Ref: 6/2011
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns
precautionary measures taken by the Internal Security Service (ISS) which aim
to restrict the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. This includes the arrest
and questioning of a number of young people, confiscation of their mobile
phones and computers, the search of saved and deleted data on their personal
computer, and the intervention into their private affairs in violation of the
law and without orders from the Attorney General. These measures also include
attacks against members of the press. PCHR also condemns the Ministry of
Interior’s decision to prevent the organization of a peaceful demonstration in
Beit Hanoun unless organizers obtained prior authorization from the Ministry,
in violation of the law.
According to PCHR investigations, at approximately
12:00 on Tuesday, 22 February 2011, two persons in civilian clothes arrived at
the Gallery cafeteria which belongs to the General Union of Palestinian
Contractors, next to the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs, in western Gaza city.
They approached four young persons who are members of the 15 March Action and
who had just finished an interview with Palestine Today Television. One of the
four young men[1]
described the ensuing events to a PCHR fieldworker as follows:
“The two persons said they were members of
the ISS and they showed us official ID cards. They asked us to introduce
ourselves. We told them that we are members of the ’15 March Action’ which is a
Palestinian youth initiative that has a page on the Facebook website and that
calls for an end to the ongoing Palestinian fragmentation. They asked me to
show them any official documents relating to the Action. I told them that we do
not have any official documents because the law does not require so. Then they
asked us to wait for five minutes. Shortly later, eight persons, all in
civilian clothes, arrived and said they were members of the ISS. They asked us
to sit around a table and to show all of our personal possessions including our
ID cards, mobile phones, laptops and any documents we had. They asked us to put
these items on the table. Then they questioned us about our names, the nature
of our work, our addresses and our political affiliation. They wrote down our
answers. They confiscated all of our possessions including three mobile phones and
a laptop. They asked the owner of the laptop to appear the following day before
the ISS in Ansar Compound. Then they left.”
Members of the security services also stopped
the press team working for Palestine Today Television. They asked the members
of the crew to hand over the tape with the video material they had just
recorded. Ahmed Ghanem, the producer and a member of the press crew, refused to
hand over the tape, but the security members drove him to the ISS headquarters
in Ansar Compound where Ghanem was detained. His camera and mobile phones were
confiscated. He was released approximately half an hour later after a number of
national figures intervened on his behalf.
The owner of the laptop,[2]
who was questioned on the following day by ISS members, made the following
testimony to a PCHR fieldworker:
“At approximately 09:30 on Wednesday, 23
February 2011, I presented myself the ISS headquarters in Ansar Compound. The
security officials asked me to stay in a waiting room. Approximately one hour
later, they took me to another room where there were two interrogators. At
first, they questioned me about private affairs of mine, about my siblings and
their spouses, as well as their political affiliations. Then they questioned me
about the 15 March Action. They questioned me about the names of the members of
the Action and about their political affiliations, our relationship with civil
society organizations, our source of funding and our plans to organize peaceful
demonstrations. During the questioning, one of the interrogators held us
responsible for any casualties on 15 March in case we organize the event. They
also questioned me about the content of my laptop. It was clear that they had
restored data I had deleted earlier. This data included private files. One of
the officers had a paper including notes about the private data on my laptop.
He questioned me about this data. They released me at approximately 15:00, but
I was asked to return the following day to pick up my laptop. The following
day, Thursday, 24 February 2011, I headed to the ISS headquarters and got my
laptop back. When I opened my laptop, I found out that the security members had
created a file on the desktop with my restored data.”
According to PCHR investigations, on Tuesday,
22 February 2011, Mahmoud Yahya al-Manyarawi, 20, a university student from
Rafah, was summoned to appear before the ISS in Rafah the following day. On 23
February, al-Manyarawi presented himself at the ISS headquarters, where he was
detained. In the evening, an ISS force arrived at al-Manyarawi’s house;
Al-Manyarawi was with the force. They confiscated a computer from the house and
left with al-Manyarawi who remains detained at the time of preparation of this
press release.
At 18:20 on Monday, 21 February 2011, Saber
al-Zaanin, coordinator for the Local Initiative in Beit Hanoun, received a
phone call from the Chief of the General Investigation Service (GIS) in Beit
Hanoun. The GIS Chief told al-Zaanin that the Local Initiative may not organize
a peaceful demonstration against the 300-meter buffer zone imposed by the
Israeli occupation forces without obtaining prior permission from the Ministry
of Interior in Gaza. Al-Zaanin noted that the Local Initiative organizes a
peaceful demonstration against the 300-meter buffer zone imposed by the Israeli
occupation forces on a weekly basis on civilian-owned lands in Beit Hanoun. He
also noted that local and foreign activists participate in the demonstrations.
Al-Zaanin stated that in the past he had usually sent a text message to the GIS
Chief in Beit Hanoun two days before the organization of the demonstration.
In view of the attacks on the right to peaceful
assembly and the right to freedom of opinion and expression, PCHR:
