Jailed Palestinian leader Barghouti faces ‘brutal’ assaults in Israeli prisons

Prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has faced “brutal” assaults inside Israeli prisons, including three beatings in less than a month, an advocacy group said.

In a statement, “Free Marwan” international campaign said that Barghouti was subjected to “new brutal assaults” while held in solitary confinement in Megiddo and Ramon prisons in northern and southern Israel, on the eve of the 24th anniversary of his capture.

Barghouti was detained in 2002 by the Israeli forces and is currently serving a life-term sentence over charges of "directing armed groups that killed and injured Israelis” during the second Palestinian intifada.

The campaign said Barghouti told his lawyer, who visited him Sunday, that he endured “brutal physical assaults in recent weeks.”

Prison suppression units attacked him three times, on April 8 and March 24 and 25, using various methods of force, causing multiple injuries and bleeding across his body without providing medical treatment, the group added.

Barghouti has also faced a “systematic series of previous brutal assaults” that have continued since the start of the war in Gaza, according to the campaign.

The group called on international and human rights organizations to “fulfill their duty” to protect Barghouti and all Palestinian detainees.

Barghouti has spent more than 32 years in Israeli prisons, the campaign said.

On Feb. 18, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, entered Barghouti’s cell and threatened to kill him, according to video published at the time by Israeli media.

Despite the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange deals most recently under a ceasefire agreement that took effect Oct. 10, Israel has refused to release Barghouti and other high-profile detainees.

Abuses against prisoners have escalated alongside Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has continued for two years since October 2023. Palestinian authorities estimate that more than 9,300 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, including more than 50 women and about 350 children, in addition to those kept in Israeli army camps.

Violence by Israeli forces and occupiers in the West Bank has intensified since the genocide in the Gaza Strip began in October 2023, killing more than 1,148 Palestinians, wounding 11,750 and leading to 22,000 arrests.