3 Palestinian brothers complete 18 years in Israel jails

Three brothers yesterday completed 18 consecutive years in Israeli jails, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said in a statement.

Nasser, 48, Nasr, 46, and Sharif Abu Hmeid, 44, have been in jail since 2002 accused of resisting the Israeli occupation. Their family lives in Al-Amari refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

Nasser spent a total of 31 years in Israeli jails and the first time he got arrested he was only 13 years. He was sentenced to seven life terms plus 50 years.

Meanwhile, Nasr spent a total of 28 years in jail and was 13 years old when he was first arrested. He was also sentenced to five life terms and has a son who was arrested ten months ago and is now in prison.

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Sharif was 14 when he was first arrested. He spent nine years in Israeli prisons before being rearrested in 2002. He was sentenced to four life terms in prison.

They have two other brothers who are serving time in Israeli jails, the PPS said –Mohammad, 37, serving two life terms plus 30 years, and Islam, 34, arrested in 2018 and sentenced to one life term plus eight years.

A sixth brother, Abdul Meniem was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in 1994.

Occupation forces have demolished their home five times, most recently in 2019.

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