Ashrawi calls for release of jailed Fatah, PFLP leaders

PLO Executive Committee member demands Europe intervention to secure release of Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Sa’dat.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Barghouti before entering courtroom 390 (photo credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
Barghouti before entering courtroom 390
(photo credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi on Thursday demanded European intervention to secure the release of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Sa’dat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Barghouti is serving five life terms in an Israeli prison for his role in armed attacks during the second intifada. Sa’dat is serving a 30- year term for his role in the assassination of then-tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001.
Ashrawi’s call for the release of Barghouti and Sa’dat came during a meeting with Elmar Brok, a German member of the European Parliament and current chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.
“Dr. Ashrawi specifically asked for European intervention pertaining to Israel’s continued imprisonment of Palestinian parliamentarians, in particular Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Sa’dat,” said a statement released by Ashrawi’s office.
She also requested that Israel “respect international norms dealing with the immunity of elected officials.”
In meeting with Brok, Ashrawi, a PA parliamentarian, also discussed the latest political developments in the Palestinian territories and “emphasized the imperative of Israel’s implementation of signed agreements,” according to the statement.