Palestinian American athlete held by Israel without charge since June 2: Natalie Abudayyeh, 21, a youth leader in her Lutheran church, American citizen, and a member of the Palestinian women’s national soccer team, will remain in Israeli prison until at least September 23 after a military court hearing Wednesday, a bishop from the Evangelical Lutheran Church said, calling the ruling “incomprehensible.”
Abudayyeh, who was studying journalism at Birzeit University, was seized at gunpoint from her university apartment on June 2 alongside three other female students.
Israeli authorities have reportedly denied every request from Abudayyeh for bail and refused to let her family visit or contact her in any way.
She has been held nearly two months without charge at Damon Prison, where prisoners have reported severe conditions and repeated rights violations.