ANSD : HRW accuses PA, Hamas, of systematic torture

THU 25 - 4 - 2024

Date: Oct 25, 2018
Source: The Daily Star

HRW accuses PA, Hamas, of systematic torture

RAMALLAH, Palestine: Security forces of the occupied West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and Gaza’s rival Hamas group routinely arrest and torture critics and opponents to try to stifle dissent, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. PA and Hamas officials denied the allegations of systematic abuse made by the New York-based rights group, and said they were ready to investigate reports of mistreatment.

In a report, HRW said it documented more than two dozen cases of Palestinians detained by the PA or Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement “for no clear reason beyond writing a critical article or Facebook posting or belonging to the wrong student group or political movement.”

Palestinian forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Gaza often put detainees into painful stress positions for prolonged periods a practice similar to that which Israel has inflicted on Palestinians in its custody, the report said.

“The habitual, deliberate, widely known use of torture, using similar tactics over years with no action taken by senior officials in either authority to stop these abuses, make these practices systematic.

“They also indicate that torture is governmental policy for both the PA and Hamas,” it said.

In the 25 years since Palestinians gained a degree of self-rule under interim peace deals, “their authorities have established machineries of repression to crush dissent,” the report added.

In comments to Reuters, Palestinian Authority and Hamas officials denied any pattern of mistreatment.

“We do not have a policy of torture. This is a violation of the law,” said Eyad al-Bozom, spokesman of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza. “We have taken action against officers who violated the law, including issues of torture.

“Some were detained and put on trial, others were demoted,” he said.

Maj. Gen Adnan Damiri, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, said, “Arrests are being carried according to the law and we are committed to upholding the law.”

The rights group, urging a cutoff of foreign aid to Palestinian security forces in the occupied West Bank, said evidence it collected contradicted contentions that abuse occurred only in isolated cases and that wrongdoers were held to account.

Human Rights Watch said it had met Palestinian intelligence services in the West Bank but was unable to accept a Hamas offer to come to Gaza because Israel refused to grants permits to HRW officials to cross into the enclave.

In May, Israel revoked a work permit issued to Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s local representative, accusing the U.S. national of supporting a boycott against it, an allegation he denied.

Shakir has challenged the decision in an Israeli court, and the case is continuing.

Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

“As the Fatah-Hamas feud deepened despite attempts at reconciliation, PA security services have targeted supporters of Hamas and vice versa,” Human Rights Watch said.

Sami al-Sai, a 39-year-old independent journalist, was arrested in 2017 on suspicion of relations with Hamas. He was beaten, had threats made about his family, and was hanged from a ceiling by handcuffs before eventually pleading guilty to various charges including “creating sectarian strife.”

“Every day I expect that they will rearrest me and torture me again, but they can’t do anything more than they did,” he told AFP.

In Gaza, 34-year-old journalist Fouad Jarada was arrested by Hamas services in June 2017 after critical comments on Facebook.

He was detained for more than two months, the report said, including in a room called “the bus” where he was blindfolded and forced to stand up and then sit in a child’s chair for hours at a time.

No security officers have been convicted by either Hamas or the PA, HRW said.

Human Rights Watch said the report was the result of two years of research and nearly 150 interviews.

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