The approximately 400 prisoners — all pretrial detainees — are being moved to the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa., the Marshals Service said.
The statement did not elaborate on how the D.C. jail facility fell short, but said federal officials would work with D.C. officials to rectify the problems. A D.C. Department of Corrections spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The decision seems not to provide any immediate relief for dozens of Jan. 6-related defendants who are being held pending trial in D.C., because those individuals are being held at the Correctional Treatment Facility, which is used as a medical center for the D.C. jail system and also sometime for prisoners being isolated from the general population.
Capitol riot suspects have complained about being the target of harassment and intimidation by jail guards and, in at least one case, a beating. Some say they’re viewed as white supremacists by the employees at the jail and have become targets for abuse as a result.
Days before the Marshals Service’s inspection last month, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth held the D.C. Department of Corrections in contempt for failing to arrange adequate medical treatment for one alleged rioter, Christopher Worrell. Lamberth also ordered prosecutors to refer the issue to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division for further review.
A prosecutor confirmed in a court filing on Tuesday that the relevant materials had been passed to the Civil Rights Division as the judge ordered.
The riot suspects and their attorneys have also complained for months that the jail’s facilities are inadequate for video meetings with their clients and for the review of voluminous electronic evidence, like tens of thousands of hours of surveillance, body-worn camera and cellphone video related to the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol.
Judges have endorsed some of those objections, grousing publicly on several occasions that jail officials reduced the number of video rooms for detainees, effectively constraining the court’s ability to hold hearings for many detainees.
The vast majority of the more than 700 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol building have been permitted to await trial in home detention or on release. More than 100 defendants have pleaded guilty or indicated plans to do so.
The paper reported that 647 prisoners had been released from Yangon’s Insein prison, while 80 were freed from a prison in Mandalay. Another 4,320 defendants currently before the courts will also be acquitted, said a notice in the paper.
The release follows the junta’s announcement Monday that it would free more than 5,600 people arrested for protesting against military rule since a coup in February. The released prisoners would need to sign a document pledging not to commit any acts of violence against the country, the junta added.
Since the coup, Myanmar’s security forces have arrested more than 9,000 people, of whom an estimated 7,355 are still in detention, according to non-profit group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
The Southeast Asian country sank into chaos following the coup, with daily protests continuing for months and insurgencies flaring in border regions. A bloody crackdown led to the thousands of reported detentions, as well as widespread reports of torture.
Also on Monday, junta chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing blasted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which said last week it would exclude him from an upcoming meeting of the regional bloc. Instead, a “non-political” figure from Myanmar would be invited to the ASEAN summit next week, the group said.
In a statement, the current ASEAN chair, Brunei, said there had been “insufficient progress” on a roadmap to restore peace in Myanmar, adding the group would “give space to Myanmar to restore its internal affairs and return to normalcy.”
In response, Min Aung Hlaing blamed Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government and various ethnic armed groups for the ongoing violence, and said ASEAN should have targeted them instead of the junta.
“More violence happened due to the provocations of terrorist groups,” Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech Monday. “No one cares about their violence and is only demanding we solve the issue. ASEAN should work on that.”
The comments, made on state television, are Min Aung Hlaing’s first remarks since ASEAN’s announcement.
Shortly afterward, AAPP said the junta’s decision to release prisoners was “not coincidental,” and was merely “a form of distraction for the foreign governments” in the wake of the ASEAN decision.
“The junta will continue to refuse being transparent about the individual persons released, and who remains detained,” AAPP said in a statement. “The released ‘demonstrators’ were practicing the fundamental right to free assembly against an illegitimate coup attempt.”
The organization called for the junta to release all political prisoners, including deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces a raft of charges and has been under house arrest since February.
Capt. Nyi Thuta, a former military officer now fighting the regime, also claimed the junta only released the prisoners because Min Aung Hlaing “was kicked out of the ASEAN summit.”
“Releasing the prisoners is just to ease international pressure, not out of good intention for the people or the nation,” he said, urging the junta to “immediately hand over power to the people.”
UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews welcomed the release of some prisoners, but said it was “outrageous” they had been detained in the first place.
“The junta is releasing political prisoners in Myanmar not because of a change of heart, but because of pressure,” he said in a statement posted to Twitter.
Min Aung Hlaing declared himself Prime Minister of a newly formed caretaker government in August, promising to hold new elections within two years and work with a special envoy named by ASEAN.
