Marwan Barghouti beaten by Israeli prison guards, suffering multiple broken ribs, Palestinian sources say

Palestinian sources report that prominent security prisoner Marwan Barghouti suffered four broken ribs after being beaten by Israeli prison guards last month.

The former Fatah leader was allegedly beaten while being transferred between detention facilities in mid-September, from Ramon to Megiddo prison, according to a statement from the Hamas-linked Prisoners’ Information Office.

Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel Prison Service as national security minister, denies the allegations but in the same breath says he is “proud that Barghouti’s conditions have changed drastically” during his tenure.

“The murderer Barghouti knows that today, terrorists like him are dealt with firmly, which is why he invents fake news in an attempt to rouse his loathsome terrorist comrades who left him behind in the deal,” says the far-right minister in a statement.

Barghouti, seen by many Palestinians as a potential successor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has been incarcerated since 2002. He is serving five cumulative life terms plus 40 years in prison for helping plan attacks during the Second Intifada that killed five civilians.

Barghouti has denied the charges against him and has also rejected the Israeli court’s jurisdiction to try him as a member of the Palestinian Authority’s parliament.

Hamas negotiators pressed hard to have Barghouti freed in a recent hostage-prisoner exchange that saw the terror group hand over the remaining 20 living hostages in exchange for 1,968 Palestinian detainees, but they ultimately failed to secure his release.