Israel releases 4 more Egyptians in prisoner exchange

Convicts were imprisoned on drug-trafficking offenses — one had completed his sentence, others set free early in Tarabin deal

By AP 14 December 2015, 10:40 pm

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) with Ouda Tarabin, an Israeli citizen jailed for 15 years in Egypt on charges of spying, who was released from prison on December 10, 2015. (Haim Zach/GPO, File)

Israel freed four Egyptian prisoners, in addition to two others who had already walked free, in a deal that secured last week’s release from Egypt of Israeli citizen Ouda Tarabin who was convicted of spying.

Israel Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said the four Egyptians were imprisoned for drug trafficking. One had served his full sentence while the others were released between two and six years early.

Weizman said the four were flown back to Egypt on Monday.

Tarabin, a Bedouin Arab, returned to his family last Thursday after serving a 15-year sentence in an Egyptian prison on charges of spying for Israel. The 34-year-old Tarabin had maintained he was innocent.

After his release, he referred to his incarceration as “when I was in a cemetery in Egypt.”