Ref: 15/2014
Date: 13 February 2014
Time: 12:14 GMT

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is gravely concerned over the arrest campaign launched by security services in the West Bank last week against dozens of members of the Islamic Liberation Party on the grounds of publishing a statement issued by the Party. PCHR is also concerned over the arrest of other civilians in Hebron on the grounds of distributing leaflets on behalf of their group named the “Ahmadiyya Muslim Community”. PCHR calls upon the government in Ramallah to take clear measures for the respect of the freedom of opinion and expression and the right to belief that are guaranteed in the Palestinian Basic Law (PBL) and international human rights standards.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, the Palestinian Preventive and Intelligence Security Services (PSS) and (ISS) respectively launched an arrest campaign against dozens of members of the Islamic Liberation Party throughout the West Bank since Friday evening, 07 February 2014, on the grounds of publishing a statement, following the Friday prayer, titled “President Abbas Paves the Way for New Crusader Invasion”. According to information available to PCHR’s fieldworkers, the PSS and ISS referred the majority of the arrested to the General Prosecution and then to judiciary, as they were accused of incitement to sectarian strife and undermining the prestige of the Palestinian Authority. A number of the arrested persons are still under detention and have not yet appeared before court. In the past days, the Palestinian courts issued decisions to release some of them on bail and extend the detention of others. The two abovementioned security services re-arrested some of those who were released on bail. The arrests throughout the West Bank were as follows:

• in Tulkarm, the security services arrested 15 members; 5 of whom were released but 2 of them were re-arrested although a decision was issued to release them on bail. Of the arrested, 2 were not brought to trial because their detention periods had been extended according to the law.
• In Jenin, the security services arrested 15 members. All of them appeared before the competent courts that decided to extend their detention periods.
• In Nablus, the PSS arrested 6 members for the same reason.
• In Hebron, the security services arrested around 25 members, 4 of whom were released. All of them were arrested on Friday, 07 February directly following the distribution of the statement.
• In Qalqilia, the number of the arrested in the past days reached 20 members. They are still in detention.
• In Salfit, the security services arrested 6 members on the same grounds. They are still in detention.
  According to information obtained by PCHR’s fieldworkers from a number of the released members, they had been questioned on the said statement, while others said that security services raided and searched their houses and confiscated PS sets and books related to the Party.

However, on Saturday, 08 February 2014, the Palestinian General Investigation Service (GIS) in Hebron arrested 3 civilians affiliated to a group named “Ahmadiyya Muslim Community” when they headed to the GIS office to obtain a permit to distribute leaflets related to their Community. On the following day, the GIS officers referred the 3 arrested to the General Prosecution for investigation. They were also accused of inciting to sectarian strife. On 10 February, they appeared before the competent court that issued a decision to extend their detention pending investigation. On the same Saturday, the Palestinian police in the city arrested 8 persons affiliated to the same Community on the grounds of distributing leaflets on MTA channel belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. On 11 February, the arrested appeared before Hebron Magistrates’ Court that issued a decision to extend their detention 15 more days.

In view of the above, PCHR stresses that:

1. The right to the freedom of opinion and expression is guaranteed under article 19 of the Palestinian Basic Law (PBL) and relevant international standards; and
2. The right to the freedom of thought and belief is guaranteed under article 18 of the PBL and relevant international standards.
   Therefore, PCHR:
3. Calls upon the government in Ramallah to take clear measures for the respect of the right to the freedom of opinion and expression and the right to belief and to not intervene in the public and private freedoms; and
4. Calls upon the security services to respect the right to the freedom of opinion and expression and academic freedoms that are guaranteed in the Palestinian constitution and international human rights standards.