Friday, March 29

Palestinian authorities systematically torture detained opponents


  • The systematic use of torture in both territories could constitute a crime against humanity, according to Human Rights Watch

A Hamza Zbeidat he was arrested when he arrived at a protest organized last August. Accused of insulting “higher authorities”, “illegal assembly” and inciting “sectarian strife”, the 38-year-old Palestinian spent three days in an overcrowded cell with little ventilation. Upon leaving prison, he tested positive for covid-19. His experience is one of dozens more that he records Human Rights Watch (HRW). A new report shows how the Palestinian authorities use the systematic violence against critics and opponents.

More than a year ago, the prominent activist and critic Nizar Banat died in custody. The autopsy concluded that his lungs were filled with blood and secretions. More than a dozen members of the security corps of the Palestinian Authority (AP) arrested and violently assaulted the well-known opponent. He had already been arrested before for his activismbut became more dangerous for the authorities by announcing his plans to run as an independent in the postponed 2021 legislative elections. Then, Palestine rose.

Hundreds of people took to the streets to denounce the repression of the Palestinian forces. Those demanding justice for Banat’s death were also persecuted. More than a year after beating Nizar Banat to death, the AP continues to arrest and torture critics and opponents. omar shakir, the director for Israel and Palestine of HRW. “The systematic abuse by the PA and Hamas forms a critical part of the repression of the Palestinian people,” he noted. The systematic use of torture in both territories could constitute a crime against humanity.

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Both the PA led by Fatah in the West Bank and from the authorities of Hamas in Gaza are responsible for the “systematic practice of arbitrary arrest Y torture with impunity”, HRW pointed out in the report together with the Palestinian group Lawyers for Justice. Palestinian security forces routinely mock and threaten detainees, resort to detention in solitary confinement and use beatings, including foot whipping, and force detainees into painful stress positions for prolonged periods, such as lifting their arms behind their backs with cables or ropes, to punish and intimidate opponents and extract confessions.

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Only during 2021 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) received 252 allegations of torture and ill-treatment and 279 arbitrary arrests against PA authorities in the West Bank. In Gaza, it was 193 and 97, respectively. But Hamas has executed 28 people in the Strip since they took political control in 2007. Therefore, the parties involved in the investigation have demanded that the countries stop giving aid to the Palestinian security forces, especially the PA police, a key figure in the repression .

But 375 days after Banat’s murder, those responsible have yet to be brought to justice. Although prosecutors filed charges against 14 security agents accused, the authorities move slowly and with partiality, as several critics denounce. “Many governments say they want to support the rule of law in Palestine and yet year after year they continue to fund police forces that actively undermine it,” Shakir said. These new and violent discoveries have been brought to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, which will decide how to proceed with Palestinian torture.

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