Barghouti’s wife accuses PA of obstructing his release

Fadwa Barghouti writes letter to PA President Abbas urging help in circulating news on her jailed husband Marwan Barghouti.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
marwan barghouti REUTERS 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
marwan barghouti REUTERS 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The wife of Fatah-Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti over the weekend accused the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah leadership of imposing a blackout on news concerning her husband and efforts to release him from prison.
In a letter to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah leaders, Fadwa Barghouti expressed “regret and pain” over their failure to help in her campaign to secure the release of her husband. She added that their attitude “raised many questions and doubts.”
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In the letter, she pointed out that Barghouti holds several positions in the Palestinian leadership, including membership of the Fatah Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council, as well as the Palestinian Legislative Council.
“The Fatah Central Committee has not issued a statement since the abduction of Marwan Barghouti,” his wife wrote in her letter.
“Nor did the committee hold a meeting to discuss his arrest and ways of securing his release.”
Fadwa Barghouti also complained that neither Fatah or the PA had provided funds to support the campaign calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms plus 40 years for his role in terrorrelated murders during the second intifada.
“The Popular Campaign for the Release of Marwan Barghouti depends on the work of volunteers and the backing of friends,” his wife said. “I have been leading the campaign by myself over the past nine years. The [Fatah] Central Committee did not initiate any conference or rally or symposium or meeting in solidarity with him.”
She also accused unnamed Fatah and PA leaders of inciting against her husband, but did not elaborate.
Barghouti’s wife chastised the PA leadership for allegedly imposing a blackout on all news concerning her husband. She said that PA-controlled media outlets, including Palestine TV and the official Wafa news agency, have refrained from publishing interviews with him or any other news related to efforts to release him from prison.
Fadwa Barghouti, who is a lawyer, said that since her husband was arrested, she visited 52 countries and met with presidents, ministers, politicians, mayors and representatives of human rights organizations to talk to them about her husband’s case.
She said that while she was grateful to Abbas for raising the case of her husband during negotiations with Israel, “this is still not enough.”
Addressing Abbas, she wrote in the letter: “I preferred to remain silent in the past nine years and to work alone through the campaign, with the help of supporters and volunteers. I always avoided talking about this flagrant negligence and irresponsibility, which has been deliberate by some, and indeliberate by others.”


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