Palestinian prison escapee to keep fighting for freedom

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestinian Yaqoub Mahmoud Qadri, one of the escapees from Israel’s Gilboa Prison last week who has since been recaptured, said his fight for freedom will continue for as long as he lives.

Hannan al-Khatib, a lawyer associated with a delegation linked to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), visited Qadri, and the delegation issued a statement following his visit.

The statement noted that Qadri said he would keep fighting for his freedom until his last breath and the times he spent breathing freely in Palestine after escaping from the prison were the “best days” of his life.

It further noted that Qadri was held in a small space in a Israeli prison without anything but a blanket and interrogators were subjecting him to psychological torture.

Six Palestinian inmates tunneled out of the high-security Gilboa Prison in northern Israel on Sept. 6. Israeli forces, however, have managed to capture four of them after a manhunt.

The remaining two are still in hiding.

There are around 4,850 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 41 women, 225 children and 540 “administrative detainees,” according to observers.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas