Imprisoned MP Marwan Barghouti

Marwan Barghouti is one of Palestine's most prominent national leaders and a member of Fatah's Central Committee. He has played a significant role in the Palestinian national movement for decades.

Born in 1959 in the town of Kobar, Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, he earned a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Master's degree in International Relations from Birzeit University.

He was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council representing the Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate in the first Palestinian legislative elections in 1996 and was re-elected in 2006 while imprisoned in Israeli custody.

Barghouti is widely recognized as one of the leading figures of both the First and Second Palestinian Intifadas and served as Secretary of Fatah in the West Bank.

Israeli forces arrested him on 15 April 2002. Following a military trial, he was sentenced to five life terms plus forty years in prison.

He remains imprisoned and is regarded as one of the most prominent examples of the imprisonment of elected Palestinian parliamentarians.