Number of life-sentenced Palestinian prisoners rises to 556

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The Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies confirmed on Tuesday that the number of Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment in Israeli prisons rose to 556 after occupation courts issued life imprisonment sentences against two prisoners from Jenin.

Riyad Al-Ashqar, the director of the Center, said the Israeli occupation military court issued life imprisonment sentences against prisoners Asaad Yousef Al-Rifai (20 years) and Subhi Imad Sbeihat (21 years) from the town of Rummana, Jenin District.

Al-Ashqar noted that Israeli occupation forces had arrested Al-Rifai and Sbeihat on May 8, 2022, after a 3-day search operation, following an alleged stabbing operation in the "Elad" area that killed four illegal settlers and wounded three others.

Al-Rifai and Sbeihat were arrested in bushes close to the area where the operation took place. Israeli occupation authorities demolished the homes of their families in August 2022.

According to Al-Ashqar, a number of life-sentenced prisoners have been detained for more than 25 years, most of which are veteran prisoners, and dozens of other prisoners have been detained for more than 20 years, noting that the majority of longest-serving prisoners are serving life sentences.

Al-Ashqar explained that the life sentence is a life imprisonment sentence that the occupation defines as 99 years and imposes on security prisoners whom it accuses of carrying out commando operations.

Palestinian prisoners are subjected to oppressive and harsh conditions in Israeli occupation prisons, especially during the winter, when extreme cold increases, which causes the prisoners to further suffer inside prisons as a result of the violations practiced by the Israeli occupation against them and preventing them from their most basic right to heating.

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