Nael Barghouti, a Palestinian man who has spent 45 years in prison, was released by Israeli forces on Thursday during the final prisoner exchange in phase one of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Ten years after the 1967 Israeli invasion, marking the beginning of the longest occupation in modern history, Barghouti was arrested at age 20 and spent three months in prison.
While preparing for his high school exam months later, the Middle East Eye reported Israeli forces arrested Barghouti and charged him with killing an Israeli officer. He spent the next 34 years in prison.
Barghouti was released in October 2011 as part of a prisoner swap and went on to get married and tend his land with his wife while studying history at the Al-Quds Open University. Israeli forces again arrested him in June 2014, along with dozens of other prisoners released in the exchange.
Barghouti was sentenced to 30 months in prison, which he served. Israel then reinstated his previous life sentence based on a "secret file." Although his health deteriorated in 2023 due to severe beatings and abuse, Barghouti was released on Thursday at the age of 67.
Barghouti will now live in exile in Egypt under Israel's order, marking the end of 45 years spent in prison, the world's longest-serving political prisoner, according to the 2009 Guinness World Records.
His wife will be unable to see him for the foreseeable future since Israeli forces are preventing her from leaving the occupied West Bank.
"They told us the ban is for security and political reasons. I don't understand what that means, but there are dozens of families who have also been prevented from traveling, like me, to meet the released prisoners," she told Middle East Eye. "We hope they will allow us to do so immediately."
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