source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article42320=
22.ece
Millions of pounds of British government money is going to Palestinian
security forces which use methods of torture including hanging
prisoners by their feet and putting them in =93stress=94 positions for
hours at a time.
Evidence to be published next month in a re****t by Human Rights Watch
was corroborated last week in interviews by The Sunday Times with
victims in the West Bank, ruled by President Mahmoud Abbas=92s western-
backed Palestinian Authority.
Prisoners who have emerged from Palestinian Authority jails =96 many of
whom have never been charged with any offence or even seen a lawyer =96
said they had been subjected to mock executions, kicked, punched and
beaten with sticks, plastic pipes and hoses.
The disclosures came at the end of a week in which a Berlin conference
of 40 donor nations, including Britain, pledged =A3121m over the next
three years to bolster the Palestinian security forces and judicial
system in the West Bank.
Of this total, about =A320m will come from Britain, which is already
committed to spending =A32.7m on the training of Palestinian security
forces this year. A British brigadier based in the West Bank city of
Ramallah is involved in the training. Britain has set aside a further
=A34.5m for reform, civil justice and public prosecution over the next
three years.
A total of =A34 billion overall has been promised to the government of
Abbas, who is the commander-in-chief of the Palestinian security
forces.
Western sup****t for Abbas=92s security forces is part of a strategy to
isolate Hamas fundamentalists who seized control of Gaza last year.
However, many of those detained on suspicion of links to Hamas
described a form of torture called =93shabah=94 in Arabic =96 being forced
to hold stress positions for prolonged periods.
Some have been made to stand with one leg and one arm raised for
hours. Others have had to sit on the edge of a chair with their hands
tied to their feet.
Amar al-Masri, 43, a Nablus businessman who is married to Kholoud al-
Masri, an elected Hamas municipal official, has been held since last
month in al-Jenid prison in Nablus. Last Thursday, his son Abdullah,
13, crossed off day 54 on a calendar on the family=92s refrigerator.
=93What is shocking me is that no charge has been addressed against my
husband,=94 Kholoud said last week, sitting in her home in Nablus, a
hijab (head-scarf) covering her hair.
=93He is in a Palestinian jail, but we don=92t know why.=94 She has been
allowed to visit him only once.
=93He said he was hung by his two legs by a rope connected to the
ceiling,=94 Kholoud said. The prisoner=92s lawyer said he had seen puffy
wrists and legs that sup****ted the testimony, as well as scabs on his
legs and hands.
A former prisoner, interviewed at a coffee shop near his third-floor
flat in Nablus after he was released at the end of a 50-day spell in
prison, described similar experiences.
=93They arrested me on fantasy charges that I had rockets,=94 said the 29-
year-old law student, who did not want his name used out of fear the
security forces would come after him.
=93They tied my hands behind my back, and the rope was connected to a
pipe,=94 he said. =93They would stress the rope every 20 seconds. They
said if they did it more I would be paralysed.=94
He was eventually released without charge. =93They [the security forces]
told me, =91You have been steadfast under torture so we have decided you
are clean. We will not bother you again.=92 =94 The Palestinian Authority
denied using torture in detention centres. =93They are prisoners. We do
not give them chocolate and roses,=94 said Akram Rajoub, head of
preventive security in Nablus. =93But I can assure you that we don=92t use
torture methods or shabah methods.=94
The Foreign Office expressed concern at the Human Rights Watch
revelations.
=93The UK is concerned to hear re****ts of human rights violations in the
occupied Palestinian territories,=94 a spokesman said. =93We are committed
to reforming the Palestinian security sector.=94
British officials confirmed that the aid money pledged last week would
be going to the West Bank security forces, which locals said were
engaged in a crackdown on their political opponents in Hamas.
Although Hamas, a conservative Islamic party, was elected to power in
January 2006, it has been largely shunned by the West because it
refuses to recognise Israel or renounce violence.
Palestinian territory is virtually divided by internal disputes;
Hamas=92s writ runs in Gaza, while Abbas has appointed an emergency
government composed mostly of officials from his Fatah party in the
West Bank.
A spokesman for the Department for International Development, which
administers the funds paid to the Palestinian Authority, confirmed
that money was going to West Bank security forces but said some of it
would be used to root out abuses.
=93People are aware of irregularities in their behaviour . . . and
that=92s why we are investing in making them a more professional outfit
and a more accountable police force,=94 the department said.
Human Rights Watch last week called for the aid going to the
Palestinian Authority security forces to be made conditional on
effective efforts to reduce arbitrary arrests and torture and on
improving the system of justice.
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