<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[REPORT | Documenting the crime of torture in the Palestinian Authority’s&nbsp;Territories]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<div class="article-toolswrap">
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<div class="article-meta"><span class="createdate"> Wednesday, 12 January 2011 18:45 </span></div>
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<p><a href="http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/downloads/other_reports/documenting-the-crime-of-torture-in-the-palestinian-authoritys-territories.pdf" target="_blank"><img title="Download Report" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/material/download_icon.gif" border="0" alt="Download Report" width="100" height="15" align="right" /></a></p>
<p><img title="Documenting the crime of torture in the Palestinian Authority’s Territories" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/article_images/articles/documenting-the-crime-of-torture-in-the-palestinian-authoritys-territories.jpg" border="0" alt="Documenting the crime of torture in the Palestinian Authority’s Territories" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="250" height="309" align="left" /><strong>Introduction</strong></p>
<p>The  Arab Organization for Human Rights in Britain has issued several  reports on human rights violations in the territory of the Palestinian  Authority highlighting the practice of torture in prisons. It is clear  that the Palestinian security services have been using torture on a wide  and systematic basis for several years using, inter alia, the following  techniques: shabh (hanging) of all kinds, beating with cables, pulling  out nails, suspension from the ceiling, flogging, kicking, swearing and  cursing, electric shocks, sexual harassment and the threat of rape. At  least six people have been killed while undergoing torture in  Palestinian Authority centres: Shadi Shaheen, Ramallah; Majd Barghouti,  Ramallah; Mohammed al-Haj, Jenin; Kamal Abu Taima, Hebron; Haitham Amro,  Hebron; Fadi Hamadna, Nablus. Many ex-detainees have permanent  disabilities. Mass arrests have taken place on political grounds.</p>
<p>Given the ongoing torture in the prisons of the Palestinian Authority,  on a large scale and systematically, the Arab Organization for Human  Rights in Britain has documented such crimes for the three years from  October 2007 to October 2010. The work was based on several primary  sources:</p>
<p>1. Meetings with victims or their relatives to find out  what happened to them in custody and written testimonies of the victims  explaining what they had been subjected to.<br />
2. Distributing a questionnaire, in secret, to detainees in prisons.<br />
3. The analysis of data and figures about detention and torture during the period mentioned.</p>
<p>Video testimonies of victims or their relatives.</p>
<p>We  have taken these steps discreetly, away from the eyes of the security  services. Where requested, some of the victims or witnesses have been  promised anonymity so that they will not face further persecution.</p>
<p>An  analysis of the data shows that in the period under review, the  security services detained almost 8,640 people at a rate of 8 arrests  per day; on occasions, there were between 600-900 arrests in the space  of a few days. Every one of those detainees has been subject to  humiliating and degrading treatment and stayed in cells for more than  ten days. Many have spent the prime of their youth behind bars. The  analysis also shows that an astonishing 95% of the detainees were  subjected to severe torture, others feeling the detrimental effects on  their health for varying periods. Seventy-seven percent of the detainees  had been in the custody of the occupation before being released and  rearrested by the Palestinian Authority on the same charges.</p>
<p>Men  and women from all sectors of Palestinian society have been subject to  arrest and torture: students, workers, teachers, doctors, engineers,  university professors and lawyers. Like their Israeli counterparts, the  Palestinian security services also detain minors.</p>
<p>There is no  sanctity for the house, university or school; even hospitals are  violated. Raids with personnel wearing civilian and military clothing  take place in the middle of the night; citizens are abducted from their  places of work or study in broad daylight. Arrests themselves are harsh  and often accompanied by verbal insults and physical beatings;  detainees’ homes are ransacked and all too often valuables are stolen by  the security forces. It is rare for an arrest warrant to be shown, the  reasons for the arrest to be explained or the detainees’ rights to be  read out. The mandatory court hearing within 24 hours of arrest does not  usually take place and the victim is subject to torture and  interrogation from the moment he is detained.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/downloads/other_reports/documenting-the-crime-of-torture-in-the-palestinian-authoritys-territories.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>Download the full report here</strong></a></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong><br />
What others have to say about this report<br />
</strong></p>
<p><em><br />
<img title="Sir Jeremy Greenstock" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/article_images/articles/sir-jeremy-greenstock.jpg" border="0" alt="Sir Jeremy Greenstock" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="150" height="150" align="right" />&#8216;This  report is very significant, first for documenting the awful abuses of  human rights continuing on a daily basis in the West Bank, and second  for illustrating the depths to which the Palestinian Authority, the  Israeli occupation forces and the US and EU funders and supporters of  the current approach have allowed the situation to sink. There will be  shocking consequences if these issues are not addressed, above all by  finding a realistic, determined and honourable way to end the  occupation.&#8217;<br />
</em><br />
<strong>Sir Jeremy Greenstock<br />
</strong>Former British ambassador to the United Nations</p>
<hr />
<p><em><img title="Jon Snow" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/article_images/articles/jon-snow.jpg" border="0" alt="Jon Snow" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="150" height="150" align="right" />&#8216;A  shocking and important report documenting torture and abuse within the  Palestinian security system. What little human rights focus the world  deploys in the Middle East is trained upon the very obvious effects of  the Israel/Palestine conflict. Too much of what goes on within the  Palestinian Authority itself goes largely ignored.&#8217;</p>
<p></em><strong>Jon Snow<br />
</strong>Journalist and TV presenter, Channel Four</p>
<hr />
<p><em><img title="Alastair Crooke" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/article_images/articles/alastair-crooke2.jpg" border="0" alt="Alastair Crooke" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="150" height="150" align="right" />What  this report shows with such stark clarity is that the Western discourse  of liberal good governance and rights, which sounds very nice because  they relate to real human aspirations, is a façade behind which a police  state has emerged. A security-led project of this nature – with its  economic aspect as well as its ‘law enforcement’ dimension – has little  relation to true institution or state-building. It is no accident that  parliamentary oversight, accountability and systems of justice have  atrophied, whilst massive Western assistance has been directed to  so-called ‘security-service reform’.</p>
<p></em><strong>Alastair Crooke<br />
</strong>Former adviser to EU Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana, and director of Conflicts Forum<a href="http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/downloads/other_reports/documenting-the-crime-of-torture-in-the-palestinian-authoritys-territories.pdf" target="_blank"><img title="Download Report" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/material/download_icon.gif" border="0" alt="Download Report" width="100" height="15" align="right" /></a></p>
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<p><span class="modifydate"> Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 January 2011 21:15 ) </span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/reports-and-publications/1947-documenting-the-crime-of-torture-in-the-palestinian-authoritys-territories">Documenting the crime of torture in the Palestinian Authority’s Territories</a>.</p>
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