Two Palestinian political prisoners receive 5-year sentences in Israeli prison

Palestinian youth Hakim Musa Daoud Derbas, 18, from the town of Issawiya in Jerusalem, was sentenced to five and a half years in Israeli prison on 24 January on allegations of membership in the leftist Palestinian party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Derbas was arrested on 28 February 2016 when he was a minor and ordered to administrative detention. Several months later, he was returned to interrogation and subject to a lengthy list of allegations centering on his relationship with the PFLP. He is currently held in Ramon prison.

Meanwhile, also on 24 January, the Israeli court in Beersheba sentenced Hani Fathi Asleem, 41, from al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City, to five years in Israeli prison. Asleem was seized on 24 March 2016 as he entered the Beit Hanoun/Erez crossing; he had received a permit to travel to Jerusalem for medical treatment for his right leg. Instead, he was seized by Israeli intelligence and taken to Ashkelon interrogation center and accused him of membership in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. He is currently held in Nafha prison.