Article author:
Reuters
Jerusalem — Palestinian authorities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have arbitrarily arrested and systematically tortured critics and opponents, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports. Says.
Thursday's International Human Rights Group asks donors to reduce funding for Palestinian security forces and to investigate the International Criminal Court for those involved in potential abuses against humanity. I asked.
The report was published a year after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's prominent critic Nizar Banat was beaten and died in custody. His death triggered days of protests on the West Bank, severely oppressed by Palestinian security forces.
The Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank occupied by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War. Hamas, an Islamic extremist group, controls Gaza, a coastal excelave blocked by Israel and neighboring Egypt.
"The Palestinian Authority continues to arrest and torture critics and adversaries more than a year after beating Nizar Banat," said Omar Shakir of Israel. Said the Palestinian Director of Human Rights Watch.
"Organized abuse by PA and Hamas forms an important part of Palestinian oppression."
14 guards charged with the killing of Banat The ongoing trial of Hamas began in late 2021. They all claimed innocence.
Last week, Amnesty International called the case "defective" and said those who ordered the arrest of Banat should also be held liable.
PA security services spokesman Talal Dweikat has denied allegations of systematic abuse.
"We can visit facilities where human rights groups are allegedly torturing and arrange to talk to detainees there," he told Reuters. "For us, the dignity of Palestinian citizens is of utmost importance."
Dweikat added that he would meet with members of the security forces on a regular basis to ensure compliance with the regulations.
A Hamas spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The
report also outlines the abuse and torture of Palestinians by the Israeli army, and of the hundreds of torture complaints filed with the Israeli Ministry of Justice over the last two decades, have been charged. He added that he did not.
Thursday's HRW findings detail patterns of ill-treatment that Palestinian authorities say they routinely rely on to shatter objections, including the use of torture. Following the 147-page report published in 2018.
"Palestinian authorities have consistently failed to hold security forces accountable," the group said.
A report produced by a Palestinian rights group, a lawyer for justice, was submitted to the United Nations Anti-Torture Commission. (Report by Henriette Chacar in Jerusalem, Additional Report by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidalal-Mughrabi in Gaza, Edited by Jonathan Oatis)
