Farwana: 13 Palestinian lawmakers remain in Israeli jails

RAMALLAH, — Abdul Naser Farwana, a Palestinian researcher in prisoners’ affairs, said on Friday that there are 13 Palestinian lawmakers still incarcerated in Israeli jails without any justified legal reason.

Farwana’s remarks came after the Israeli occupation released MP Mohammed Abu Tair of Hamas Movement after 43 months in detention, adding that ten out of the thirteen are affiliated with Hamas, two with Fatah and one with the PFLP.

He named the ten Hamas lawmakers as Abdul Jaber Foqaha, 43, Hassan Yousef, 56, Nezar Ramadan, 50, Mohammed Al-Natshe, 52, Nayef Al-Rejoub, 52, Basim Za’areer, 48, Azzam Salhab, 45, Ali Romanin, 50, Ayman Daraghma, 47, and Palestinian Jerusalemite lawmaker Mohammed Tutah, 42.

The two Fatah MPs were Marwan Barghouthi, 51, and Jamal Tairawi, 44; while the PFLP lawmaker was its secretary-general Ahmad Sa’adat, Farwana said.

He added that during the PA legislative elections in 2006 that Hamas had won, the issue of the prisoners was strongly present as 31 prisoners were nominated by their respective factions to contest the parliamentary elections, at least 15 of them won the elections indicating the high attention the Palestinian people pay to the prisoners’ issue.

In June 2007, the Israeli occupation authorities launched an unprecedented arrest campaign against Hamas’s lawmakers and ministers after its soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian resistance fighters.

Many of the arrested lawmakers were placed under administrative detention while others were sentenced to different jail terms, Farwana pointed out, stressing that the arrest and prosecution of the lawmakers as flagrant violation of international laws and politically motivated.

In this concern, Farwana urged Arab and international parliaments to pressure the Israeli occupation to release all the 13 lawmakers that remain in its jails.