Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Marwan Barghouti criticizes Israeli prison policies

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Jailed Fatah lawmaker Marwan Al-Barghouti said Wednesday that Israeli policies to reduce rights for Palestinian prisoners are arbitrary and unjust.

The campaign against prisoners could lead to widespread protests among detainees and is designed to create a crisis at a time when the Palestinians are heading to the United Nations, Barghouti said.

A lawyer from the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners, Shireen Iraqi, visited the Hadarim prison where Barghouti is being held and highlighted some of the arbitrary measures implemented against prisoners, which include; being deprived of visits for over two months, closing the library, preventing evening visits and reducing work time in prison facilities.

She added that the prisoners have started a petition against the Israeli prison administration in protest against the policies.

A lifelong activist who supported the Oslo peace process in the 1990s, Barghouti is widely believed to have masterminded the second intifada, or uprising, that erupted in 2000.

He was arrested in 2002 and two years later, was sentenced to five life terms for murder for his role in several deadly anti-Israeli attacks, although he has since said he never supported attacks on civilians inside Israel.

He remains hugely popular among the Palestinian public and has been touted as a possible successor to Abbas.


Maan News Agency

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