West Bank ends torture of Hamas captives

Human rights groups report better treatment after Palestinian prime minister orders new policy but arbitrary arrests increasing

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Wednesday 13 January 2010

Palestinian security forces in the West Bank have improved their treatment of Hamas prisoners and ended torture but there are concerns over an increase in arbitrary arrests, according to diplomats and human rights workers.

Evidence emerged last year of an increasing number of cases in which Hamas supporters were arrested and beaten in jails. The cases, which involved several different prisons, appeared to be part of a broad crackdown against the Islamist movement by Fatah, its political rival in the occupied West Bank.

Four prisoners died in custody last year: all were Hamas supporters and had been held without charge. There was compelling evidence to suggest at least one of the prisoners, Haitham Amr, was tortured to death in jail in June, four days after his arrest. That case seemed to have embarrassed the appointed Palestinian government in Ramallah so much that orders were issued to halt all torture. The Guardian also uncovered evidence that Palestinian security commanders accused of involvement in the torture were working closely with the CIA.

Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, summoned security commanders to a meeting in Ramallah in late September at which he delivered the new instructions on prisoner treatment and promised to sack any officers who refused to comply. Shawan Jabarin, director of the Palestinian human rights group al-Haq, was one of a small group called in to meet Fayyad the same day and was told of the new policy.

"He said openly and clearly that from that point on they would stop all torture, including humiliation of prisoners," Jabarin said. "He recognised there had been torture but said it was a practice not a policy."

Research and interviews by al-Haq showed that torture had stopped. Some the security officers had initially resisted the orders, but later accepted.

The new policy also appeared to show, for the first time, that Fayyad was in effective control of the West Bank's security forces, Jabarin said.

Fayyad said last month that 43 officers had been jailed, fired or demoted for abusing prisoners. It was a "dramatic change for the better", he told the Associated Press. He insisted torture had not been a policy, but admitted there had been "excesses".

But Jabarin said he wanted the policy enshrined in a law that prohibited torture and laid down strict punishments for those who engaged in it.

Hamas commanders in Gaza also continue to arbitrarily arrested Fatah supporters and torture them in jail, where some have died, he said.

Jabarin also said he was concerned about a sharp increase in arbitrary arrests of Hamas supporters in the West Bank. There were now more than 600 Hamas prisoners in jail, he said. More than 100 were arrested over two days in mid-December, coinciding with Hamas celebrations in Gaza for the 22nd anniversary of the Palestinian territory's founding.

"After the torture stopped the number of arrests increased," said Jabarin.

"They are not respecting legal procedures and they are not respecting the decisions of the courts. There is no respect for the rule of law."

Source: Guardian.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/13/west-bank-torture-hamas-prisoners.