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Israel extends detention of Palestinian writer

August 10, 2018 at 9:55 am

Palestinians take part in a protest in solidarity with Palestinian female writer Lama Khater held in Israeli jails in front of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Gaza city on 24 July 2018 [Mahmoud Ajour/Apaimages]

The Israeli military court of Ashkelon extended the detention of Palestinian female writer, Lama Khater, lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society’s (PPS) said yesterday.

PPS lawyer, Firas Al-Sabbah, confirmed that the Israeli court extended Khater’s detention for 12 more days, adding that the extension was to allow time for further interrogations.

The Israeli court of Ofer had previously rejected an appeal presented by Al-Sabbah on 30 July against extending Khater’s detention.

Al-Sabbah stressed that Khater has been undergoing harsh and intensive interrogation by the Israeli security services for the past 17 days. She has been questioned for more than 20 hours a day while in detention, her lawyer said.

Read: Israel arrests 7 Palestinian journalists in one week

Khater, a Palestinian writer and a mother of five from the occupied southern West Bank district of Hebron, was detained from her home during a predawn raid by Israeli forces on 24 July.

According to prisoners rights group Addameer, there are 5,820 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons, 63 of whom are female.