Terrorists among inmates to be freed in Shalit deal
Despite IPS statement that no prisoner 'with blood on his hands' will be released in prisoner swap's second phase, several terror operatives make it on list
The Israel Prison Service has posted on its website the list of 550 security prisoners who are expected to be released as part of the second phase of the prisoner exchange deal that brought IDF solider Gilad Shalit home from Hamas captivity in October.
The names were made public 48 hours prior to the inmates' scheduled release in order to allow citizens to petition the High Court of Justice against the list.
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The prisoners are to be officially notified that they made the list on Thursday morning. Afterwards, they will be identified and undergo medical checkups. The IPS' Nahshon unit will then transport the inmates from the facilities where they are being held to the Ofer and Ayalon prisons, a process that is expected to last until Thursday evening. On Sunday, they are to be taken home: Two prisoners are to return to east Jerusalem, 40 will be sent to Gaza and the rest are to go back to the West Bank.
- For the full list of prisoners, click here
Prisoners freed in 1st phase of deal (Photo: Reuters)
The deal's first phase saw 450 inmates released, many of whom were serving life sentences.
Some 400 of the prisoners who are slotted to be released in this round have already served two-thirds of their sentences. Many of them were jailed for hurling Molotov cocktails, pelting stones and shooting at people. Salah Hamouri, who was convicted of plotting to assassinate Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, is to be among those freed.
Terrorists included in list
According to the IPS, none of the prisoners on the list are Hamas operatives, and none of them "have blood on their hands." However, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an released a list of 113 prisoners who are to be set free, all of whom were featured on the IPS list, and reported that one of them was involved in a suicide bombing.
Moreover, the list includes Talal Na`asan, a senior member of the terror group Force 17. Na'asan was arrested in 2001 and confessed to taking part in a shooting and planning to plant bombs in the Ramallah region.
Another prisoner who took part in deadly terror activity and has found his way to the list is Darwis Dadar, a Tanzim operative who was arrested in 2004. He was involved in a suicide bombing on King George Street in Jerusalem, which lead to three Israelis' deaths in 2002. Yet another occurrence that negates the IPS statement is the inclusion of Abd al-Jaber Faqha, a Hamas parliament member, in the list.
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