(TPS) Maher Younis, the longest-serving security prisoner in Israel, was released from prison on Thursday morning.

He and cousin Karim Younis were jailed for killing Cpl. Avraham Bromberg in 1980 as he was on his way to an army base in the Golan Heights. They shot Bromberg, threw him out of a moving car and left him for dead by the side of a road. Bromberg died several days later.

Police forces were deployed in their hometown of ‘Ara, near Haifa, to prevent a repeat of celebrations that occurred after Karim’s release.

The two served 40 years behind bars and are considered Palestinian celebrities as the longest-serving prisoners.

They were given life sentences, but in 2012, then-President Shimon Peres commuted their sentences to 40 years.

Israel’s Interior Ministry is moving to revoke the Younis’s citizenship, which would pave the way for their deportation. Whether the Younis cousins can be stripped of their citizenship and deported is questionable. The law currently allows this if the person holds citizenship in a second country. They only hold Israeli citizenship but could potentially be deported to the Palestinian Authority.

If they are stripped of their citizenship, the two would still be allowed to remain in Israel for a period of time under a different status, such as a temporary resident.