Among the life sentences being released from Israeli prison as part of the peace deal, Ahmed Mahmed Jameel Shahada's name stands out. He is the only man with no terror links to have won freedom as part of the deal.
If not affiliated with any of the freedom fighters or anti-Israel organisations, why was the Palestinian serving a life sentence since 1989? Ahmed Shahada was convicted of the rape and murder of a 13-year-old Israeli boy and was not to see the light of day until 2036, if not for the prisoner swap and peace deal between the two sides.
Shahada, a Gaza resident, was found guilty of sexually assaulting and murdering one Oren Baharami in Jaffa, in Israel's Tel Aviv-Yafo. According to Israeli media reports, the minor was killed with purely criminal intent, and there were no political reasons behind the incident. The child, a native of central Israel's Bat Yam, was lured to an abandoned room in the Armenian Monastery in Jaffa by Shahada and an accomplice. Oren Baharami was violated and killed in the same room, and his body was only recovered some days later, reports said.
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Baharami's mother publicly voiced her displeasure over the release of her son's murderer as part of a political deal. The news of his release came to her as a shock, since Shahada's name featuring on the release list didn't happen to cross her worst dreams. Why should he be let go as the crime was not linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she reportedly asked. "The murder wasn’t recognized as terrorism, and over the years, no one ever updated us...It takes my breath away," The Times of Israel quoted her as telling another media outlet.
Nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners are walking free as part of the peace deal that ended the Hamas-Israel war. The release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, along with the Palestinian prisoners, is the first stage of Trump's plan for ending the Gaza war. A ceasefire has been in place since Friday. The next phase of negotiations must address demands for Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, the territory it has controlled since expelling President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority in 2007.
