Popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has been ‘brutally tortured’ by Israel in prison. And as a result he was seriously injured. Support groups for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons made the claim.
The Commission for Detainee and Ex-Detainee Affairs and the Palestine Prisoners’ Society said in a joint statement on Monday that Barghouti was attacked on September 9 in a solitary cell in Israel’s Megiddo prison.
Barghouti, known to his supporters as the ‘Palestinian Nelson Mandela’, is the most popular Palestinian leader. He is widely expected to win the Palestinian presidential election.
It is also claimed that there were two attempts to kill him earlier.
Barghouti was the most prominent leader during the first and second intifadas. In 2004, Israel convicted him of five murders. He has been in prison ever since.
Israel alleges that Barghouti is the founder of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.
The Fatah group politician has been in Israeli prison for more than two decades. The statement claimed that during the torture on September 9, his head, ear, chest, right hand, back were injured. It is also claimed that his right ear was bleeding.
The two organizations said that 64-year-old Barghouti was tortured on that day as well as several other Palestinian prisoners.
The commission said Palestinians were kept in ‘brutal conditions’. Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons are being treated worse during the war in Gaza in particular.
Israel has also stepped up arrests since launching an offensive in besieged Gaza in October last year.
Prisoners’ rights groups and the United Nations allege systematic torture of prisoners in Israeli prisons. It is alleged that they are beaten, not given food, not allowed to meet their relatives, medical care is neglected.
In a statement, the commission said these tortures were carried out to ‘kill’ Barguiti and other prominent prisoners.
According to the Palestinian group Admir, there are currently more than 10,000 prisoners in Israeli prisons. At least 3,390 of them are in jail under administrative orders. There are no charges against these prisoners.
