The Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs has said that senior Fatah official Marwan al-Barghouthi and a number of his fellow prisoners were exposed last month to brutal assaults by Israeli soldiers in Megiddo jail.
The Commission received information about Barghouthi through its lawyer who was able recently to visit Megiddo prison after the Israeli prison authority had barred prisoners from receiving visits for about three months.
According to the lawyer, soldiers from a prison repression unit brutally beat Barghouthi in his isolation cell in September 9, injuring him all over his body.
Prison forces also assaulted other prisoners in the same jail, the lawyer added.
Barghouthi had already been assaulted twice during the past year in Ofer and Megiddo jails. He has been held in solitary confinement since the Israeli war on Gaza started last year.
The Popular Campaign for the Release of Barghouthi described the latest assault on Barghouthi as “unprecedented” and “more brutal than the previous physical attacks that happened to him.”
The Popular Campaign accused Israeli jailers of intending to inflict significant and chronic physical harm on Barghouthi.
The Popular Campaign called on international human rights organizations to shoulder their responsibilities and work on protecting Barghouthi and other Palestinian prisoners against Israeli violations.
