Palestine
31.05.00
Urgent Interventions
Palestine Autonomous Areas: Palestinian Authority security services carry out new arrest campaign in Ramallah and Al Bireh area
Palestine: arrest campaign by security services
Case PAL 310500
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Palestine Autonomous Areas.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by The Palestinian Society for Human Rights and the Environment (LAW) a member of the network, that the Palestinian Authority’s security services have carried out a new arrest campaign in the Ramallah and Al Bireh area, targeted at active members of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). According to the information received, the arrests so far have been carried out without any official warrants, explanations or even bills of indictment.
It is reported that the Palestinian Preventive Security apparatus arrested the following people and took them to the Al Thahriyi prison, south of Hebron:
Ahed Yusif, 32, from Betunia. Ahed is married and has a one and a half year-old child; he works for the ADDAMEER Association as coordinator of the social work unit.
Khalid Farraj, 30, from Ramallah, works for the Al Ayyam newspaper.
Ahmad Salim Sufan, 50, an electrical engineer from Al Bireh, is married and has two children.
Kameel Abu Hanish, 29, from Ramallah, is a recent university graduate.
LAW Society has learnt that Preventive Security officers broke into Ahed Yusif’s home on Friday May 26, 2000 and arrested him without an arrest warrant. The house was then searched, again without a warrant. The same method of arrest was followed with the other detainees, except for Abu Hanish who was arrested in the street. Furthermore, it is reported that the Preventive Security apparatus will not allow the detainees to receive visits from their lawyers.
According to the information received, the same campaign included Intisar Tawfeek Hamdan from Ramallah, whose house was raided by Preventive Security officers on Friday May 26 2000 while she was out, visiting her family in Beit Furik near Nablus. Intisar filed a complaint at LAW in which she stated that the Preventive Security apparatus had raided her home and confiscated some of her possessions while she was away. The next day, she was summoned to the Palestinian Preventive Security offices where she was interrogated about her political affiliations, her connections with the PFLP and her participation at the funeral of Issa Abed, who was killed on May 20, 2000 by Israeli forces during the recent demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails (See ISR 160500.1). Intisar was released after her interrogation, which lasted until midnight.
On Saturday and Sunday May 20-21, the Palestinian General Intelligence Services (GIS) arrested ten Palestinians in Ramallah after Issa Abed’s funeral. Some of the detainees have since been released, but some, such as Nassir Abu Al Rab, Sami Al Rantisi and Salim Nimir Abdullah (Issa’s cousin) are still under arrest. LAW Society sent a lawyer to visit the detainees this morning, but the GIS denied him access without any legal explanation. The lawyer was told that the detainees would be released in the next few days.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Palestine Autonomous Areas urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned persons and order their immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges;
ii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these allegedly illegal arrests in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iii. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Khadra Building, Omar al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza, via Israel. Fax : + 972 7 2822 365/6 ( if voice, say "fax, please").
Palestinian Authority, Minister of Justice, Abu Khadra Building, Omar al-al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza, via Israel.
Fax : + 972 7 822 236 or +972 7 286-7109
Khalid al-Qidrah, Attorney General, Palestinian Authority, Attorney General Building, Yarmouk, Gaza, via Israel. Fax : + 972 7 824 503.
Geneva, May 31, 2000
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
Case PAL 310500
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Palestine Autonomous Areas.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by The Palestinian Society for Human Rights and the Environment (LAW) a member of the network, that the Palestinian Authority’s security services have carried out a new arrest campaign in the Ramallah and Al Bireh area, targeted at active members of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). According to the information received, the arrests so far have been carried out without any official warrants, explanations or even bills of indictment.
It is reported that the Palestinian Preventive Security apparatus arrested the following people and took them to the Al Thahriyi prison, south of Hebron:
Ahed Yusif, 32, from Betunia. Ahed is married and has a one and a half year-old child; he works for the ADDAMEER Association as coordinator of the social work unit.
Khalid Farraj, 30, from Ramallah, works for the Al Ayyam newspaper.
Ahmad Salim Sufan, 50, an electrical engineer from Al Bireh, is married and has two children.
Kameel Abu Hanish, 29, from Ramallah, is a recent university graduate.
LAW Society has learnt that Preventive Security officers broke into Ahed Yusif’s home on Friday May 26, 2000 and arrested him without an arrest warrant. The house was then searched, again without a warrant. The same method of arrest was followed with the other detainees, except for Abu Hanish who was arrested in the street. Furthermore, it is reported that the Preventive Security apparatus will not allow the detainees to receive visits from their lawyers.
According to the information received, the same campaign included Intisar Tawfeek Hamdan from Ramallah, whose house was raided by Preventive Security officers on Friday May 26 2000 while she was out, visiting her family in Beit Furik near Nablus. Intisar filed a complaint at LAW in which she stated that the Preventive Security apparatus had raided her home and confiscated some of her possessions while she was away. The next day, she was summoned to the Palestinian Preventive Security offices where she was interrogated about her political affiliations, her connections with the PFLP and her participation at the funeral of Issa Abed, who was killed on May 20, 2000 by Israeli forces during the recent demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails (See ISR 160500.1). Intisar was released after her interrogation, which lasted until midnight.
On Saturday and Sunday May 20-21, the Palestinian General Intelligence Services (GIS) arrested ten Palestinians in Ramallah after Issa Abed’s funeral. Some of the detainees have since been released, but some, such as Nassir Abu Al Rab, Sami Al Rantisi and Salim Nimir Abdullah (Issa’s cousin) are still under arrest. LAW Society sent a lawyer to visit the detainees this morning, but the GIS denied him access without any legal explanation. The lawyer was told that the detainees would be released in the next few days.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Palestine Autonomous Areas urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned persons and order their immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges;
ii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these allegedly illegal arrests in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iii. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Khadra Building, Omar al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza, via Israel. Fax : + 972 7 2822 365/6 ( if voice, say "fax, please").
Palestinian Authority, Minister of Justice, Abu Khadra Building, Omar al-al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza, via Israel.
Fax : + 972 7 822 236 or +972 7 286-7109
Khalid al-Qidrah, Attorney General, Palestinian Authority, Attorney General Building, Yarmouk, Gaza, via Israel. Fax : + 972 7 824 503.
Geneva, May 31, 2000
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.