Israel has released an American law professor detained for trying to block Israeli troops operating in a West Bank village slated for demolition.
American-French university professor Frank Romano, 66, was detained on Friday in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, along with two Palestinian activists.
Witnesses said that Romano stood in front of heavy equipment being used to clear barriers that had been set up to slow demolition. Activists said he began a hunger strike while in detention.
Gaby Lasky, Romano's lawyer, said a court ordered his release Sunday. She said he was freed early Monday after police decided not to appeal the decision.
Upon his release, Romano returned to the village and said: "I can continue the struggle with you."
Romano, who teaches law at the Paris Nanterre University, is to be deported, his lawyer said.
"Like thieves in the night, instead of bringing Frank Romano to a hearing to free him from jail, which I requested and which was set for 4 p.m. in Jerusalem Magistrates' Court, without notifying me or the court, at 2 p.m., police transferred him to immigration for deportation," Lasky tweeted.
