Nael Barghouti, the world's longest-serving political prisoner and the “dean” of Palestinian detainees, has been freed from an Israeli jail after spending nearly two-thirds of his life behind bars.

The 67-year-old was released on Thursday as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. 

Barghouti spent 45 years in Israeli custody, including 34 consecutive years, making him the world's longest-serving political prisoner, according to the 2009 Guinness World Records.

Known among Palestinian prisoners as "Abu al-Nour", Barghouti is the longest-held Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails. 

He was freed by Hamas in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and returned to live in his home town of Kobar, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

However, in 2014, Israel re-arrested him, violating the terms of the agreement, and reinstated his previous life sentence.

This time, his family said Barghouti agreed to live in exile outside Palestine after his release, granting him certain freedom from being re-arrested by Israel. 

Occupation and resistance 

Barghouti was born on 23 October 1957 in the Palestinian village of Kobar, north of Ramallah, to a family of fighters involved in movements against the British and Israeli occupations of Palestine.

His father was detained by British forces and his uncle was killed during the Great Arab Revolt in 1936.

At age 10, he witnessed the 1967 Israeli invasion of his village along with the rest of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in what is now the longest occupation in modern history. 

His journey of resistance against the Israeli occupation began on that day, according to his sister, Hanan Barghouti. 

From a young age, he was involved in throwing stones at Israeli forces and painting anti-occupation slogans on walls. 

He joined his brother, Omar, and cousin, Fakhri, in targeting Israelis in the mid-1970s. He was arrested in December 1977 for the first time and spent three months in jail. 

A few months after his release, while preparing for his high school exams, he was arrested again by Israeli forces and spent the next 34 years in jail.

He was sentenced to life in prison on charges of killing an Israeli officer alongside Omar and Fakhri. 

‘Dean of prisoners’

In prison, Barghouti built a reputation among other detainees as an avid reader and lover of history. 

He also learned Hebrew and English behind bars.

He was nicknamed the “dean of prisoners” due to his seniority and popularity. 

According to media reports, he once smuggled lemon seeds to his mother and asked her to plant them in their yard as a way of connecting him to his land. 

During each family visit, he would give her a bottle of water to water the tree. Once it bore fruit, his mother smuggled lemons back to him. 

While in prison, he decided to propose to Iman Nafi, a Palestinian woman he learnt about from a television report who was arrested in 1987 for planning an attack against Israel and released in 1997. 

Barghouti also underwent a political transformation while in prison. 

A member of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, more commonly known as Fatah, since a young age, he switched allegiance to Hamas in the 1990s after the Fatah-led Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) established relations with Israel and abandoned armed resistance. 

During his imprisonment, Barghouti lost both his parents without being allowed to bid them farewell.

‘Victory against prison’

On 18 October 2011, he was freed as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, which saw 1,047 Palestinians exchanged for an Israeli soldier abducted by Hamas in 2006. 

Barghouti went on to study history at the Al-Quds Open University. 

One month after his release, he married Nafi, who said she agreed to marry the “Palestinian hero” without "hesitation”.  

According to her, Barghouti commemorated his marriage by saying that it was “another victory against prison, a challenge to those who deprived us of our freedom, and a triumph of the spirit of faith and hope".

“They denied us freedom but didn’t kill our determination to break our chains. Now, I can say that Iman and I will embark on a new journey as we are about to start yet another family in this great nation.” 

Barghouti and Nafi spent most of their time tending to their land and crops while he remained under house arrest. 

On 18 June 2014, he was arrested by Israeli forces during a crackdown that saw dozens of other prisoners released in the 2011 exchange taken back into custody. 

He was sentenced to 30 months in prison but remained in Israeli custody beyond his served time. 

Shortly after, Israeli authorities reinstated his previous life sentence, citing a “secret file”.

His lawyer filed several appeals and petitions against the decision, all of which were denied. 

In late 2023, the Palestinian Prisoners Society reported that Barghouti's health had deteriorated in prison. 

This decline came less than a month after he was transferred from Ofer Prison to Gilboa Prison, where he endured severe beatings and abuse. 

Earlier this month, Nafi said Barghouti called her to confirm that he was set to be released - but only under the condition that he live in exile, a demand made by Israel.

Media report said he arrived in Egypt on Thursday after his release. 

(Source: Middle East Eye)