Wayne Chang, Cape Diamond and Hannah Ritchie contributed to this report.
The recapture of the last two prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison on Saturday night shows that Israel has very good intelligence sources in the West Bank, residents of Jenin said Sunday.
The recapture of Ayham Kamamji and Munadel Enfayat is also a blow to the Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) gunmen in the Jenin refugee camp who had over the past few days pledged to defend the fugitives and foil any attempt by the IDF to enter the camp or the city of Jenin, the residents said.
PIJ members Kamamji and Enfayat surrendered to the IDF after the house in the eastern part of Jenin city they were hiding in was surrounded by dozens of soldiers.
The two were hiding in the home of Abdel Rahman Abu Ja’far, a clothes merchant whose brother, Ehab, was one of the commanders of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades during the Second Intifada.
Abdel Rahman Abu Ja’far was detained by the IDF together with the fugitives.
masked gunmen in the streets of Jenin Refugee Camp (credit: KHALED ABU-TOAMEH)
“The arrest of the two prisoners shows that Israel has collaborators in Jenin,” said Jenin resident Abdullah al-Natour. “Unfortunately, collaborators have always existed not only in Jenin, but in most cities, villages and refugee camps.”
During the First Intifada, which erupted in 1987, gunmen in the Jenin area took it upon themselves to kill many Palestinians suspected of collaboration with Israel, he said. They also targeted soldiers and Israeli citizens.
Then, a Fatah-affiliated armed group called Fahd al-Aswad (Black Panther) killed several suspected informants in the Jenin area, forcing many others to flee their homes. The IDF set up a special camp called Fahmeh on the southern outskirts of Jenin for the suspected collaborators and their families. Other families were moved to Arab communities inside Israel.
Some Palestinian social-media users accused the Palestinian Authority of assisting Israel in tracking down the two fugitives. Security coordination between the PA security forces and the IDF enabled Israel to locate the fugitives, they said.
A senior PA official in Jenin denied the charge, saying the Palestinian security forces had nothing to do with the arrests.
Over the past few days, gunmen belonging to Fatah and PIJ warned that Israel would “pay a heavy price” if the IDF entered the camp or Jenin city to recapture the escaped prisoners.
But most of the gunmen were nowhere to be seen when a large number of security forces entered different parts of Jenin as a distraction.
On Sunday, several Jenin residents scoffed at the threats made by the gunmen.
“The gunmen promised to foil an Israeli invasion of Jenin,” said Bassam Ata. “Why make such threats if you know that you can’t do anything when the soldiers enter Jenin?”
A Fatah activist in Jenin refugee camp said he and his friends expected the IDF to raid the camp, but not the Jenin neighborhood where the fugitives were hiding.
“The two men were arrested outside the [refugee] camp,” he said. “Were they staying inside the camp, the Israeli army would not have been able to catch them. We had dozens of armed men waiting for the army.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials and factions continued to heap praise on the six inmates who managed to escape from Gilboa Prison and were later recaptured by the Israeli security forces.
The escape drew the world’s attention to the “plight” of the Palestinian prisoners in Israel, they said, vowing to pursue efforts to secure the release of all the inmates. That the escaped prisoners were recaptured does not diminish the “great achievement” they scored by breaking out of a high-security prison, they added.
PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yusef praised the escaped prisoners as “heroes” and called on Palestinians to continue launching campaigns in support of all the security prisoners.
In an interview with the PA’s Voice of Palestine radio station, he called on the International Criminal Court “to expedite its investigation into the crimes of the occupation against the prisoners.”
Another PLO official, Ahmed Majdalani, praised the six fugitives for bringing the issue of all prisoners to the attention of the international community.
The PA leadership was planning to raise the issue of the prisoners before the United Nations General Assembly during its upcoming meeting in New York, he said.
Qadoura Fares, head of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoner Club, said the six prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison “restored the unity of the Palestinian street and proved the importance of unity.”
Hamas said the Palestinian “resistance” groups would continue to work toward securing the release of all the security prisoners.
The time has come to “cut off the Israeli arm that kidnapped” the two fugitives in Jenin, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
Senior Hamas official Ahmed Bahr condemned Israel for recapturing the escaped prisoners in Jenin.
The arrest of the two fugitives “does not mean the end of the story,” he said, adding that the escape had dealt a severe blow to Israel. Hamas would do its utmost to free all the security prisoners, he added.
