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Ali Samoudi released after a year without trial
PALESTINIAN journalist Ali Samoudi was released from an Israeli jail on 30 April. He was abducted on 29 April 2025 from his son’s home in Jenin city in the occupied West Bank and then subjected without trial to six months' “administrative detention”. It was several weeks before his family and colleagues located him. No evidence was offered when the administrative detention order against Ali was made nor, as far as the Freelance can tell, when it was renewed.
Ali Samoudi (centre) oh his release
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Ali saying “My weight was 120 kilograms; now my weight is 60 kilograms... The food is very bad. Even a cat would not eat what they eat... Prisoners have nothing. No notebook, no pen, nothing.”
Ali Samoudi before he was detained
“Administrative detention” occurs under a law passed during the British Mandate control of Palestine from 1918 to 1948. Administrative detention orders were established as an emergency power to enable British forces to hold people without charge for up to six months at a time. Israeli forces appropriated this power following their military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. Administrative detention orders can be renewed indefinitely.
Ali's detention came shortly before the anniversary of the murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. On 11 May 2022 Ali was reporting near the entrance to Jenin refugee camp when Israeli forces opened fire and killed her. He was shot in the back and recovered. His incarceration last year prevents him from speaking out on the third anniversary of Shireen’s murder.
Where is Ali Samoudi?