Editing Marwan Barghouti (section)

=== Charges, verdict and sentences ===
Israel filed its indictment on 14 August and Barghouti's trial commenced on 5 September.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human rights of parliamentarians: The trial of Mr. Marwan Barghouti - Palestine |url=http://archive.ipu.org/hr-e/174/report.htm |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=archive.ipu.org}}</ref> Barghouti was charged with 26 charges of murder and attempted murder stemming from attacks carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades on Israeli civilians and soldiers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/12/State%20of%20Israel%20vs%20Marwan%20Barghouti-%20Ruling%20by%20Jud |website=[[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20040705013646/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/12/State%20of%20Israel%20vs%20Marwan%20Barghouti-%20Ruling%20by%20Jud |archive-date=5 July 2004 |date=12 December 2002 |title=State of Israel vs. Marwan Barghouti: Ruling by Judge Zvi Gurfinkel}}</ref><ref name="mfa.gov.il">{{cite web |date=14 August 2002 |title=Marwan Barghouti Indictment |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/8/Marwan%20Barghouti%20Indictment%20-%20Appendix-%20Terrorist |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20040705015004/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/8/Marwan%20Barghouti%20Indictment%20-%20Appendix-%20Terrorist |archive-date=5 July 2004 |access-date=29 August 2010 |publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref> Barghouti refused to present a defense to the charges brought against him, maintaining throughout that the trial was illegal and illegitimate.<ref name="medea">{{cite web |title=Barghouti, Marwan |url=http://www.medea.be/en/themes/biographies/abc/barghouti-marwan/ |access-date=17 June 2024 |publisher=MEDEA}}</ref> He stressed that he supported armed resistance to the [[Israeli-occupied territories|Israeli occupation]], but condemned attacks on civilians inside Israel. According to the case argued by Israel at his trial, he had supported and authorized such attacks. On 20 May 2004, he was convicted of five counts of murder: authorizing and organizing the [[murder of Georgios Tsibouktzakis]] (aka Father Germanos, a [[Greek Orthodox]] monk-priest<!-- Nobody outside his family knows him by his birth name. Searched the page & couldn't find him! PLS DON'T REMOVE. Thanks. -->), a shooting adjacent to [[Giv'at Ze'ev]] in which a civilian was killed, and the [[Seafood Market attack]] in [[Tel Aviv]] in which three civilians were killed. In addition, he was convicted of attempted murder for a failed [[car bomb]] attack near [[Malha Mall]] that exploded prematurely, resulting in the deaths of two suicide bombers, and for membership and activity in a terrorist organization. He was acquitted of 21 counts of murder in 33 other attacks as no proof was brought to link Barghouti directly with the specific decisions of the local leadership of the Tanzim to carry out these particular attacks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/barghouti-found-guilty-of-5-murders-1.123188 |title=Barghouti Found Guilty of 5 Murders |work=Haaretz |date=21 May 2004 |access-date=17 June 2024 |first=Assaf |last=Bergerfreund}}</ref> Following the verdict, Barghouti shouted in Hebrew, "This is a court of occupation that I do not recognize. A day will come when you will be ashamed of these accusations. I have no more connection to these charges than you, the judges, do."<ref>{{Cite web |title=CNN.com - Israel court convicts Fatah leader of murder - May 20, 2004 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/20/israel.barghouti/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=CNN}}</ref> On 6 June 2004, he was sentenced to the maximum possible punishment for his convictions: five cumulative life sentences for the murders and an additional 40 years, consisting of 20 years each for attempted murder and for membership and activity in a terrorist organization. The Israeli verdict against him in effect removed Arafat's only political rival.<ref>{{cite book |first=Colin |last=Shindler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_ukZhiBzykC&pg=PA337 |title=A History of Modern Israel |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2013 |page=337|isbn=978-1-107-02862-3 }}</ref>