Maher Younis, among longest-serving Palestinian prisoners, dies at 68

Former Palestinian prisoner Maher Abdul Latif Younis, one of the longest-serving Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, died early on Sunday, July 5, at the age of 68, nearly three and a half years after completing a 40-year prison sentence.

Younis was widely regarded as a leading figure in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. Funeral prayers were scheduled to be held after the noon prayer in his hometown of Ar’ara in the 1948-occupied Palestinian territories.

Spent four decades in prison

Israeli authorities arrested Younis on January 18, 1983, over his involvement in armed resistance activities and his affiliation with the Fatah movement, according to Palestinian sources. He was 25 at the time.

Following his arrest, he underwent lengthy interrogation and was initially sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment before being reduced in 2012 to a fixed prison term of 40 years.

Younis completed the full sentence and was released on January 19, 2023, becoming one of the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

His cousin, Karim Younis, was arrested around the same period and also spent about four decades in Israeli prisons before his release. Another associate, Sami Younis, was freed in a 2011 prisoner exchange and died several years later.

Education and personal loss

Born on January 6, 1958, in the village of Ara, Younis completed his schooling before enrolling at an industrial school in Hadera.

While in prison, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and took part in educational programmes organised by Palestinian prisoners.

During his imprisonment, he was unable to attend his father’s funeral after his father, who had previously spent eight years in Israeli prisons, died in 2008.

Tributes

Palestinian prisoner organisations and the Fatah movement paid tribute to Younis, describing him as a symbol of resilience whose decades in prison reflected the experiences of generations of Palestinian detainees.

In a joint statement, prisoner institutions said his legacy would remain part of the collective memory of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.