Abeer Abu Khdeir released after two-month sentence in Israeli prison

Photo: Abeer Abu Khdeir upon her release. By Asala Abu Khdeir.

Palestinian activist Abeer Abu Khdeir was released after serving nearly two months in Israeli occupation prison on 20 April. Abu Khdeir, 43, was sentenced on 2 March to two months in Israeli prison on charges that dated back seven years to when she and her daughters resisted invading Israeli forces’ attempt to detain her son Anan in 2011. Anan was 14 years old at the time. Abu Khdeir is a leading organizer in Jerusalem and an activist with the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees.

Throughout her detention, she was held in isolation and Israeli occupation forces refused to transfer her to be with the other Palestinian women political prisoners. She was also reportedly denied books and was subject to ongoing verbal abuse from guards.

She is the wife of Nasser Abu Khdeir, a fellow leading Jerusalemite Palestinian organizer, currently serving a 16-month sentence in Israeli prison.  He has spent over 15 years in Israeli prison through repeated jailings. Her case went on for years until she was sentenced to two months; several days were deducted from her sentence due to the time she and her daughters spent imprisoned upon their original arrest in 2011.

She has been detained on multiple occasions by occupation forces and beaten by occupation forces while participating in protests in Jerusalem; she has been active on the international and Arab levels as well in defending Jerusalem and organizing Palestinian women to confront occupation.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Abeer Abu Khdeir upon her release and demands the immediate freedom for all 6,500 of her fellow Palestinian political prisoners behind Israeli occupation bars.