Israel threatening Marwan Barghouti’s life in jail: Palestinian official

A senior Palestinian official says Marwan Barghouti, a prominent Palestinian detainee, is being isolated and tortured by Israeli authorities.

Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in a Monday post on X said Israeli authorities were endangering Barghouti’s life.

Sheikh said Barghouti was being exposed to “isolation, torture and attempts to coerce, humiliate and beat him, putting his life in danger.”

“We call on the international community, institutions and international organizations to intervene immediately and urgently in order to stop the repressive measures against our prisoners and our leaders in the occupation prisons, protect them, and release them immediately,” Sheikh said.

Barghouti, 64, has reportedly been beaten by Israeli guards in recent days.

Last month, Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Barghouti had been placed in solitary confinement.

Barghouti was a prominent leader in the first and second Intifadas. He has been behind bars for over two decades.

Israel accused Barghouti of having founded the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the early 2000s.

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Barghouti remains a popular Palestinian figure. He has refused to recognize the authority of the Israeli court in his case.

Barghouti is also a favorite presidential candidate for the Palestinian people. A survey carried out in December showed him to be ahead of the current president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs, said the targeting of Barghouti is part of a campaign of repression against the Palestinian prisoners that has escalated since the start of the month of Ramadan.

Fares said punitive measures include “severe beatings, insults, humiliation and confiscation of the holy Quran from cells.”

“The situation has become more dangerous than anyone could imagine, as the lives of the prisoners have become threatened in the true sense.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Fares said Thabet Merdawi is another high-profile prisoner facing increased attacks recently. He is a leader from the Islamic Jihad resistance movement who has been in jail since 2002.

Rights advocates warn of the record number of Palestinian prisoners filling Israeli detention centers in light of the bloody onslaught on Gaza. They say the inmates are subjected to “systemic abuse” and torture.

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