The rearrest of the six fugitives “will not erase the impact of the defeat inflicted on the occupation,” PIJ said in a statement.
It reiterated its pledge to continue working for the release of all the prisoners and held Israel responsible for any harm to the lives of the inmates.
PIJ also called on the military wings of the Palestinian factions “to remain in a state of alert and high readiness to defend the prisoners.”
The last two remaining prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison earlier this month, Munadil Nafayat and Iham Kahamji, were arrested on Saturday night by Israeli forces in Jenin, putting an end to a nearly two-week-long manhunt.
The arrest was made by the IDF, Shin Bet and police special forces based on intelligence from the Shin Bet. Israeli forces surrounded the house where the prisoners were hiding and the two prisoners surrendered without any struggle and were transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning. Two Palestinians who helped the two prisoners were also arrested by Israeli forces.
Fouad Kahamji, Iham’s father, told Al-Quds.com on Saturday night that Iham had called him before the arrest and told him that he was trapped in a house with civilians and that he would surrender himself for their safety.
תמונות ראשונות של שני המחבלים דקות לאחר שנלכדו על ידי לוחמי הימ”מ ושב”כ pic.twitter.com/o0RNd38yDu
— Or Heller אור הלר (@OrHeller) September 19, 2021
Four of the six prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison, Zakaria Zubeidi, Mahmoud Ardah, Mohammed Qadri and Mohammed Ardah, were captured by security forces in and near Nazareth last weekend.
POLICE OFFICERS and prison guards stand outside the Gilboa jail following the escape by Palestinian security prisoners. (credit: FLASH 90)
Armed clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday night, after large numbers of Israeli forces entered the city, according to Palestinian reports. One Palestinian was wounded, according to the reports. No injuries were reported among Israeli forces.
شاهد| اللحظات الأولى للاشتباك المسلح مع جيش الاحتلال داخل الحي الشرقي في جنين. pic.twitter.com/wTs7RhHPwX
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) September 18, 2021
“Since they escaped, Israel Police, led by the Northern District of the police, has been mobilizing many forces, along with other security organizations, in a wide deployment of thousands of police, Border Police and volunteers, in an intelligence, investigative and operational hunt and thanks to exceptional cooperation between all organizations, the police, the Shin Bet and the IDF, we managed to close the circle together,” said Israel Police Chief Kobi Shabtai after the two were arrested.
Shabtai explained that the security establishment figured out over time that the two were located in Jenin. Security forces prepared for several days for the operation which took place on Saturday night after information they had been waiting for was received.
“The entire security establishment and we, the officers of Israel Police, will continue to act resolutely and aggressively for the security of the citizens of Israel,” said Shabtai.
Palestinian gunmen in Jenin had said over the weekend that they are prepared to thwart any attempt by the IDF to enter the city or its refugee camp in search of two security prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison.
The gunmen said they have formed a “Joint Operations Room” consisting of representatives of various Palestinian factions to repel a possible “invasion” by the IDF.
Palestinian sources said the gunmen belong to several armed groups affiliated with Fatah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The sources claimed that the IDF was preparing to launch a major offensive in the camp following a series of shooting incidents.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Prisoners serving life sentences in Denmark are to be prevented from starting new romantic relationships after it emerged a 17-year-old fell in love with Peter Madsen, the murderer of the journalist Kim Wall, while he was in jail.
For the first 10 years of their imprisonment, long-term inmates’ contacts, by letter, phone or online, will be limited to people they already knew before they entered prison, under legislation tabled by the social democrat-led government.
“We have seen distasteful examples in recent years of prisoners who have committed vile crimes contacting young people in order to gain their sympathy and attention,” the justice minister, Nick Hækkerup, said. “This must obviously be stopped.”
The six-point bill, which has the backing of the centre-right opposition and should come into force in January, will also stop long-term prisoners being allowed to post freely about their offences on social media or discuss them on podcasts.
At present, long-term inmates can write to, call and have visits from people they did not know before they were imprisoned, and share details of their offences online. Jails should not serve as “dating centres or media platforms to brag about crimes”, Hækkerup said.
The bill follows public outcry at the way Madsen, who murdered then dismembered Wall in 2017 when she went to interview him on his homemade submarine, was able to form relationships with at least two women while in jail.
