Nael Barghouti.. The dean of Palestinian prisoners is free after 45 years

Palestinian Nael Barghouti , who spent more than four decades in Israeli prisons, arrived in Egypt on Thursday, among 79 other Palestinians released in the latest prisoner and hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel, as part of the fragile truce in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club said that Barghouti had spent 45 years in prison, including 34 consecutive years. Among the Palestinians released at dawn today, 79 were deported outside the Palestinian territories, and they are mostly those with long sentences in Israel.

Following his release, the dean of Palestinian prisoners, Nael Barghouti, expressed his thanks to everyone who worked to release the prisoners, and said that words would not do justice to the people of the Gaza Strip.

He added in a speech after his release that he extends his thanks to the people of Gaza, men, children, women, soldiers and leaders, stressing that "all that the Zionist criminality has done is not worth the survival of a Palestinian fingernail in the Strip."

Nael Barghouti speaks

Barghouti sent a message to the Palestinians and free people around the world that the main goal will remain the unification of the Arab nation and the liberation of Palestine. He said in an interview with Al Jazeera, "His freedom will not be complete without the freedom of Gaza and all of Palestine," stressing the harshness of the conditions of his release.

He also stressed that the occupation practices all forms of abuse against Palestinian prisoners to vent its anger on the resistance. He said that the Palestinians are offering their blood, their lives and their leaders for the freedom of their country.

He said that the blood of the martyrs of the resistance and its leaders will remain a debt on the neck of every Muslim, every Arab and every free person in the world, stressing that the Palestinian people are not only seeking to liberate Palestine but also to liberate the Jews from racism towards all those who live in Palestine, which is manifested in the torture of bound prisoners in a way that expresses the low culture of this occupation.

He confirmed that he was assaulted like the rest of the prisoners until the time of his release, with beatings and sharp tools that caused fractures and wounds. He said that even the administrators are treated as war criminals inside the occupation prisons.

Freed prisoner Nael Barghouti to Al Jazeera: The occupation assaulted all prisoners, and we were subjected to torture and insults, and we were treated like war criminals. The prisoners suffer from fractures and severe bruises as a result of torture and beatings. The resistance project is to liberate a nation, not just to liberate prisoners . #Gaza_War #News pic.twitter.com/7HhRfFUnVj

— Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) February 27, 2025

The resistance has proven its worth.

Barghouti stressed that the freedom of prisoners will not be complete unless all Palestinian territory is liberated, stressing that the resistance, led by the two martyred heads of the Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, has proven its ability to confront the occupation machine.

Regarding his acceptance of deportation outside Palestine, Barghouti said that he had rejected the matter but he had complied with the group’s opinion so as not to affect the decisions of the rest of the prisoners.

He said that Egyptian intelligence confirmed to them that the prisoners' families were not prevented from joining them in Cairo, adding that the Egyptian people are known for their historical unity with the Palestinian people and their solidarity with them.

He explained that the freedom of all prisoners is not equal to a child from Gaza who was martyred during the war, but he also said that the issue is related to liberating the homeland and not liberating prisoners, which is a matter that has prices paid by previous peoples in Algeria, Vietnam and others.

Barghouti was sentenced to life in prison for killing an Israeli officer and carrying out attacks on Israeli sites. He was arrested in 1978, and at the time he was a member of the Fatah movement.

He was released in the 2011 exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, which included the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was being held by Hamas, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinians.

When he was re-arrested in 2014 on charges of incitement, his previous life sentence was resumed. In prison, he defected from Fatah and joined Hamas.

In a press interview last month, his wife, Iman Nafea, described the decision to deport him as “a new punishment by removing him from his homeland and his land,” adding: “I believe that this is the harshest punishment in history.”

The Israeli Prison Service announced on Thursday that it had released 643 Palestinian prisoners after recovering the bodies of four Hamas hostages in the latest exchange as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Source: Agencies + Al Jazeera