Ahmad al-Rai, journalist and former prisoner, was arrested in a flying checkpoint by occupation forces outside Qalqilya on Sunday evening, 7 December. The hastily erected checkpoint was reportedly disassembled immediately after the seizure of al-Rai by occupation soldiers.
Al-Rai, 54, is a well-known community leader and former prisoner who has spent almost 10 years in Israeli jails.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network notes that the arrest of al-Rai is part of an ongoing policy by occupation forces of targeting former prisoners and respected community leaders for arrest, incarceration and long-term detention as a means of demoralizing the Palestinian people and attempting to silence voices that insist on the rights of the Palestinian people. However, this policy has not achieved its objectives over decades of use by the occupation and will not achieve its goal today.
