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Israel’s Treatment of Barghouti is Inhumane, Danish Foreign Minister
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Marwan Barghouti
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COPENHAGEN, May 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller Wednesday criticized Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, a key member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
Moeller, whose country takes over the European Union presidency on July 1, said he would push for an EU initiative to inquire into the conditions of their detention, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
Singling out the Israelis' treatment of Barghouti, detained since mid-April, he said Barghouti was "not being treated in a humane manner".
Moeller added that his view was based on information from The International Committee of the Red Cross.
The criticism came in a written response to a question from Moeller's predecessor and opposition Social Democrat spokesman Mogens Lykketoft, AFP reported.
"The Danish government is concerned by this information," said Moeller. "Our position is clear - Israel must respect its international engagements concerning the rights of detainees."
He added that "Denmark would take an initiative within the group of EU countries in Tel Aviv on the possibility of a European request to the Israeli authorities concerning the detention conditions of thousands of Palestinian prisoners," AFP said.
According to AFP, Lykketoft called on TV2 television channel for "an EU foreign minister or EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to visit Marwan Barghouti".
Khader Shkirat, director of LAW, the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, and Hassan Jabareen, General Director of Adalah, a legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel, said they had visited Barghouti on Wednesday in his place of detention in
Jerusale.
"He is suffering from pains in his back and hands caused by the mistreatment he has received," they said.
"His hands and legs are chained to a small chair in such a way that he is forced to lean forward. His back, injured by the nails in the chair on which he has to sit for hours on end, bleeds frequently," they added.
Barghuti was captured and detained by Israel during its recent incursion in the West Bank.Two Palestinian rights groups, after visiting the jailed leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, Marwan Barghuti, Tuesday said that he is being tortured and ill-treated by the Israeli security services.
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