The inventor, who was convicted of premeditated murder, aggravated sexual assault and desecrating a corpse but only confessed to Wall’s murder in a TV documentary last year, met and in 2020 married Jenny Curpen, 39, a Russian artist in Finland, after correspondence and visits that began soon after he was sentenced in April 2018.
Madsen also had a phone and written relationship with Cammilla Kürstein, who first contacted him as a 17-year-old schoolgirl in 2017 and last year told the Danish public broadcaster DK in an emotional interview that she was “absolutely in love with him”.
Human rights experts said they expected challenges to the new law. Jens Elo Rytter, of the University of Copenhagen, told the BT newspaper that on the face of it, the proposed ban on new relationships would “interfere with prisoners’ right to a private life”, while outlawing public statements might “raise questions about censorship”.
Wall, who had written for the Guardian and the New York Times, was last seen alive on the submarine, the Nautilus, on 10 August 2017. Her dismembered torso was found floating off the coast of Copenhagen 10 days after she was reported missing. Her head, legs and clothes were discovered in bags at sea that October.
Madsen, who was rescued shortly before the vessel sank, initially claimed to have set down the journalist on dry land. He subsequently changed his story, saying she had died when a heavy hatch cover accidentally fell on her head during their brief voyage on the 17-metre (56ft) submarine.
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other Palestinian factions have called for a “day of rage” on Friday in protest of Israel’s decision to transfer security prisoners to other prisons following the escape of six inmates from Gilboa Prison earlier this week.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian Authority official warned that Israel’s “repressive” measures against the prisoners could ignite a new intifada.
“Israel is playing with fire,” the official said. “The issue of the prisoners is extremely sensitive. The situation is very dangerous.”
The official said that the PA has warned the Israeli government that the West Bank “is on the verge of explosion” because of the anger over the measures taken against the security prisoners.
On Thursday, Tawfik Tirawi, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and former head of the PA General Intelligence Service, visited the families of some of the fugitives who escaped from Gilboa Prison. Tirawi told the families that he was proud of the six inmates, and expressed hope that all the security prisoners would be freed.
اللواء توفيق الطيراوي عضو اللجنة المركزية لحركة ” فتح” يقبل يد والدة الاسير محمود عارضة المحرر من عملية #نفق_لحرية pic.twitter.com/2N5gyY8xD7
— منير الجاغوب (@MonirAljaghoub) September 9, 2021
“In light of the frenzied attack against our prisoners, we call on our Palestinian people to make Friday a day of Palestinian rage in the face of the arrogance of the occupation and its aggression against the prisoners, and to head toward points of contact and clash with the enemy army,” Hamas said in a statement on Thursday.
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire in the Simhoni forest caused by incendiary ballons sent by Palestinian terrorists into southern Israel. June 15, 2021. (credit: FLASH90)
The call came after Wednesday night’s widespread protests in the West Bank and east Jerusalem against the Israel Prison Service’s decision to disperse hundreds of Palestinian inmates among various prisons.
The Palestinians are ready to “make sacrifices and fight battles for the freedom of the prisoners,” the Hamas statement read. “The escalation of the resistance and the clash with the enemy army carries a clear message to the occupation and its leaders that we, as a Palestinian people, are united behind the option of resistance and the protection of prisoners and holy sites.”
The National and Islamic Forces in the Gaza Strip, an alliance of various Palestinian factions, also called on Palestinians to step up protests against Israel on Friday in solidarity with the security prisoners and in support of the six fugitives.
The appeal was made by representatives of the factions during a sit-in strike in front of the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip.
“The masses of our people must declare outrage, comprehensive escalation, and an open-ended clash with the occupation to support the prisoners,” said Jamil Mezher, a senior official with the PLO’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The factions said in a statement that the Palestinians and the armed groups in the Gaza Strip stand with the prisoners and “will not let them down.”
In Ramallah, Palestinian activists also called for clashes with IDF soldiers on Friday in solidarity with the prisoners.
Sheikh Khader Adnan, a senior PIJ official in the West Bank, also urged Palestinians to participate in the demonstrations on Friday, and called on Palestinians to “rejoice” over the jailbreak, describing the fugitives – five of whom belong to PIJ – as “heroes.”
“The battle for the freedom of the prisoners is the battle of all Palestinians and the free people of the world,” Adnan said.
Also Thursday, the PA government said that it has instructed all its embassies around the world to raise the issue of the security prisoners with governments and various international institutions, as well as the media.
