Palestine's longest-serving female prisoner released by Israel

The longest-serving female Palestinian prisoner was released from Israeli custody on Sunday after 15 years in jail.

Lina al-Jarbouni, 43, was greeted by friends and family outside the Hasharon jail in central Israel. Dozens of villagers from her hometown of Arraba in Israel's north also gathered to celebrate her release, Ma'an News Agency reported.

Al-Jarbouni, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was detained by Israeli forces on April 18, 2002 and interrogated for over 30 days, during which time she claims to have been tortured.

Israel eventually charged her with being affiliated with the Islamic Jihad group and for aiding and abetting their fighters, including suicide bombers.

She was denied release as part of the 2011 prisoner exchange deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Speaking to the Gaza-based radio station Sawt al-Asra (the Voice of Prisoners), al-Jarbouni said that her happiness was "mixed with grief" while thousands of other Palestinians remained in Israeli jails.

She urged all prisoners to support a mass hunger strike planned for April 17 to mark Palestinian Prisoners Day.

During her imprisonment, al-Jarbouni went on hunger strike as part of organized mass protests by Palestinian prisoners.

As a result, she was temporarily placed in solitary confinement.

Palestinian prisoner group Samidoun said al-Jarbouni was "always on the front lines of struggle" and "remained committed to building resistance and mutual solidarity" among other female detainees.

There are currently 6,500 Palestinian prisoners, including at least 300 children and 61 women, detained in Israeli-run prisons and detention facilities.

Most are being held on security-related grounds and are considered political prisoners by Palestinians.

Since Israel's occupation in 1967 around 700,000 Palestinians have been jailed, around 40 percent of the male population, according to rights group Addameer.

As such, every family in the occupied territories knows someone who has been arrested, and prisoners are considered national heroes for sacrificing themselves for the Palestinian struggle.