A report by the British newspaper “The Guardian” revealed that the prisoner Fatah movement leader, Marwan Barghouti, has been subjected to several forms of violations that amount to torture inside Israeli occupation prisons since the outbreak of the bloody Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, where Israeli prison guards launched... After that date, a hideous campaign of revenge was launched against Palestinian prisoners in well-known prisons and secret detention centers.

The report, citing testimonies from human rights organizations and lawyers, stated that prisoner Marwan Barghouti suffered injuries throughout his body and spends his days in a narrow, dark solitary cell, without any means of treatment.

Among other things, the newspaper describes in its report the state of isolation that Barghouti is experiencing by saying: “The books, newspapers and televisions that he had access to since last October have disappeared, as well as any of his former cellmates. The lights that flash in his cell every evening are intended to make... Sleeping is almost impossible."

It added: “Mentally, he is a very strong person, but his physical condition is deteriorating. You can see that,” while his lawyer, Yigal Dotan, who visited him in the Israeli “Megiddo” prison two months ago, said, “He is struggling to see in his right eye, as a result of one of the attacks.” He lost weight and doesn't look good. You wouldn't recognize him if you compared his current appearance to famous photos of him."

The name of Marwan Barghouti, who has been detained since 2002, emerged repeatedly during the faltering prisoner exchange deal negotiations between Hamas and the Israeli occupation, as the movement insists on releasing thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including a large number of those with high sentences. However, since the start of the war on Gaza, the occupation has doubled the number of prisoners in its prisons, reaching nearly 9,000 male and female prisoners, in addition to an unknown number of forcibly disappeared persons who were arrested from within the Gaza Strip.
During this difficult period, the occupation launched a campaign of torture and abuse against prisoners, which led to the death of a number of them amid an unprecedented state of overcrowding in prisons.

The newspaper's report quoted former detainees who reported being subjected to regular beatings and physical violence, along with a lack of basic care, including limited food, and no access to clean clothes, reading materials, warm blankets, hygiene products or medical care.

Marwan Barghouti, with the Palestinian symbolism he represents as a leader in Fatah, who brings to the minds of the Palestinians the movement’s past in confronting the occupation, and a potential driver of comprehensive change in the current Palestinian Authority, was among the prisoners targeted in particular.

The newspaper reported that Barghouti told his lawyer during his visit to Megiddo prison last March, that “earlier that month he was dragged to an area in the prison where there were no security cameras and was assaulted. He remembers that he was bleeding from his nose when he was dragged on the ground.” From his handcuffs, before he was beaten until he lost consciousness,” and what Marwan Barghouti was subjected to “amounts to the level of torture.”

According to The Guardian, Dotan counted bruises in at least three places on Barghouti's body when he visited him weeks later, adding that he likely had a dislocated shoulder due to the assault and was in constant pain, but prison officials refused to conduct a full medical examination of his injuries.

He has also been transferred to three different detention facilities since October, each time being held in solitary confinement.
Dotan told the newspaper: “In Ayalon prison last December, Barghouti was (beaten several times), including an incident in which guards insulted him while they dragged him on the ground naked in front of other prisoners.”

The newspaper quoted Tal Steiner, from the human rights group in the Public Committee against Torture in Israel, as saying: “What Barghouti was subjected to amounts to torture, but this has become a common thing in all detention facilities since October 7,” adding that the committee collected 19 testimonies from Prisoners refer to physical, sexual, or other humiliation as well as deprivation of sleep, food, and treatment.

Steiner continued to the newspaper: “If this is how they allow themselves to treat prominent prisoners like Barghouti, imagine what they are doing to detainees who do not have the same image,” describing the general level of violations as “unprecedented.”