Palestinian diplomats have been instructed to “expose the Israeli aggression on the heroic prisoners, including repression, abuse, provocative attacks, arbitrary transfers, collective and individual isolation, and reducing the amount of food and water,” according to the PA Foreign Ministry.
The ministry claimed that the latest Israeli measures “rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” and called for holding the Israeli government fully responsible for the lives of the prisoners and their families.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group sent gunmen to the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on Tuesday ahead of expected Israeli raids hunting six security prisoners who escaped from an Israeli prison, as the fugitives remained at large over a day after their disappearance.
Israel has launched a massive manhunt to capture the six prisoners, who are considered highly dangerous, after they broke out of the high-security Gilboa prison early Monday in what is considered to be among the most serious jailbreaks in the country’s history.
Five of the six fugitives are members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The terror group has issued several threats to Israel since the escape, warning against raids in Jenin and against taking action against the group’s members in Israeli prisons.
“If the IDF enters [Jenin] it will be met with significant firepower from many weapons and explosive devices,” the group said at a Tuesday press conference in Jenin.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah both dispatched members to Jenin to bolster their forces there ahead of the expected incursions by the Israel Defense Forces, Channel 12 news reported.
PIJ militants hold a press conference in Jenin tonight, amid the intense manhunt for the six Palestinian security prisoners, originally from Jenin, who fled Gilboa Prison on Monday. pic.twitter.com/JRbl9HZAiP
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 7, 2021
The six escapees include Zakaria Zubeidi, a notorious commander in Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror group, who was in prison while on trial for two dozen crimes, including attempted murder.
Zubeidi’s brother Jibril, who said he was held for seven years in Gilboa Prison, told Channel 13 he had believed the jail to be impregnable; he also said he had “no idea” of his Zakaria’s whereabouts.
The six Palestinian security prisoners who escaped from Gilboa prison on Monday, September 6, 2021 (Screenshot: Prisoners’ Media Office)
Four escapees were in jail for life in connection with deadly attacks against Israelis and affiliation with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group. The remaining prisoner was being held in administrative detention and had not been charged with a crime other than belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Many Palestinians assume that some, or all, of the six escapees would seek refuge in the Jenin camp. All of the fugitives are from the Jenin area, which has largely become a no-go zone to the IDF and Palestinian Authority security forces.
Video posted by Palestinian media said to be from Jenin showed masked gunmen walking down a city street, firing weapons in the air.
#شاهد انتشار للمقاومين داخل مخيم جنين. pic.twitter.com/T8AcaU9yC9
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) September 6, 2021
West Bank residents overwhelmingly support the fugitives, according to widely quoted assessments Tuesday. Their escape is viewed as a “landmark, strategic” success that will embolden extremist Palestinian groups, Channel 12 said.
Public celebrations have been reported in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron, and in the Gaza Strip, following the escape. The festivities in Jenin at the humiliation of Israel have been particularly prolonged and widespread.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh spoke out in support of the fugitives, saying, “It’s the right of every prisoner to escape from prison by any means.”
Channel 13 news reported that police successfully retraced the route the men took shortly after fleeing the prison, and had not found any evidence that the men crossed any of Israel’s borders as of Tuesday night, indicating they were likely inside Israel or the West Bank.
The IDF believes that the six men split up to better evade capture, and may be armed, the report said.
The military has bolstered its forces on the Gaza border due to fears some of the escapees may try to reach the Palestinian enclave. A victory celebration with the fugitives and the leadership of the Hamas terror group would likely inflame an already tense Gaza, TV reports noted.
Palestinians carry a poster of the Islamic Jihad terror group, reading in Arabic: “The second great escape from the prisons of the Zionist enemy – 1987 Saraya Prison – 2021 Gilboa Prison,” following the escape of six Palestinians from an Israeli prison, in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, on September 6, 2021. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A senior source with the Israel Police told the Walla news site that there was some possibility that at least some of the fugitives would try to reach the Strip. “From the police’s perspective, every possibility is on the table,” the source said.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad warned earlier on Tuesday that if there was any change to the conditions of prisoners being held in Israeli jails, especially its members, following the prison escape, it would respond.
“Harming the prisoners is a red line, and the occupation must carefully consider what we say and realize that we are ready and able to protect our prisoners by all means,” the terror group said in a statement.
“Every act of revenge on prisoners will bring the opening of the gates of hell against Israel in every place,” it added.
