By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti was injured in a “brutal assault” in Megiddo Prison in northern Israel, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Monday.
Barghouti suffered bleeding in his right ear and an injury to his right arm after the assault in his solitary confinement on Sept. 9, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
The statement accused the prison authorities of leaving Barghouti’s injuries unattended for, causing them to worsen.
The news of the attack on Barghouti was conveyed by a lawyer after attempts to meet the jailed Fatah leader failed, the two groups said.
Barghouti was detained in 2002 by the Israeli forces and is currently serving a life-term sentence over charges of "directing armed groups that killed and injured Israelis” during the second Palestinian intifada.
“The Israeli prison administration is isolating dozens of senior detainees in difficult and tragic conditions and subjects them to repeated brutal attacks inside their cells,” the statement said.
The Israeli army has detained over 11,400 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of its deadly war on the Gaza Strip in October last year, according to Palestinian figures.
The figure doesn't include all those arrested from the Gaza Strip whose numbers are estimated to be in the thousands.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar