Israel sentences Palestinian lawmaker to 17 months in prison

An Israeli military court in the central occupied West Bank sentenced Hamas-affiliated Palestinian lawmaker Muhammad Abu Tair to 17 months in prison yesterday.

In addition to the 17-month sentence, the court ordered Abu Tair to pay 8,000 shekels ($2,100) and also sentenced him to 30 months on probation.

Abu Tair, who is from occupied East Jerusalem, was detained on January 27 from his home in the neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab, along with at least one other Palestinian from Kafr Aqab. At the time, an Israeli army spokesperson described the two detainees as “Hamas terror operatives”.

At the time of his arrest, Abu Tair joined six other Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) members incarcerated by Israel, including Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Secretary-General Ahmad Saadat.

Six Palestinians lawmakers remain in Israeli custody. PLC member of the leftist PFLP party Khalida Jarrar was notably released in June.

Abu Tair was elected as a member of the PLC in 2006, representing Hamas.

The 65-year-old MP has spent at least 32 years in Israeli prison serving multiple separate sentences since he was first detained in 1974. On 8 October 2010 his permanent residency status in Jerusalem was revoked by Israeli authorities after five months of detention.

According to Addameer, “Palestinian political leaders are routinely arrested and detained as part of an ongoing Israeli effort to suppress Palestinian political processes – and, as a result, Palestinian political sovereignty and self-determination.”