He was the oldest Palestinian prisoner in Israel. Fuad Choubaki, 83, was released on Monday after serving a 17-year prison sentence for arms trafficking, Palestinian sources said.
A senior official in Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he was arrested in 2002 by Palestinian security forces during the Second Intifada (the 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising) before being captured by Israeli forces. He was accused of attempting to smuggle weapons from Iran to the Gaza Strip aboard a cargo ship, the Karine A, which was boarded in the Red Sea by the Israeli army in January 2002.
A sentence of 17 years in prison
Fuad Shubaki "was released today [Monday] from Ashkelon prison and is on his way to Ramallah" in the occupied West Bank, a spokesman for the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, an association defending the rights of Palestinians detained by Israel, told AFP. His son Hazem Choubaki confirmed his release to AFP.
Fouad Choubaki had been detained between 2002 and March 2006 in Jericho prison, in the so-called autonomous Palestinian zone, in the central West Bank, under the supervision of British and American observers, until he was captured, along with other Palestinians, during an Israeli army operation against this prison in the occupied West Bank. Convicted by an Israeli military court, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. This sentence was later reduced to 17 years.
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