2013. (AFP Photo / Mahmud Hams)
Ayman Sharawna, long-term hunger strike, reacts upon arrival at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on March 17, 2013. (AFP Photo / Mahmud Hams)

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Sri Lanka