Israeli prison guards shot jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in the leg with a rubber bullet last week, his family said Monday, an incident denied by Israeli prison authorities.
A senior Fatah official arrested by Israel in 2002 and sometimes called the “Mandela of Palestine” by his supporters, Barghouti, 67, is serving five life sentences for murder and his role in attacks against Israelis during the second intifada.
“One of the prison guards fired a rubber bullet at Marwan’s leg, causing him to bleed and inflicting a painful injury,” his wife, Fadwa Barghouti, wrote on Facebook.
“It was a yet another episode in the ongoing assaults against him.”
His son, Arab Barghouti, said the incident happened “some time last week” at Ganot prison in Israel’s Negev desert.
