Wife of Marwan Barghouti decries years of abuse in Israeli prisons

Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, has responded to a rare video showing her husband in detention, saying the footage laid bare the toll and absue of his decades in Israeli custody.

"I didn’t recognize you or your features, and maybe part of me doesn’t want to admit everything your face and body express about what you and the prisoners have endured," she wrote in a message addressed directly to Marwan.

"They are still, Marwan, chasing you and pursuing you even after 23 years in prison and in the solitary cell you’ve been living in for two years."

She added: "I know that the only thing that hurts you is the inability to protect Palestinian children."

Barghouti, a senior Fatah figure, was arrested in April 2002 when Israeli forces disguised as medics seized him from Ramallah and transferred him to Israel, a move rights groups say violated the Geneva Conventions. He was convicted in a trial widely denounced as politically motivated, with the Inter-Parliamentary Union citing “numerous breaches of international law” and saying it was “impossible to say that Mr Barghouti received a fair trial.”

Since October 2023, Barghouti has been held almost entirely in solitary confinement and repeatedly moved between prisons. His family and lawyers say he has endured multiple assaults, including beatings, forced kneeling, dislocated joints, and untreated injuries, while being denied regular visits.

Rights groups describe the transfers and solitary confinement as punitive measures linked to Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, with some warning that the pattern of abuse could be an attempt to “eliminate” him.