By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The health of hunger-striking Palestinian lawmaker Marwan Barghouti has reportedly deteriorated inside an Israeli prison, a Palestinian committee said Monday.
Barghouti began a hunger strike last week along with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to protest their prison conditions.
The media committee established to support the hunger strike gave no details about Barghouti’s health conditions, only saying his health “seriously” deteriorated.
In a statement, the committee said the jailed Palestinian leader had refused medicines offered by the prison authorities.
Barghouti has spent 15 years in prison since being arrested by Israeli forces in 2002, during the Second Intifada, as leader of the ruling Fatah faction’s military wing.
While Israel considers Barghouti a security threat, regular polls by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research consistently show he is the most favored figure among Palestinians to take over from President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel holds more than 6,000 Palestinians, including 57 women and 300 children, in 24 prisons and detention centers, according to official Palestinian data.
