Marwan Barhouti’s son says the family fears for his life in an Israeli prison
Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is taken aside September 29, 2003 in Tel Aviv, Israel [File: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images]
The son of Palestinian political leader Marwan Barhouti says he fears for his father’s life in an Israeli prison amid reports of witnesses being beaten by guards last month.
In an interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday, Arab barghouti accused Israel of looking closely at his father because he is a unifying figure among the Palestinians.
Arab said: “We fear for my father’s life.
Earlier this week, the family told media outlets that they had received testimony from detainees in Palestine as part of the Gaza Resofire Agreement That Barghouti was beaten by a guard in mid-September as he was being transferred between two Israeli prisons.
Arabi told Al Jazeera that this attack is the fourth since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023 that his father was attacked in Israel.
“They are targeting him,” Arab said, explaining that Israel sees his father as a ‘danger’ because of his ability to bring the Palestinians together.
A prominent member of Fatah, the Palestinian Authority (PA) political party that controls parts of the occupied West Bank, Barghouti has been in an Israeli prison since the early 2000s.
He is serving five sentences and 40 years for murder and attempted murder, which is not always prohibited.
The Palestinian Center for Policy and the Funeral Research Program from May found that barghouti was the most popular Palestinian leader, including the additional support of Hamas Khaled Meshaal and PA President Mahmoud ABBAS.
The Palestinians had called for barghouti to be released as part of the The recent Gaza Skonga agreement between Israel and Hamas, but Israel refused to release.
As part of this money, Israel released 250 Palestinians serving life sentences, several were sent into exile. About 1,700 Palestinians who were arrested in Gaza and transferred to Israeli detention facilities during the Gaza War have been released.
One of the released prisoners, Mohammad Al-Ardah, told Al Jazeera Arabic that the Israeli forces will make “bablaric” forces in the prisons every week, severely beating the Palestinian prisoners.
“The latest reports we heard about senior leader Marwan Barghouti are that they broke three of his ribs,” al-Ardah said.
Israeli authorities denied that Barghouti was beaten in September, with the prison service telling BBC news it was “acting in accordance with the law, while ensuring the safety and health of all detainees and the health of all prisoners”.
But Arabi, the son of Barhouti, said that the Israeli authorities have no credibility.
He also pointed to the August video that showed Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir Sokwebisa Barghouti In prison, as evidence that the Israeli government is trying to “silence” his father’s voice.
“We know that [Ben-Gvir] He showed him the electric chair on his phone and told him, ‘This is your end’ … If that’s not a risk to his life, I don’t know what is,” Arab told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Sarhouti’s son said that the family has repeatedly asked Israel to allow international lawyers and the international committee of the Red Cross to visit his father in prison, but their requests have been rejected.
“They see him as a danger … because he wants to bring stability, he wants to end the cycle of violence. He wants a unified Palestinian vision that is accepted by everyone, and the international community, too,” said Arab.
“See [Israel] Know what the father stands for, and they don’t want that. They don’t want a peace partner. “
