PSS in Ramallah Arrests Palestinian Released 3 Days After His Release from Israeli Prison

Ref: 101/2011

The Palestinian Preventive Security Service (PSS) in Ramallah
arrested ‘Abdul Raziq Sa’id Khassib, 32 years old, from ‘Aaroura village north
of Ramallah, three day after his release from an Israeli prison where he spent
16 months under interrogation in administrative detention. Based on the testimony of Khassib’s brother,
the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) expresses concerns that Khassib may
be subjected to torture, and calls for his immediate release.

In his testimony Khassib’s brother, ‘Abdul Rahman Sa’id Khassib,
28, from Bitounia town, describes how at approximately 18:00 on Saturday 08
October 2011, he received a phone call from a person who introduced himself as
Hikmat, chief of PSS in the Ramallah office, and asked him to bring in his
brother, ‘Abdul Raziq, for a ten minute questioning. At approximately 08:00 on Sunday 09 October
2011 the two brothers, their sister, and ‘Abdul Raziq’s wife went to the PSS
premises in al-Bireh. PSS officers took
‘Abdul Raziq into the premises and left the other three persons outside in the
sun until 15:00. An officer from the PSS
interrogation department, who claimed he is a colonel, then came outside informed
them that ‘Abdul Raziq had been transferred to the interrogation department in
the PSS headquarters. At approximately
20:00 on the same day ‘Abdul Rahman received a phone call from a person who
introduced himself as Abu ‘Odai and claimed he is the chief of the PSS
interrogation department. He told ‘Abdul
Rahman that his brother was in a shabeh[1]
position and requested him to come to the PSS headquarters in Bitounia
town. When ‘Abdul Rahman arrived at the
PSS headquarters the officer was waiting for him. The officer took him into the building and
requested him to convince his brother to confess to the charge against him. He
did not clarify what this charge entailed. The officer took ‘Abdul Rahman to his detained brother. When the latter
refused to confess, the officer said to ‘Abdul Rahman: “Next time, I will invite
you to receive his corpse.”

‘Abdul Rahman Khassib stated to a PCHR field worker that after he
had contacted a number of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council
informing them of his brother’s detention, he received three phone calls
threatening him of detention if he maintained such contracts. 

PCHR is concerned over continued detention and torture of Khassib,
and:

1. Calls upon the government in Ramallah to put an end to summons and
arrests based on political grounds, and reminds of the verdict of the
Palestinian High Court of Justice on 20 February 1999 considering political
arrests illegal;

2. Calls for immediately end to the practice of torture in prisons and
detention centers of the Palestinian Authority, stressing that torture is a
punishable crime for which the perpetrators are accountable; and

3. Calls upon the Palestinian Security Services to respect
international human rights standards, the Palestinian Basic Law and other
relevant laws.