The Israel Prisons Service on Tuesday moved hundreds of Palestinian Islamic Jihad prisoners between facilities and imposed new restrictions, Channel 12 reported.
Israeli troops patrol along the security fence in the village of Muqeibila, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, on September 6, 2021, following the escape of six Palestinian security prisoners from an Israeli prison. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)
The escape has sparked tumult in Israel’s prison system. Senior officials from the prison were summoned for questioning on Tuesday evening, the Kan public broadcaster reported. Earlier in the day, at least 14 Prisons Service staff were questioned by the police amid suspicions that the escapees may have had assistance.
Prison officials and police are being widely castigated for lapses that facilitated the escape, with a litany of blunders allowing the breakout to occur in the first place, and a failure to grasp the severity of the situation for several hours after it occurred.
Authorities said that they had not achieved any breakthroughs in the search for the terrorists as of Tuesday evening, but Hebrew and Palestinian reports said that three suspects had been arrested on suspicion of helping the fugitives.
Police entered the neighboring Arab towns of Na’ura and Tamra, located northeast of Afula, and searched mosques. Numerous checkpoints were placed in the area.
The three suspects were arrested in Na’ura, reports said. The detainees were suspected of helping the six break out of the prison or flee the area afterward.
Authorities believe at least some of the escaped prisoners stopped in the town for a short time after their breakout and changed clothes there, Haaretz reported.
Police officers and prison guards inspect the scene of a prison escape outside the Gilboa prison in northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. (AP/Sebastian Scheiner)
Police were also conducting searches in the Palestinian town of Jalamah, adjacent to the West Bank border fence, and near the Palestinian city of Jenin, the Walla news site reported.
The IDF also deployed additional troops to the border with Jordan, as authorities suspected some of the fugitives would attempt to flee to Israel’s eastern neighbor.
Authorities suspect that the fugitives split up following the escape from Gilboa prison. They ran some 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) after exiting the hole dug underneath the prison walls, police officials said. There, some of them boarded a getaway vehicle, Channel 12 reported.
The six escaped via a tunnel in their cell’s drainage system, though officials said that a security flaw meant that they did not need to excavate to create a passage out.
Security officials are most concerned that the six men could carry out a terrorist attack against Israeli civilians, though leading figures have indicated that it is unlikely.
Six convicted terrorists escaped from a high-security prison in northern Israel in the predawn hours of Monday morning, tunneling their way out through their cell’s drainage system in one of the worst prison breaks in the country’s history and prompting a massive manhunt in northern Israel and the West Bank, security services said.
Large numbers of police forces were called to the area around Gilboa Prison, located northwest of Beit She’an, near the Sea of Galilee, and were searching for the six fugitives with the help of drones and helicopters. The military and Shin Bet were also helping search for the suspects, and checkpoints were put up in the area.
The six fugitives were all in jail for life in connection with deadly attacks against Israelis, and all were considered highly dangerous. Three of them had attempted escape in the past, according to Hebrew media reports.
The commander of the Israel Police’s Northern District said there were no security advisories in place for residents of the area following the incident, but urged them to exercise increased vigilance.
“There is no reason to change your routines, but there will be large numbers of troops within the cities of Afula and Beit She’an and in other towns. I do request additional awareness of anything suspicious,” Northern District chief Shimon Ben Shabo said in a statement.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
The Israel Prisons Service said the escape occurred around 1:30 a.m. Monday. Police received reports about suspicious people traveling in the area of the prison around 3 a.m.
“Six prisoners escaped by means of an opening that was discovered in their cell,” a statement from the prisons service said.
Investigators inspect the hole used by six inmates to escape Gilboa Prison on September 6, 2021. (Israel Prison Service)
Upon searching the men’s cell, investigators found the opening — just large enough for a grown man to pass through — dug into in the floor of their bathroom. It was not immediately known how the man dug through the concrete and metal rebar floor, when even metal spoons are not allowed into the cells, though the prison service has long dealt with extensive and at time even elaborate smuggling operations into its facilities.
After apparently entering the prison’s drainage network, the men exited through another tunnel into a road on the south side of the prison.
The Israel Prisons Service said it decided to make preparations to send the other security prisoners at Gilboa Prison to other facilities in Israel as a precautionary measure.
Israeli officials believe the six will attempt to flee to Jordan or to Jenin, as all of the fugitives hail from that city or nearby villages.
A hole used by six inmates to escape Gilboa Prison on September 6, 2021. (Israel Prison Service)
“IDF soldiers are prepared and spread out throughout the West Bank,” the military said.
