Nadia Abu Jamal ordered exiled from Jerusalem; Yasmin Zarou Tamimi released after a year in prison

Palestinian prisoner Yasmin Zarou al-Tamimi, 21, was released from Israeli prisons on Tuesday afternoon, 17 January. Zarou had spent nearly one year in Israeli prison after she was shot and severely injured and accused of “attempting to stab” an Israeli occupation soldier on 15 February 2016, even though even allegedly, she only tossed a small knife in the direction of occupation soldiers at a checkpoint. When she was shot, she was left injured and bleeding and passersby were barred from helping her or providing medical assistance; she needed multiple surgeries. She was sentenced to one year in Israeli prison and a one-year suspended sentence for five years.

In addition, Nadia Abu Jamal, the widow of Ghassan Abu Jamal, was released from Israeli occupation imprisonment on Wednesday, 18 January, but ordered from her home city of Jerusalem. After her husband and his cousin, Uday Abu Jamal, carried out their attack, she was stripped of her Jerusalem ID. However, she remained in the family home in Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood in East Jerusalem. She was ordered to return to her family village of Sawahra al-Sharqiya; while her three children have Jerusalem residency and were born in the city, she must bring them with her to Sawahra al-Sharqiya or face separation from them.

If she is found returning to Jerusalem, she will be subject to a six-month prison sentence. The arrest and exile of Abu Jamal from Jerusalem comes amid an ongoing and massive series of repressive measures and attacks against Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood and Palestinians in Jerusalem more broadly, including announced plans to demolish dozens of homes and build settlements on Palestinian land.