Amnesty International Report 1999 - Palestinian Authority (areas under the jurisdiction of the)

At least 450 people were arrested on political grounds; they included prisoners of conscience. More than 500 political detainees arrested in previous years, including prisoners of conscience, remained in detention without charge or trial. At least two political prisoners were sentenced to prison terms after grossly unfair trials before the State Security Court. Torture and ill-treatment of detainees remained widespread. Three people died in cust-ody in circumstances where torture or ill-treatment may have caused or hastened their deaths. Unlawful killings, including possible extrajudicial executions, were reported. Four people were sentenced to death; two people were executed and one death sentence was commuted.

In October the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Wye Memorandum which required it to "take all measures necessary" to protect Israel's security. In return Israel was to redeploy Israeli forces in three stages from 13 per cent of the West Bank; however only the first redeployment of one per cent had taken place by the end of the year.

The Israeli authorities repeatedly imposed border closures preventing those living in areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority (PA) from visiting other parts of the West Bank, including Jerusalem. Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza needed special authorization, rarely given, to enter Israel, and roads allowing free passage between areas in Gaza and the West Bank under the PA's jurisdiction had not been established by the end of the year.

The Basic Law had not been approved by President Yasser Arafat by the end of the year (see previous Amnesty International Reports).

Fayez Abu Rahma, who had been appointed Attorney General in 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998), resigned in April, stating that his work was obstructed. No new Attorney General had been appointed by the end of the year.

In August President Arafat reshuffled his cabinet, appointing 10 new ministers. Two ministers resigned in protest at what they saw as the failure of the reshuffle to address issues of corruption.

At least 450 people, including prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience, were arrested on political grounds during the year. They included people accused of criticizing the PA; suspected supporters of Hamas and Islamic Jihad – Islamist groups opposed to the peace process; and people suspected of "collaborating" with Israel. About 40 people were arrested in February for demonstrating or speaking against threatened military intervention in Iraq; they were prisoners of conscience. They were released without charge after a few hours or days. About 150 suspected supporters of Hamas and Hizb al-Khalas (Salvation Party) were arrested in the Gaza Strip after an attack in October on a bus carrying Israeli children from the Kfar Darom settlement in which a soldier and the suicide bomber were killed. Many of those arrested were released without charge after some weeks, but at least 50 remained in prison at the end of the year.

Prisoners of conscience detained during the year included Shaykh ‘Abdallah al-Shami, a leader of Islamic Jihad, who was arrested in April and detained for three days apparently for criticizing the PA in a sermon. He was rearrested in August by the criminal investigation department and interrogated about an article published in the newspaper al-Istiqlal criticizing the cabinet reshuffle. He was then placed in solitary confinement for 41 days. He was released in September without charge or trial. Muhammad Muqbel, General Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, was arrested in September the day after participating in a protest in Ramallah against the deaths of the ‘Awadallah brothers (see Israel and the Occupied Territories entry). He was released the following day, after protests from the Legislative Council.

According to a letter from the Minister of Justice, charges against Fathi Subuh (see Amnesty International Report 1998) were dropped. However, following recommendations from the Preventive Security Service (PSS), he was not allowed to return to work at al-Azhar University.

More than 500 people, including possible prisoners of conscience, continued to be held without charge or trial. Faruq Abu Hassan, detained incommunicado by military intelligence (istikhbarat) in a special wing of al-Saraya (the PA security forces' headquarters) since November 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1998), was allowed access to his family in January but continued to be held without charge or trial. Karima Hamad, arrested by the PSS in June 1996, was reportedly tortured for 28 days in 1996 in Tel al-Hawa Prison to force her to confess to hiding Yahya ‘Ayyash, an engineer and member of Hamas accused of fabricating suicide bombs. She and her family stated that she had no knowledge of his presence in the family house. At the end of the year she remained in Gaza Central Prison and her brother, 'Usama Hamad, arrested in March 1996, remained detained by the istikhbarat. Neither had been charged or tried.

At least two political prisoners were sentenced after grossly unfair trials before the State Security Court. In January Nasser Abu Rus and Jasser Samaru received a half-hour trial seven days after their arrest on charges of setting up a bomb factory in Nablus. The trial was closed, the defendants were represented by state-appointed military lawyers and lawyers offering to represent the accused were allowed into the Court only to hear the sentence of 15 years' imprisonment with hard labour.