The military also put checkpoints in place throughout the Jenin area.
The men were spotted walking along the road near the prison at around 3 a.m., prompting at least one man to call the police.
” I just passed by the prison and I saw some suspicious people walking around. Maybe you should tell them to do a patrol or something,” the man told police, according to a recording of the call that was shared on social media.
The man said the suspicious men appeared to be walking east from the prison, toward Beit She’an and the Jordanian border.
One of the escaped prisoners was Zakaria Zubeidi, a former commander in Jenin of Fatah’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, who was convicted in several deadly attacks. Zubeidi was a leading terrorist figure during the Second Intifada, but was granted amnesty by Israel in 2007. This was rescinded in 2011 and Zubeidi remained on the run until his arrest in 2019. He was indicted for a number of attacks, including a number of shootings in 2018 and 2019, as well as for some of his activities during the Second Intifada. He was being held in Gilboa Prison through the duration of his trial.
Terrorist leader Zakaria Zubeidi arrives for a court hearing at the Ofer military court, May 28, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The prison services identified the other five as members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, all from towns near the northern West Bank city of Jenin: Munadil Nafayat, 26, from Yaabad; Mahmoud and Mohammad al-Arida, both from Arraba; Iham Kahamji, 35, from Kufr Dan; and Yaqoub Qadiri, 49, from Deir al-Basha.
Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, right, reviews maps with police officials during a manhunt for six Palestinian fugitives who escaped from Gilboa Prison in northern Israel on September 6, 2021. (Public Security Ministry)
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, who is responsible for both the Israel Prison Service and the Israel Police, were both informed of the escape and are in constant contact with the relevant officials, their offices said.
Celebratory gunfire was reported in Jenin following reports of the prison break.
בריחת האסירים מכלא גלבוע: דיווחים פלסטיניים על ירי שמחה בג’נין@AlonAmitzi pic.twitter.com/Z0sVFBHy60
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 6, 2021
Islamic Jihad officials described the escape as “an utter failure for the occupation army” and as a “strong slap to the Israeli military and the whole Israeli system” in comments to the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Mayadeen news network.
The Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group hailed the escape as “a brave and heroic act.”
“[This is] a victory for the will and determination of our heroic prisoners, and a real challenge to the Zionist security system, which the occupation boasts as being the best in the world,” Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhum said in a statement.
You’re serious. We appreciate that!
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we come to work every day – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
A large manhunt is underway for six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from the Gilboa prison in Israel’s North using a tunnel.
The six were high-security prisoners who were all in jail with life sentences in connection with deadly terror attacks against Israelis but managed to escape by using a tunnel they had previously dug.
The Israel Prison Service released the names and affiliations of the escaped prisoners:
The six prisoners shared a cell, which is where they dug the tunnel over the course of a month, using a rusty spoon that they hid behind a poster.
According to Hebrew media reports, three of them had attempted to escape in the past.
They were all in the same cell and dug the tunnel over the course of a month.
The escape, which began around 3.30 AM, was reportedly discovered when a farmer saw the six prisoners running in his field and notified the police.
View of the Shita prison, located next to Gilboa,and intended for 800 primarily security convicts. (credit: MOSHE SHAI/FLASH90)
Police, the Shin Bet, Border Police and IDF troops are taking part in the massive manhunt, and have placed roadblocks in the West Bank. The police are utilizing special units in the search including dogs and aerial support.
Police are investigating the possibility that the escapees may have managed to escape to Jenin or Jordan.
A senior police official said that this is one of the worst incidents of this kind in the country.
One of the escapees is Zakaria Zubeidi, a Fatah commander who was responsible for multiple terror attacks and many Israeli deaths.
Zubeidi was arrested by the Shin Bet in 2019 following intelligence that he was planning a serious attack in the West Bank and for two shooting attacks against Israeli buses in the West Bank near Beit El and Psagot.
He was once considered a “symbol of the Intifada,” but renounced militancy over a decade ago and was awarded clemency by Israel after he agreed to give up arms.
In a 2009 interview with Palestinian Maan News, Zubeidi said that Palestinian resistance could coexist alongside negotiating with Israel, saying that “this resistance is not defined yet. It could be armed resistance and it could be peaceful resistance.”
