Bethlehem - Ma'an - A member of the European Parliament has urged the EU to follow up on the case of Ahmad Sa'adat, the jailed secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

In a statement, the PFLP said Greek MEP Nikos Hountis of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) asked on Thursday that the European Commission look into Sa'adat's case, as well as others in Israeli jails.

"Sa'adat has been imprisoned since 2006," Hountis told the assembly. "He is being held in a special unit of solitary confinement in the Ramon prison, where he is deprived from fundamental human rights."

Hountis said Sa'adat was banned from visits by members of his family or by his lawyer and communication with fellow prisoners is prohibited. His private belongings have been confiscated, and he is obliged to go to the yard handcuffed, he added.

The party leader was sentenced in December 2008 to 30 years in prison for belonging to the political party, which Israel considers an "illegal terrorist organization." His solitary confinement was renewed for another six months on 10 October.

In 2008, the European Parliament passed a resolution expressing concern for the estimated 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails, among them hundreds of women and children, as well as calling for the release of all of imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarians.

Referring to that resolution, Hountis called for action on Sa'adat's case. "The commission is being asked, what are the actions that it has taken in order to implement this resolution and secure the freedom of the Palestinian MP Ahmad Sa'adat?"

In a statement, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat applauded Hountis for urging the European body to "take action to pressure the occupation regime to release Ahmad Sa'adat, all of the imprisoned members of the PLC and all Palestinian political prisoners."