There were frequent reports of torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the security services, especially the PSS, the Intelligence (mukhabarat), and the istikhbarat. For instance, most of the 35 Hamas activists arrested in Ramallah after the death of Hamas leader Muhi al-Din al-Sherif in March said they were tortured by the PSS or by the mukhabarat. ‘Imad ‘Awadallah, who was arrested in April and taken to Jericho, described being tortured for more than 30 days by PSS officers to make him confess to the killing of Muhi al-Din al-Sherif. He said he was beaten while hooded and forced to stand or to hang from a window for prolonged periods. He was then held in solitary confinement by the mukhabarat for 34 days before being handed back to the PSS who held him for a further 30 days, forcing him to remain in painful positions while standing or suspended for 20 hours a day. In July he went on hunger strike for 16 days and was finally allowed to see his family after 100 days' incommunicado detention. In August he escaped. His family in Ramallah was placed under house arrest for 12 days. Demonstrators opposed to the treatment of his family, including members of the Legislative Council, were beaten by police officers. In September ‘Imad ‘Awadallah and his brother, ‘Adel, a leader of the military wing of Hamas, were killed by Israeli security forces in apparent extrajudicial executions (see Israel and the Occupied Territories entry).

Three people died in custody in circumstances where torture or ill-treatment appeared to have caused or hastened their deaths. In August Walid Mahmud Qawasmeh died in Jericho apparently as a result of torture. He had been arrested in Hebron in July and was held incommunicado for 12 days. His family stated that when they saw him, in the presence of guards, he had bruises on his head and neck. He died three days later. Palestinian security officials said that Walid Qawasmeh died of heat stroke, but the autopsy showed that death occurred as a result of a fractured skull followed by a brain haemorrhage. In November a military court sentenced two members of the security services to six months' imprisonment and one other in absentia to seven years' imprisonment after a summary trial for causing the death by negligence.

The findings of investigations into human rights abuses were not made public and court decisions were often ignored. More than 50 petitions for the release of those detained without charge or trial were submitted to the Palestinian High Court. Shaykh Mahmud Muslah, a Hamas activist arrested in September 1997 whose release had been ordered by the High Court in November 1997, remained in detention (see Amnesty International Report 1998). In March, nine men from al-Khader village were acquitted by the Ramallah District Court and released. They had been arrested in 1996 and had confessed to murders after they were tortured by the istikhbarat. In October, two members of the security services were charged in connection with the kidnapping and beating of the General Secretary of the Palestinian Popular Force in June.

Four appellants, including the Legislative Council's human rights committee, brought a petition for habeas corpus before the Palestinian High Court of Justice on behalf of Shafiq Muhammad Hassan ‘Abd al-Wahhab, who "disappeared" after his arrest by the istikhbarat in July 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998). The Court had not ruled on the case by the end of the year.

Unlawful killings, including possible extrajudicial executions, continued to be reported. Muhammad ‘Anqawi, who had previously been detained in 1996 on suspicion of "collaborating" with Israel, was found dead in April half an hour after telling a friend he was going to the mukhabarat. His body had nine bullet holes in it and his car was outside the mukhabarat office. No investigation was held into his death.

Four people were sentenced to death and two were executed, the first executions under the PA. Ra‘ed, Muhammad and Fares Abu Sultan, three members of the istikhbarat, were brought to trial before a military court in Gaza in August on charges of killing two members of another family during an armed confrontation. The trial, which was unannounced, was held the day after the murders. A journalist who tried to enter the court was reportedly beaten by police. The death sentence was handed down the next day and the following day, three days after the murder, Ra‘ed and Muhammad Abu Sultan were executed by firing squad. The death sentence on Fares Abu Sultan was commuted.

Amnesty International delegates visited areas under the jurisdiction of the PA on several occasions, meeting President Arafat and other officials, and raising concerns about prolonged detention without charge or trial, unfair trials and torture. Officials said Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters were detained without charge or trial for fear of further suicide bombings.

In September Amnesty International published a report, Israel and the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian Authority: Five years after the Oslo Agreement – human rights sacrificed for ‘security'. The organization made frequent appeals to Israel and to the USA not to put pressure on the PA to detain opponents of the peace process without charge or trial or after unfair trials.