RAMALLAH, After serving 40 years in Israeli prisons for resisting the occupation, freedom fighter Maher Younis, the longest-serving prisoner in the world, is free at last and back at his home this morning after his release from Kidar prison in the south of Israel, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
It said that Younis, 62, arrived early at his home in the Arab town of Ara, in central Israel, and despite the deployment of a large Israeli police force around his family home to prevent any sort of celebration for his release, a large number of people were able to reach his house to welcome him home.
Younis was 22 when he was arrested in his hometown and sentenced on January 18, 1983, to life in prison later commuted to 40 years.
His cousin, Karim Younis, was also released two weeks earlier also after serving 40 years in prison, making the two Younis members the longest-serving freedom fighters in the world.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency