U2 frontman and activist Bono has backed a campaign calling for the release of imprisoned Palestinian politician Marwan Barghouti from an Israeli jail.
In a personal essay in US magazine The Atlantic, Bono described Mr Barghouti as "a leader of vision, one with credibility among his own people, and among his adversaries."
Sometimes dubbed the "Mandela of Palestine" by his supporters, Mr Barghouti has been incarcerated in an Israeli prison for more than 23 years, after he was handed five life sentences by an Israeli court over deadly attacks during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Some legal experts and human rights activists have criticised his convictions, describing them as flawed.
In the article, Bono also highlighted what he said were "grave concerns about the legitimacy of his trial - the Inter-Parliamentary Union found that it breached international laws - and a growing outcry about the horrific conditions of his captivity: reports of beatings, starvation, and long stretches in solitary confinement go back many years."
In Israel however, many continue to view Mr Barghouti as a terrorist. In recent days, Israeli's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir suggested he should receive the death penalty.
Despite calls for his release under the terms of the Israel Hamas ceasefire agreed in October, he was not among the prisoners named by Israeli authorities. His family say they have become increasingly worried about his welfare after he was reportedly beaten unconscious by Israeli prison guards in September.
Bono joins other Irish artists and writers, including novelist Sally Rooney and Dublin band Fontaines D.C, in expressing support for the campaign to free Mr Barghouti.
"He might be the only man who could credibly claim to represent a broad coalition of Palestinians, who could speak for them at a negotiating table and within their own jagged borders", he wrote.
Bono also compared the Palestinian struggle in the Middle East with Ireland’s own peace process.
"The fact that we Irish continue to talk about peace through the prism of process is a sign of how hard it is not just to make it but to maintain it.
"One of the hardest parts - the hardest part - is engaging with your enemies. Even, or especially, the ones you consider most dangerous and have locked up, you thought permanently, in your prison cells."
He added: "Without the assent of the war-makers, there is no peace-making".
