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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Former Fatah fighter Zakaria Zubeidi was released from Palestinian Authority jail on Monday evening, his lawyer said.

Zubeidi has been charged with connection to the shooting on the late Jenin governor's house in May, attorney Farid Hawash said. Qaddura Musa died hours later of a heart attack.

Hawash said Zubeidi would plead not guilty at the next hearing on Oct. 7.

The Jenin court released him on bail of 5,000 Jordanian dinar, he added.

Zubeidi had been jailed without charge for more than four months, until he received the formal charge last Sunday.

The director of the Jenin theater co-founded by Zubeidi, the Freedom Theater, said Zubeidi told his brother earlier Monday he was re-starting a hunger strike against his continued detention.

"A few hours later we heard he was being released, but we didn't believe it until we heard he was standing outside the doors of the prison," Jonathan Stanczak said.

In recent weeks, Zubeidi twice launched hunger strikes in jail, before suspending them on assurances he would immanently be released.

Zubeidi left the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which he led in Jenin during the second intifada, to co-found the theater in Jenin refugee camp in 2006 with Juliano Mer-Khamis, who was shot in 2011.

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Jenin Court Orders Release Of Former Aqsa Brigades Leader

by by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

A Palestinian court in Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, ordered the release of former leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement, Zakariyya Zobeidi, in addition to several other political prisoners from the Jenin refugee camp.

Attorney Farid Hawwash stated that the court ordered the release of Zobeidi along with Salim Nassar; they were ordered to pay a 5000 Jordanian Dinars each, pending a final court ruling on their case. Five Palestinian officers, who were detained under the same indictment, were also released.

Hawwash thanked the Military Court and saluted its independence and fairness, and stated that Zobeidi along with Salim Nassar and Ahmad Al-Amer left the Jericho prison after being detained there for five months.

Prisoners Adnan Al-Hindi, Raed Al-Amin, Mohammad Naghniyya and Sami Dhabaya will be released on Tuesday morning after concluding bail-related issues.
Zobeidi was taken prisoner on May 13 and never faced charges as the prosecution kept asking for more time.

He went on hunger strike that partially ended when delegates representing Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, informed him that he will be released within five days. But he was not released and resumed his strike.

He used to be the leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin, and was one of many fighters of the Fateh movement who were “pardoned” by Israel. He, along with several others, co-established the Freedom Theater in Jenin refugee camp in 2006.

It is worth mentioning that Israeli-Palestinian director, Juliano Mer-Khamis, founder of the Freedom Theater, was shot and killed by a gunman, on April 4th 2011, as he was leaving the Freedom Theater in the Jenin refugee camp. Mer-Khamis is the son of a Palestinian father from Nazareth and a Jewish Israeli mother.

The P.A. apprehended several suspects, including former fighters of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, but released them, including a main suspect who was exonerated following DNA testing.
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