Palestine's youngest political prisoner welcomed back to Ramallah

Amongst a host of events to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, families of political prisoners gathered outside the Ramallah offices of the International Red Cross to welcome 15 year old Khaled al-Sheikh back from prison.

Khaled al-Sheikh was the youngest Palestinian locked up in the Israeli prison system following his arrest from his family home in the village of Anan on December 25th 2014. Al-Sheikh was just 14 years old when he was arrested and was sentenced in an Israeli military court to 4 months imprisonment and a 2,000 shekel fine on the charge of throwing stones.

Following al-Sheikh’s arrest, Palestinian activists launched a campaign for his release amidst growing concerns from his family about his health. Al-Sheikh suffers from anaemia and his family say he received no medical attention whilst being held by Israel.

Last week, on April 16th, Khaled al-Sheikh was finally released after completing his sentence. More than 6,000 Palestinians remain locked up in Israeli prisons today including approximately 160 children.