Al-Wawi, a 7th grader from the occupied West Bank town of Halhoul, near Hebron, was arrested on February 9 while on her way to school wearing her school uniform, for allegedly “wielding knife at armed Israeli soldiers”.
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Although she was originally sentenced to four and a half months in prison, Israel granted Al Wawy an early release. She surrendered the knife to a security guard at the entrance of the settlement and was arrested without incident.
The girl has served more than two months in prison after she was found carrying a knife and convicted of attempted manslaughter.
In Israel, the country’s prison service confirm the release, yet has declined to comment on the move.
Journalists talk to 12-year-old Dima al-Wawi and her parents at the Jabara checkpoint, where Israeli authorities released her after 75 days imprisonment, West Bank, April 24, 2016.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War, and Palestinian residents there are subject to a system of military law that can sentence suspects as young as 12 to prison.
Subhia al-Wawi, Dima’s mother, in an interview with a PNN reporter stated that her daughter sent her and her family a the letter through their lawyer, since they are not allowed to see the child. “If it were a Jewish girl, she wouldn’t stay in prison for even one hour because it is forbidden according to the Israeli law”.
With tears in her eyes, al-Wawi read the letter: “My beloved mom, dad, and dear brothers: I miss you all so much and I know that you are with me”.
Dozens of Palestinian and global journalists and photographers rushed her and tried to get her to make a statement.
Israel’s prison service on Sunday said a 12-year-old Palestinian girl detained in February had been released.
“I am happy to be out”.
They received a letter from her, though the hands of her lawyer. “What would she have been able to do with a knife?”
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The PLO report said the arrests of Palestinian children rose 72 percent in 2015 compared to the year earlier, with most arrests after September. Our newsletter features a comprehensive round-up of the week’s events.
