Hamdan Ballal released

No Other Land director badly beaten but returning home

by Jennie Kermode

No Other Land
No Other Land

After being attacked and arrested in the West Bank last night, the Oscar-winning director Hamdan Ballal has been allowed to return home, according to his friend and co-director Yuval Abraham.

"After being handcuffed all night and beaten in a military base, Hamdan Ballal is now free and is about to go home to his family," Abraham tweeted.

He also said that Ballal had been detained in Kiryat Arba police station, in an Israeli settlement, where he was handcuffed, beaten and denied access to a lawyer.

Earlier this month, the pair were in Los Angeles, where they received an Oscar for their film No Other Land, which addresses the destruction of the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta. Despite its success, the film has struggled to secure widespread distribution in the US because of misconceptions about its subject matter.

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