In 2012, Zubeidi was arrested by the Palestinian Authority, being accused of “collaboration” with Israel and killing Israeli Arab filmmaker Juliano Mar-Khamis. Zubeidi denied the charges and said that he was tortured and kept under inhumane conditions in the PA’s prison in Jericho.
In early 2013 Zubeidi turned himself into Palestinian security forces after Israel revoked his amnesty and spent the next four years in prison. He was released in 2017 and returned to Jenin with his amnesty reinstated.
In a statement, PIJ called the escape “heroic” and that it “will shock the Israeli defense system.”
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum was quoted by Shehab News Agency as saying that the escape is a “great victory that proves that the will and determination of the resistance fighters and mujadin cannot be defeated regardless of the challenges” and that the “Zionist enemy has never and will never win, no matter how much power it possesses. The struggle for freedom from the occupier continues.”
This is a developing story. Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
Some 23,314 prisoners are set to be granted amnesty and released on Union Day, a national public holiday observing unification of the country, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said in a statement. It is unclear what offenses the prisoners were convicted of.
While mass prisoner releases are common on national holidays in Myanmar this is the first such amnesty from the new junta, which seized power in a coup on February 1, ousting democratically-elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and detaining key government officials.
The military justified taking control of the country by claiming widespread voting irregularities in the November 2020 election, which gave Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party (NLD) a second consecutive landslide victory.
In a statement Friday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) expressed “serious concern” that the amnesty was to “clear space for the detention of political prisoners.”
In addition to the release, prisoners who are serving sentences for crimes committed before January 31, 2021, for any offense will also have their sentences reduced, according to the military statement.
In his address, Min Aung Hlaing said the prisoner amnesty was part of an effort to build a “democratic country with disciplines.”
There is no indication that Suu Kyi or other government ministers or officials detained in the coup will be released as part of the amnesty. Nor is the amnesty is unlikely to cool protesters’ anger toward the military generals.
Protests and civil disobedience campaigns continued in towns and cities across the country Friday. Videos and live streams posted online showed several groups marching in the biggest city Yangon, including medical workers and soccer fans.
Large gatherings are also expected at the United States, Chinese and British embassies in Yangon.
The rallies have so far been largely peaceful but police have been recorded using water cannon against protesters. Police have also faced allegations they have deployed live rounds.
A young woman named Mya Thweh Thweh Khine remains in critical condition Friday morning at a hospital in the capital Naypyidaw with a gunshot wound in the head, a source with direct information about the victim told CNN.
Video of the incident circulated online showed a young woman suddenly falling to the ground while taking cover from a water canon at a protest.
Experts at rights group Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab said that images takes near a protest in Naypyidaw on February 9, show a police officer holding a locally made variant of an Uzi sub-machine gun.
The rights group said the images were taken from a location near the Thabyegone Roundabout, across the road from where the young woman was shot in the head.
Amnesty said it has verified the coordinates of the image which shows an officer holding a “Myanmar-made BA-94 or BA-93 Uzi clone.” CNN has not been able to independently verify the image.
The findings are in direct contradiction to claims by the military that no lethal weapons were used during protests, Amnesty said.
Myanmar’s military posted on its Facebook page on February 10 that it only used anti-riot weapons at the protest near the Thabyegone Roundabout and was investigating reports that two protesters had been injured.
Sam Dubberley, Head of Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab said in a press release, “The serious injuries sustained by this young woman were caused by the Myanmar police firing live ammunition directly towards peaceful protesters.”
Mya Thweh Thweh Khine has since become a symbol of the protests, with demonstrators holding portraits of her image as they march.
On Thursday, Min Aung Hlaing issued a warning to protesters, which include a large cross section of society including monks and a growing number of public workers, urging them to go back to work.
“Those who are away from their duties are requested to return to their duties immediately for the interests of the country and people without focusing on the emotion,” he said.
Min Aung Hlaing blamed government employees’ recent absenteeism on harassment by “unscrupulous persons,” in a statement issued by the ruling military’s official information service.
In response to the ongoing protests the country’s military has sought to limit access to the internet and news services, as well as floating a potential new cyber security law that observers fear could further limit the flow of information.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden announced that the US would move ahead with sanctions against Myanmar’s military leaders following last week’s coup.
In brief remarks, the President said he had approved a new executive order allowing the US to “immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests as well as close family members.” He said they would identify targets of those sanctions this week.
Biden also called on the military junta to release detained protesters and civilian leaders, including Suu Kyi and Win Myint and cease their crackdowns on demonstrators.
