March 25 (UPI) -- Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning film No Other Land and who was allegedly detained and beaten by Israeli soldiers, has reportedly been set free.
Ballal was seen being taken away with one other person Monday at his home in the West Bank village of Susya by his co-director Basel Adra after he called her in a panicked state, CNN reported.
On Tuesday, his lawyer said Ballal was in the process of being released after he was held overnight in Kiryat Arba'a, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
According to the Israeli military, officials arrived to what it claimed was a "violent confrontation" between Israeli and Palestinian civilians throwing rocks at each other, and that "terrorists hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles."
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Adra said the IDF would fire at any person trying to get close.
Film co-director Yuval Abraham, an Israeli native, said Ballal sustained head and abdomen injuries but reportedly did not witness the incident.
"'No Other Land' is a testimony to injustice and displacement, and we stand in solidarity with the film's directors, including Hamdan Ballal, in their fight to document the reality on the ground," the documentary festival CPH:DOX wrote in a statement, adding it was "deeply horrified and shocked" by the reports of what Ballal had been put through.
The film documentes the struggle of Palestinians living in West Bank villages of Masafer Yatta and attempts by Israel and its settlers to erase Palestinian identity amid credible accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing by Israeli authorities.
Meanwhile, three Palestinians and an Israeli citizens were taken for questioning after "several" people who were described as "terrorists" threw rocks at military forces, the IDF claimed.
Ballal is one of the film's four co-directors, alongside fellow Palestinian filmmaker and activist Basel Adra, Abraham and Israeli cinematographer and director Rachel Szor. The film was shot from 2019 to 2023.
His detainment sparked outrage from the American and global film community.
A petition calling for his immediate release was signed by at least 3,700 people, including filmmakers Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, Ezra Edelman, Christine Vachon and Maite Alberdi.
Actor Mark Ruffalo, in a social media post, called on "every filmmaker and Academy member" to "act together in protest."
