Ref: 74/2009

Date: 03 June 2009

Time: 07:00 GMT

PCHR Condemns Arrests of Hamas’ Members and Supporters in the West Bank; Director of the Office of PLC Members from the Change and Reform Bloc Continues to be Detained

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the continued detention of journalist Murad Abu al-Baha, director of the office of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from the Change and Reform Bloc. Abu Al-Baha has now been detained by the Preventive Security Service (PSS) for nearly 45 days, during which time he has been subjected to torture and denied access to legal counsel. His family has only been permitted one 10 minute visit. PCHR expresses its concern regarding Abu al-Baha’s health, which has deteriorated as a consequence of his detention.

PCHR further condemns the current campaign of arrests and illegal detention waged by Palestinian security services against members and supporters of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the West Bank.  Many of the arrested individuals have had their detention confirmed by the military prosecution. 

According to investigations conducted by PCHR and information obtained from Mohammed Khaled Abu al-Baha, at approximately 23:00 on Monday, 20 April 2009, 20-30 security men came to his house in Bitounia town, west of Ramallah.  They introduced themselves as members of the PSS and informed Mohammed Abu al-Baha that they wanted his son, 24-year-old Murad.  Murad was arrested and taken to the PSS headquarters in Bitounia town.  Since that date, his father has only been permitted one 10 minute visit, on 4 May 2009.

In his testimony to PCHR, Abu al-Baha stated:

“I visited him in a small cell whose area is nearly one square meter, and 3 members of the PSS were there. When I asked him about his health condition, he answered: ‘I am on the way to becoing paralyzed.’  Members of the PSS prevented him from continuing his speech and ended the visit. When they first brought him to the room, two persons were holding him to assist him in walking. His hands were so sluggish that he faced difficulties when shaking hands with me. I noticed bruises on his forearm apparently because of shabeh.”[1]  

Since he came back from pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on 17 May 2009, the father has been going daily to the detention center, where his son is detained, requesting to visit him, but all requests have been rejected, despite the fact that the PSS have designated Fridays and Saturdays for family visitation.  The father told PCHR that he asked some persons who were released from detention by the PSS about his son, but they told him that they had not met him, apparently because he had been placed under incommunicado detention. The father added that his son’s lawyer informed him on 30 May 2009 that he had been denied visitation rights.

Murad Abu al-Baha is the director of the office of PLC Members from the Change and Reform Bloc, which is affiliated to Hamas, in Ramallah.  He was detained by the PSS in 2007 for two months. His brother, Khaled, director of the Prisoners’ Friends Association, which was closed by the Palestinian government together with dozens of associations because of their alleged affiliation to Hamas, has been placed under administrative detention by Israeli Occupation Forces for 18 months. He has also been arrested by the PSS.

PCHR reiterates its condemnation of torture, and all politically motivated arrests, and:

1)      Reminds that the prohibition of torture forms a jus cogens norm of international law. It is prohibited under the Palestinian Basic Law and constitutes a serious violation of international human rights standards and instruments, especially the Convention against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984). 

2)      Highlights the Palestinian High Court of Justice ruling of 20 February 1999 which considered political arrests illegal; and calls upon all executive parties to respect the Court ruling and refrain from conducting illegal political arrests.

3)      Affirms that all forms of detention under the Palestinian Law are the mandate of judicial warranty bodies, represented by the civil police, working under instruction and supervision of the Attorney-General.

4)      Calls for the immediate release of all political detainees held by security services in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.