Palestinian prisoner completes 41 years behind Israeli bars without court decision on appeal

The longest serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jail, Nael Barghouti, has began his 42nd year behind bars on Saturday, as he still awaits an Israeli High Court ruling over his fate, WAFA news agency report.

The prisoner, from Ramallah's village of Kobar, filed an appeal for his release three years ago after being jailed in 1978 for "resisting Israeli occupation", the Palestinian Authority's news agency said.

Barghouti, who Israel released from Prison alongside dozens of others in a 2011 exchange deal, was re-arrested in 2014 as Israel "violated" the terms of the deal and re-instated his original life sentence plus 18 years, after making Barghouti complete an additional 30 months in prison.

"Barghouti’s attorney filed a petition with the Israeli High Court three years ago demanding the release of his client based on the terms of the exchange agreement which states that Israel cannot re-arrest freed prisoners and re-instate their sentence," WAFA stated.

الأسير نائل البرغوثي ٤١ سنة في سجون الاحتلال. pic.twitter.com/UxFAOx8SAu

— #القدس_ينتفض 🇵🇸 (@MyPalestine0) June 22, 2021

"The Court recently held a session on the appeal but no decision has been made yet," the news agency reported.

Barghouti is among many Palestinians detained for opposing Israeli forces, who also detained over 230 Palestinian children in the first three months of 2021, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have also gone on hunger strikes in recent months in protest of their arbitrary detentions and dire prison conditions.

These include Miqdad Qawasmeh, 24, a prisoner who ended a 113-day hunger strike earlier this month after Israeli authorities agreed to release him at the end of his current administrative detention order, the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office - Asra Media -confirmed.