Jailed Jenin cleric freed after 35 years despite two life sentences
According to webangah News Agency, Palestinian detainee Raed Muhammad Sharif Saadi-known as the “Sheikh of Jenin’s Prisoners”-was born in 1966 in western Jenin Governorate. He was captured by Zionist forces in 1989 and sentenced to two life terms plus 20 years imprisonment.
Biography and Education
Saadi completed primary education in Jenin and earned a bachelor’s degree from Al-Aqsa University.During imprisonment, he graduated with a sociology degree from Al-Quds Open University while also memorizing the Quran.
Resistance Background
Saadi began anti-Zionist activism as a teenager. At 17, he was jailed for six months by israeli forces after raising the Palestinian flag on a Jenin streetlight. Inspired by Fatah leader Abu Ali Shahin, he trained in weapons and hand grenade manufacturing.
During the First Intifada (stone Intifada), Israeli forces pursued him for two years, detaining his parents for four months and repeatedly raiding their home to pressure him. He was finally arrested on August 28, 1989.
After arrest, Saadi endured 100 days of interrogation and torture before receiving his sentence. Over 35 years in prison, multiple family members died-including his mother-while his father became blind.
In 2022, he authored the novel “My Mother Maryam: A Palestinian Woman,” dedicated to deceased mothers of martyrs and prisoners, detailing his resistance experiences against Israeli occupation.
Scheduled for release under failed 2013 negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Saadi remained imprisoned despite Israel’s Oslo Accords commitment to free pre-1993 detainees; authorities blocked releases for him and 28 others.
Sustained torture and transfers between prisons left him with chronic illnesses requiring multiple surgeries during captivity.
