Inmates charged with setting fire to prison cells last month

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

A burnt prison cell is seen at Ketziot Prison following rioting by Palestinian security prisoners there, on September 8, 2021. (Courtesy)
A burnt prison cell is seen at Ketziot Prison following rioting by Palestinian security prisoners there, on September 8, 2021. (Courtesy)

Two Islamic Jihad prisoners are charged with setting fire to cells in southern Israel’s Ramon Prison last month, following the escape of six Palestinian security prisoners from a different facility, the Justice Ministry announces.

Omar ar-Roub, who is serving a life sentence, and Hammouda Zaika, placed mattresses in a cell’s shower room and set them on fire using a lighter, causing damage to the walls of the toilet cubicle and the cell, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors say that if the prison guards had not managed to extinguish the fire quickly, “the fire could have spread throughout the prison and the incident could have ended in terrible disaster and loss of life.”

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