In addition to reviving the “lazy fantasy” of Marwan Barghouti as ‘the next Nelson Mandela’, the Sunday Times, in a piece written by Christina Lamb, falsely described the imprisoned Palestinian terrorist as a “political prisoner” (“New Mandela or terrorist? Marwan Barghouti’s fate could end Gaza war“, Sept. 1).
Here’s the strapline:
The son of the highest-profile political prisoner held by Israel tells of his family’s fears that the Israelis might kill him in revenge for October 7.
Here’s the opening sentence:
The son of the highest-profile political prisoner held by Israel — hailed by his supporters as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela — has spoken of his family’s fears that the Israelis would kill him in revenge for October 7, despite his Fatah party being a rival to Hamas that carried out the attack.
However, the term “political prisoners” has a very specific, codified definition, per a resolution passed in 2012 by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe:
“A person deprived of his or her personal liberty is to be regarded as a ‘political prisoner’:
a. if the detention has been imposed in violation of one of the fundamental guarantees set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocols (ECHR), in particular freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and information, freedom of assembly and association;
b. if the detention has been imposed for purely political reasons without connection to any offence;
c. if, for political motives, the length of the detention or its conditions are clearly out of proportion to the offence the person has been found guilty of or is suspected of;
d. if, for political motives, he or she is detained in a discriminatory manner as compared to other persons; or,
e. if the detention is the result of proceedings which were clearly unfair and this appears to be connected with political motives of the authorities.” (SG/Inf(2001)34, paragraph 10).
As the Sunday Times itself acknowleges further in the article, Barghouti was convicted of murder in 2004.
In fact, Barghouti wasn’t ‘merely’ a murderer.
He was the leader of both Tanzim and the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades terror groups, which between September 2000 – April 2002 carried out thousands of attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings, and was convicted on five counts of murder for ordering deadly attacks. Crimes orchestrated by Barghouti include: The murder of Greek monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus in Jerusalem on June 12, 2001; the murder of Yoela Hen in Jerusalem on January 15, 2002; and the murder of Eli Dahan, Yosef Habi, and Salim Barakat in Tel Aviv on March 5, 2002.
Notably, even the Guardian once, following our complaint, amended an article which erroneously characterised Barghouti as a “political prisoner”.
Earlier today, we complained to Sunday Times editors about Lamb’s use of that term, similarly asking for a correction.
