RAMALLAH, (The Palestine Foundation Pakistan)
The Asra Media Office revealed on Monday that Palestinian prisoner and Hamas leader Abdullah Barghouti has endured one of the harshest forms of physical and psychological torture since his arrest on March 5, 2003, in Israeli Gilboa Prison.
In a press statement, the office stressed that what Barghouti, 53, is currently subjected to amounts to “an attempt at slow execution” targeting one of the most prominent leaders of the Palestinian Captive Movement, warning that he could die at any moment.
The statement revealed that for over 25 months, the prison administration has carried out systematic and repeated assaults against Barghouti. Prison guards storm his cell day and night, accompanied by dogs, telling him they “missed beating him” before three of them tie him down and violently beat him with batons, causing bleeding and deep wounds. Fellow prisoners are forced to treat him using torn clothes and basic cleaning materials.
Barghouti, who is serving 67 life sentences, suffers from serious untreated injuries: fractures in his right elbow and hand lasting over three months, a broken pinky finger on his left hand, two fractured ribs, torn tendons, and a significant weight loss of around 35 kilograms due to starvation and poor nutrition.
According to the statement, guards have also poured water on him before electrocuting him, and placed him in a cell infested with scabies, causing painful boils across his body. He now sleeps on the floor in an attempt to avoid further infection.
Barghouti now has severe difficulty moving his hands, with one nearly paralyzed, while Israeli prison authorities deny him any medical care, even painkillers, and prevent human rights organizations from contacting him.
The office affirmed that what Barghouti is enduring is part of an open war targeting the leadership of the Captive Movement, and that the level of abuse he faces goes beyond punishment; it is a deliberate attempt to kill him, demanding urgent international intervention.
The Israeli Knesset’s General Assembly last Monday approved a bill in its first reading that would allow the execution of Palestinian prisoners, forwarding it to the relevant committee for further votes. Rights groups warn the law could be applied retroactively, placing hundreds of detainees at risk.
