▪ Longest-serving Palestinian Political Prisoner is Free

▪ Longest-serving Palestinian Political Prisoner is Free

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society
28/2/2025

Ramallah, Palestine - The longest-serving Palestinian political prisoner Nael Barghouti has been freed after 45 years in the Israeli occupation’s prisons. He was released as part of the 7th batch of a prisoner exchange deal between the Hamas movement and the occupation. 

In this press release, we highlight the most important stops in Barghouti’s life: 

Nael Barghouti was born in the village of Kobar west of Ramallah on October 23, 1957. He was arrested for the first time in 1978, and was sentenced to life imprisonment and 18 additional years. He spent 34 consecutive years, during which occupation authorities refused to release him, despite the implementation of many prisoner exchange deals within the framework of “peace” negotiations.

On October 18, 2011, Nael was released as part of the Wafaa Al-Ahrar prisoner exchange deal. He was freed along with hundreds of other prisoners, including his comrade, the freed Fakhri Barghouti. After his release in 2011, he married the released prisoner Aman Nafi’.

On June 18, 2014, occupation forces re-arrested him and issued a 30-month sentence against him. After he served the 30 months, they reinstated his previous life sentence, under the pretext of a “secret file”. Dozens of others who were released in 2011 were re-arrested and had their previous sentences - the majority of them life sentences - reinstated. 

In 2018, occupation forces killed his nephew Saleh al-Barghouti and arrested his brother Assem along with many of Nael’s other family members. They also demolished two of the family’s homes as part of Israel’s policy of collective punishment. Over the past year, occupation forces also arrested his wife Aman Nafi’ and his only sister Hanan al-Barghouti, before releasing them.

During 2021, Barghouti faced particularly difficult moments. He lost his brother and companion Omar Barghouti (Abu Asef), whom the occupation once again deprived Nael of bidding farewell. He had previously lost his parents and was also deprived of seeing them for the last time. 

We recall one of the many messages sent to the world by Nael Barghouti during his time in prison:

”If there was a free world as they claim, I would not have remained in captivity until today." - Nael Barghouti


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