Marwan Barghouti subjected to “brutal” assaults in Israeli jail

A campaign calling for the release of Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti has said that he has been subjected to “brutal” assaults inside Israeli prisons, claiming that he was beaten three times in less than a month.

In a statement, the Popular Campaign for the Release of Barghouti and Other Prisoners said that he had recently been subjected to new attacks while being held in isolation in Megiddo Prison in the north and Ramon Prison in the south, ahead of the 24th anniversary of his arrest.

READ: Marwan Barghouti ‘brutally assaulted’ while in solitary confinement in Israeli prison

Barghouti, a senior member of the Fatah movement, was arrested by Israel in April, 2002, and later convicted by the occupation state of murder and attempted murder. He is serving five life sentences and remains a highly popular figure among Palestinians.

The campaign said that Barghouti told his lawyer, who visited him on Sunday and was not named, that he had been subjected to “brutal physical assaults” in recent weeks. It added that prison “suppression units” had beaten him three times, on 24 March, 25 March and 8 April, using various methods of force and causing multiple injuries and bleeding across his body, without providing medical treatment.

The group said that Barghouti had also been subjected to what it described as a systematic pattern of assaults that has continued since the start of the war on Gaza.

It called on international and human rights organisations to intervene to protect Barghouti and other prisoners.

READ: Marwan Barghouti should be freed by Israel immediately, says ex-Mossad head