Youngest female Palestinian prisoner to be released

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM

A 12-year-old girl who became the youngest female Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails earlier this year will be released on Sunday, Israeli media reported.

The Israeli Prison Service and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) both confirmed earlier in April that she would be released early.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted her father as saying that the family will receive her at a checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank on Sunday.

A PLO report released on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on April 17 said there were concerns about whether the girl was forced into confessing as she was not allowed to see her parents or lawyer when she was arrested and interrogated.

The girl has served more than two months in prison after she was found carrying a knife and convicted of attempted manslaughter.

Haaretz also reported Sunday that, according to figures released by the Israeli Prison Service, the number of Palestinian children in Israeli jails had risen to 438 by February from 170 in September 2015, following a sharp increase in protests and stabbing attacks.

The PLO report said the arrests of Palestinian children rose 72 percent in 2015 compared to the year earlier, with most arrests after September.