a call about Israeli guards allegedly torturing the popular leader in an Israeli prison. Qassam Barghouti made the statement on Facebook on Friday, but later deleted the post, saying he was trying to obtain information about his father’s health from relevant agencies.

In the deleted post, Qassam said he had received a call from a person identifying himselves as a Palestinian prisoner and who said Israeli prison guards had beaten his father severely, leaving him “physically shattered”. The person, who called from an Israeli number, said that the guards had broken Barghouti’s ribs, teeth and cut off a part of his father’s ear for “entertainment”, according to Qassam. He added in a later post that he was trying to contact the caller but had not been able to do so.

A spokesperson for the Israel Prison Service said in a statement to The Times of Israel that the allegations were “another total lie” and “propaganda” against its prison staff. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, meanwhile, condemned the “new act of intimidation targeting” Barghouti’s family, saying it had only further escalated their already “grave concerns” for the prisoner’s safety.

“This act is a direct continuation of the organised terrorism policy implemented by the occupation regime against the families of prisoners, in an attempt to break their will and psychologically blackmail them,” the society, which represents Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, said in a statement shared on Telegram on Friday.

Barghouti, who has been jailed since 2002, is a senior leader of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group and is viewed by many as Palestine’s Nelson Mandela. Barghouti is serving five life sentences in Israeli prisons on alleged charges related to attacks during the second Intifada, which lasted from 2000 to 2005. He has denied the charges.

Earlier this week, Barghouti’s family launched the global “Free Marwan” campaign calling for his release, saying that they feared he may die while in Israeli prison. Hundreds of people, including writer Margaret Atwood and actor Javier Bardem, have signed on to the campaign to free the 66-year-old leader. Following Qassam Barghouti’s post, the Palestinian presidency also condemned what it called the “continuous attacks and retaliatory measures” against his father. (Aljazeera)