12 years in jail without even a detention order: Mahmoud Azzam released - but not to Jenin

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By Guest Post • May 26th, 2009 at 15:16 • Category: Biography, Israel, Newswire, Palestine, Resistance, Somoud: Arab Voices of Resistance, Zionism

Gaza – Ma’an – Israel released a Hamas member at the end of a 12-year prison term, but sent him into exile in Gaza on Tuesday, isolating him from his home and family in Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank.

Speaking on arrival at Gaza’s Erez border crossing, Mahmoud Azzam said he does not see Gaza as exile, but rather new beginning on a journey toward the return of every Palestinian who was displaced from his land.

Lawmakers representing Hamas Change and Reform bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) later received Azzam near the PLC building which was leveled in an Israeli airstrike during the recent war on Gaza.

“I wished to return to my hometown in Jenin, but unfortunately the Israeli occupation deprived me of that. I will use all possible legal means to return to Jenin, however, I still feel happy to gain my freedom again,” 52-year-old Azzam said.

Azzam is a nephew of the late Palestinian scholar Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, teacher and spiritual mentor of Osama Bin Laden. He was jailed 12 years in Israel without a trial or even an administrative detention order.

Meanwhile, in Jenin, the Wa’ad prisoners’ organization said they would nonetheless organize a celebration for Azzam’s release, calling him “one of the leaders of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.”

Israel holds more than 11,000 Palestinians in its jails, including some 40 members of the PLC.