Languishing for over 40 decades in Israeli detention, Nael Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israel, was freed on Thursday under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement.
Spending more than 44 years in Israeli jails, Barghouti became one of the most prominent figures of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
His release marks a pivotal moment in Palestinian history, symbolizing steadfastness despite repeated Israeli penalties that failed to break his will.
Born on Oct. 23, 1957, in the town of Kobar, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Barghouti was first arrested in 1978 and sentenced to life in prison plus 18 years for involvement in resistance attacks against Israeli targets.
A member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group, Barghouti was released in 2011 under a prisoner swap deal in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
However, his freedom was short-lived. On June 18, 2014, Israel rearrested him and sentenced him to 30 months in prison.
After he completed his sentence, Israel reinstated his original life sentence plus 18 years, citing a “secret file” as justification – a measure also imposed on dozens of other prisoners freed in the same deal.
– Painful moments
In 2021, Barghouti lost his brother and lifelong companion, Omar Barghouti, known as Abu Asef. Israel denied him permission to attend the funeral, as it had previously done with his parents.
According to the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, Barghouti endured “systematic abuse, solitary confinement, torture, and unprecedented mistreatment” during his imprisonment.
Barghouti holds the Guinness World Record as the longest-held political prisoner, having spent the most extended period in Israeli jails in recorded history.
So far, 25 Israeli captives and eight bodies have been returned from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.
Israel estimates that 59 hostages are still held in Gaza, while more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli jails, facing torture, starvation, and medical neglect, which has led to numerous deaths, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights reports.
While in prison, Barghouti sent numerous messages to highlight the suffering of Palestinian prisoners.
“The occupation’s attempts to strip us of our humanity only make us more human” reads one of his messages. “If there truly were a free world, as they claim, I would not still be in prison today.”
On Thursday, Israel released 596 Palestinian prisoners overnight after Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli captives. Tel Aviv is also expected to free 46 detainees later in the day.
The freed prisoners appeared in severely deteriorated health, bearing signs of torture, fractures, and untreated injuries due to medical neglect.
Israel exiled Barghouti and other prisoners to Egypt and barred his wife from traveling to reunite with him, as it did with the families of other detainees.
The ceasefire agreement, which took effect on Jan. 19, halted Israel’s destructive war on Gaza that has killed more than 48,360 people, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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