According to YnetNews.com:
it seems as though the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Hamas and Fatah jails is far from upholding basic human rights – especially on the backdrop of the rift between PA regime in the West Bank and the Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip.
In a television program broadcast in the format of a "commission of inquiry," hosted by Ahmed Al Budeiri, two former Palestinian prisoners, one from Fatah and one from Hamas, gave accounts of their experiences in Palestinian jail. The two unfurled testimonies of a web of serious abuse at the hands of Palestinian investigators, both from Hamas and the Fatah-affiliated Palestinian security services.
In the program, which was broadcast in a "commission of inquiry" format, the two prisoners claimed that torture during interrogations is a widespread practice. According to the data presented, some 100 Fatah member are being held in Hamas jails in the Gaza Strip, while some 500 Hamas members are jailed in the PA.
Speaking via satellite, a spokesperson from the Hamas interior ministry was quick to deny the allegations and provided an alternate version of events.
"There is no torture in our jails, and they are open to everyone. Human rights organizations follow the issue and make regular visits. All the media outlets can come and visit the facilities. Our interrogators are not masked, and every interrogation is listed in the minutes," said the spokesperson, Ehab a-Roussin.
However, the spokesperson's optimism did not succeed in unseating the testimony of Bilal Qawara, 22 from the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, who comes from a family of Fatah supporters.
Wheelchair-bound, recounted what he endured at the hands of Hamas after being arrested in 2007 in an incident that killed two of his brothers.
"My life turned upside down. Before, I walked everywhere, and now – nothing. I just sit in my wheelchair and need someone to take be in order to go down the stairs," said the young man painfully. "Hamas broke into my house and snatched me away. I was interrogated for six hours. Afterwards, they threw me onto the street and shot me. I don't know who did it," Qawara recounted.
Since his injury, Bilal has undergone lengthy medical treatments in hospitals in the Gaza Strip and Israel. He is currently hospitalized in Ramallah.
As if there could not possibly be any correlation between children's TV shows teaching hatred of Jews and calling for them to be killed on the one hand, and violence towards Palestinian Arabs who are looked upon as enemies of the state, on the other.
Of course, if Hamas was actually telling the truth about the open entry given to Human Rights groups, we would have regular reports on Gilad Shalit.
As for prisons in the West Bank,
It seems as though the situation on the other side is no better. Azzam al-Fahal, a bakery owner near Ramallah, was arrested last year by the Palestinian General Intelligence Services for membership in Hamas. Al-Fahal, a father of two, was suspected of holding arms. He was released only after promising to cease his activities.
In the BBC interview, he told of the horrors he endured for the two weeks he was jailed. "They handcuffed my hands and feet and beat me for an hour and a half. Afterwards, they put me in a cell in which I could neither sit nor stand.
"Moreover, the torture also had a psychological element as I was witness to the torture of Sheikh Majd al-Barghouti (who, according to Hamas, died as a result of the torture). My hands were tied with metal cuffs and I was hung in the air for an entire day," he recounted.
Unlike Hamas, the spokesperson for the PA General Intelligence Service in the West Bank General Adnan a-Demeiri admitted on the program that torture during interrogation and imprisonment does in fact exist. He emphasized that the torture is initiated and undertaken by insubordinate prison officers, who afterwards are tried for their actions.
"There are violations, but there is no policy of torture. We have tried officers that have strayed from orders. I do not deny that there were individual violations on the matter, but that was in the past. The situation now is different can be tracked," the Fatah spokesman said.
A-Demeir added, "More than 300 soldiers and officers have been tried for violating orders on torture-related matters or for harming personal dignity. This all comes on the backdrop of orders we receive from (Palestinian President) Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) to maintain the dignity of the prisoners."
We await the vocal public outcry against the torture and murder of Palestinian Arabs.
And we can only hope that Gilad Shalit will fare better than Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser--2 other kidnapped Israeli soldiers about whom the word did not give a damn and were killed by their captors.
Technorati Tag: Fatah and Hamas and Torture and Human Rights.
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