Israeli court jails Palestinian MP for 15 months — army

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A prominent Palestinian lawmaker has been jailed for 15 months by an Israeli military court, the military confirmed on Monday.

Khalida Jarrar, a senior member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a well-known political figure, was sentenced on Sunday at the Ofer military court near the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

She had been arrested in April on a series of charges, including encouraging attacks against Israel and violating a travel ban.

"Jarrar was sentenced to 15 months on the charges she was arrested for a few months ago, including incitement of terrorism," an army spokesperson told AFP on Monday.

The period since April will be considered part of her sentence, meaning she is likely to remain in jail until next summer.

The Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer said she had also been fined 10,000 shekels ($2600, 2400 euros) and given a five-year suspended sentence.

Israel considers the PFLP a terrorist organisation and at the time of her arrest the Israeli army said she posed unspecified "substantial security risks".

Issa Qaraqe, Palestinian minister for prisoner affairs, condemned the trial, calling it "arbitrary and legally unjustified".

"This is a political arrest. The charges against her are fabricated and ridiculous... there are no security reasons as claimed by the Israeli authorities," he told AFP. 

Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian parliament which has not met since 2007 after elections a year earlier were won by the Islamist movement Hamas.

Addameer said that five of the 132 members of that parliament are currently detained by Israel, including Marwan Barghouti — among the most prominent Palestinian leaders. Qaraqe condemned what he said was a "campaign" to prosecute parliamentarians.

In August 2014 Jarrar was ordered to leave Ramallah within 24 hours and to move to Jericho, but announced at the time she would disobey.