Palestine, March 14, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - Fatah official Marwan Al-Barghouti, 50, who is serving five life terms in an Israeli prison, has completed his doctorate in political science, Palestinian sources said.

Al-Barghouti is among several hundred Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails who have enrolled in universities around the world, including in Israel, that have allowed them to complete their schoolwork online.

In 1999, three years before he was detained by Israel, he was accepted by the University of Cairo and the Arab Academy for Research and Studies, also in Cairo. Al-Barghouti's doctoral thesis is titled "The Legislative and Political Performance of the Palestinian Legislative Council and its Contribution to the Democratic Process in Palestine from 1996 to 2008."

On Tuesday, the document of 341 pages will be brought for discussion before a special panel headed by Prof. Ahmad Yussuf, dean of the Arab Academy for Research and Studies; Prof. Neveen Mosad; and Prof. Ali Al-Jrbawi.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are currently enrolled as students with the Open University of Israel, which facilitates their studies by allowing them to sit exams in jail.

The sources pointed out that Al-Barghouti also completed his high school exams in an Israeli prison, in 1980. He earned his bachelor's degree in political science and master's degree in international relations from Bir Zeit University, north of Ramallah. His master's thesis focused on Palestinian-French relations from 1967 to 1997.

Al-Barghouti, a Fatah member on the Palestinian Legislative Council since 1996, was detained by Israel in 2002. On June 6, 2004, he was sentenced to five life sentences and 40 years imprisonment.