After 4 Years in Damon Prison... Release of Captive Aya Khatib from Ar'ara

SadaNews - The Israeli occupation authorities released today, Sunday, the captive Aya Khatib (35 years old) from the village of Ar'ara in the Triangle, after she served her sentence in Damon Prison.

The Israeli court had imposed a prison sentence of four years on Khatib on August 15, 2023, during which she had already spent some time in custody since her arrest.

Khatib turned herself in to the Israeli authorities on September 18, 2023, and had been held in Damon Prison until her release today.

Her husband and two children were prohibited from visiting her since October 7, 2023, before she returned to her family today. Khatib has two children: Muhammad Al-Fateh (14 years old) and Abdul Rahman (11 years old).

The central court in Haifa had sentenced the activist Khatib to four years of actual imprisonment after convicting her of "raising funds to support terrorism and sending them to Hamas."

Aya Khatib had been active through her "Facebook" page in raising donations for sick children from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who are treated in Israeli hospitals, in addition to her follow-up on many humanitarian cases related to students whose economic circumstances prevented them from completing their university tuition fees. Khatib's page became a symbol of humanitarian and community service.

Khatib was arrested on February 17, 2020, and was subjected to interrogation by the Israeli intelligence service for several weeks before an indictment was filed against her on March 18, 2020, at the central court in Haifa. The public prosecution alleged that Khatib had worked to raise funds to support "terrorism" and transfer them to Hamas.

Khatib denied the charges against her, asserting that her work had been for the benefit of sick children from Gaza receiving treatment in humanitarian hospitals and collecting medicines and material assistance for humanitarian cases.