PRESS RELEASE Released @ 13:30 GMT 15 April 1998

In a new escalation of the situation, Palestinian security forces arrest members of student council at the Islamic University in Gaza

In the most recent escalation of the situation in the Occupied Territories, Palestinian security forces carried out a wave of collective arrests directed against all members of the student council at the Islamic University in Gaza. On the afternoon of Monday, April 13, 1998, forces of the General Intelligence raided houses throughout the Gaza Strip and arrested the nine members of the student council at the Islamic University. They are being detained at al-Mashdal Detention Center, connected to the General Intelligence. The detainees are:

It is believed that the arrests were carried out in response to a student gathering held at the University on April 12 from 5 pm – 10 pm. At the gathering, a communique signed by Kata’ib al-Qassam, the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, was distributed. Today, Wednesday April 15, the national and Islamic student blocks at the University issued a joint press release condemning the arrest and calling for a suspension of study and a sit in at the University next Saturday.

The Palestine Center for Human Rights considers the campaign of arrests another escalation in the already deteriorating situation in the West Bank and Gaza since the March 29 assassination of Muhyideen al-Sharif, one of the leaders of Kata’ib al-Qassam. The Center also considers the arrest a violation of academic freedom and demands the immediate release of all members of the student council.