Palestinian teen girl jailed for stone-throwing released

Malak al-Khatib, a 14-year-old schoolgirl jailed for trying to attack Israeli soldiers, was released from custody on Friday, Palestinian reports said.

Red Cross representatives informed the family of al-Khatib, who was sentenced to two months in prison for stone-throwing and possession of a knife, on Thursday that she would be released at the Jubara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.

Al-Khatib became a symbol of Palestinian anger over the arrests of children in the West Bank, and her sentence unleashed a wave of solidarity and support among Palestinians.

Breaking: The Palestinian girl Malak Khateeb, 14, has just been released from israeli prison pic.twitter.com/KeDdzNRYa7

— Activestills (@activestills) February 13, 2015

“My heart broke when I saw her in court, cuffed and shackled,” her mother, Khawla al-Khatib, recently told AFP from her home in the town of Beitin near Ramallah.

“I brought in a coat for her to wear because it was cold, but the judge refused to let her have it,” she said.

Israeli forces arrest about 1,000 children every year in the West Bank, often on charges of stone-throwing, according to the rights group Defense for Children International Palestine.

But the case of Malak has brought countless media organizations flocking to her family’s door and attracted more public attention than most.

The difference — she is a girl.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club estimates that 200 Palestinian minors are held in Israeli prisons, but only three are girls. During her incarceration, Malak was the youngest of four.

Following Malak’s arrest, the Palestinian leadership sent a letter to the United Nations denouncing the Israeli practice of “seizing children in the dead of night,” detaining Palestinian children “for extended periods of time” and subjecting them to “psychological and physical torture.”

A picture of Malak’s face framed in black hair, her dark eyes staring squarely into the camera, has been circulating in social media and Palestinian newspapers.

“I don’t know why a state like Israel, with the most powerful weapons at its disposal, is pursuing my 14-year-old daughter,” said Malak’s father, Ali al-Khatib.

“They accused her of trying to stab a soldier. Really? A child against an armed and heavily equipped soldier, a grown man?” he asked.

The father-of-eight said his daughter was arrested on her way home from school in Beitin on December 31.

According to the indictment served at a military court, Malak had “picked up a stone” to throw at cars on Route 60, which is near the village and serves Israelis as well as Palestinians.

The indictment, citing five Israeli officials, said Malak was in possession of a knife, which she intended to use to stab security personnel in the case of her arrest.

In addition to the jail term, she was fined $1,500.

An Israeli military spokeswoman told AFP that Malak was convicted after a plea bargain.

“Rock-throwing is an extremely dangerous crime, which has maimed and killed Israeli civilians in the past,” she said.

AFP contributed to this report.