'Palestinian' journalist tortured for insulting Abu Bluff, Britain: PA torturing for years, EU deplores Israeli rights violations
This all fits together. A 'Palestinian' journalist has been arrested and tortured for insulting 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Let's start with looking at some of the types of torture to which 'Palestinian' journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh of al-Quds TV was likely subjected, as described by the JPost's Khaled Abu Toameh.
Torture techniques used in PA prisons included shabh (hanging) of all kinds, beatings with cables, pulling out nails, suspension from the ceiling, flogging, kicking, cursing, electric shocks, sexual harassment and the threat of rape, the report found.And the EU's reaction to all this is to criticize Israel again.
A top PA official in Ramallah dismissed the report as “unreliable” and “full of lies.”
The official claimed that the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Britain was affiliated with Hamas and other Islamic fundamentalist groups.
At least six Palestinians have died under torture in PA prisons and many former detainees have permanent physical disabilities, the report found.
The human rights organization said that it has documented such “crimes” for three years – from October 2007 to October 2010.
During that period – the report said – PA security forces in the West Bank detained 8,640 Palestinians at a rate of eight arrests per day.
“Every one of those detainees has been subject to humiliating and degrading treatment and stayed in cells for more than 10 days,” the report said. “The analysis shows that an astonishing 95 percent of the detainees were subjected to severe torture, others feeling the detrimental effects on their health for varying periods.”
The report also found that 77% of those who had been detained by the PA security forces had been arrested in the past by Israel.
Representatives of the organization met with victims, or their relatives, and distributed a questionnaire, in secret, to detainees who were held in PA prisons.
“Men and women from all sectors of Palestinian society have been subject to arrest and torture,” the report said. “These include students, workers, teachers, doctors, engineers, university professors and lawyers.”
The study quoted detainees as complaining that the torture most were exposed to was shabh in its various forms (some reported that they were hung from the second floor, upside down, like a slaughtered animal). It said that many others also complained about severe beatings with sticks and hoses, threats of rape and sleep deprivation for lengthy periods.
“In order to put pressure on detainees, close relatives, even minors, are brought to the interrogation center, where they may be tortured in front of the detainee in order to try to force a confession of guilt,” the report said. “Charges laid against detainees by the PA are often the same as those used by the Israeli occupation forces, namely membership in a militia, terrorism, sedition and organizing against the PA.”
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton issued a second statement Friday, on the case of a Bil'in activist detained by Israel, calling the recent decision to extend his sentence "deplorable."You can bet that Abu Rahma is safer in an Israeli prison than he would be in a 'Palestinian' one. Meanwhile, the English group has called on the EU to pay attention to torture committed by the 'Palestinian Authority' and not just to 'rights violations' by Israel. But if Jews aren't involved, the EU couldn't care less.
Abdallah Abu Rahma, head of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil'in village, had his sentence extended from 12 to 16 months by Israel's Military Court of Appeals at Ofer on 10 January, after the prosecution argued that his initial sentence was too lenient.
...
Speaking out again when the sentence was extended, Ashton said she "deplores the decision of an Israeli military court to increase to 16 months the sentence of Mr. Abdallah Abu Rahma, a peaceful Palestinian activist committed to non violent protest against the route of the Israeli separation barrier through his West Bank village of Bil'in."
Her statement also recalled "legitimate right of the Palestinians to engage in peaceful demonstrations."
The organization called for bringing to trial all those alleged to have committed acts of torture. It also urged the donor countries, particularly the EU, to act accordingly.What could go wrong?
“However, political considerations and influence means that little is being done in this respect,” the group’s report charged.
“The EU’s response is not consistent with the obligations of states on both the legal and moral levels, where its support for the PA, despite the prevalence of torture, is contrary to international law and the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Convention in Europe of 1950.”
The report pointed out that the PA had admitted practicing torture when, at the beginning of October 2009, it announced that it was stopping torture in its prisons.
But, the report said, “it turns out that torture has not been stopped; rather, it has grown more frequent and intense. The PA’s announcement was window-dressing and deception.”
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Catherine Ashton, European anti-Semitism, European Union, Palestinian Authority, torture
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:26 PM
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