PLC-MEMBER SERIOUSLY BEATEN BY PA OFFICERS
December 11, 1999
Today, PLC-member Abdel-Jawad Saleh was severely beaten by seven members of the PA security force. The beating came after he joined a peaceful protest outside the General Intelligence Detention Center in Jericho, where three of the signatories of the petition "A Cry from the Homeland" were being held without trial or charges. Below is the account compiled from various sources and eyewitnesses.
Also today, Dr. Abdel Shaker Doodeen who has been held in Nablus prison has been separated from the other political detainees. The detainees in Nablus were told that they could be released tonight on certain conditions. It seemed that Dr. Abdel Shaker Doodeen refused to sign it, which caused him to be separated from the other political detainees. Earlier, the PLC held a session today in which they discussed the petition "A Cry from the Homeland". It was discussed that all signatories, including the PLC-members are being accused of signing it and that the political detainees currently held will be released conditional until they are being brought before court.
The violent assault of an elderly PLC-member by Palestinian security officers is another sign of an increasingly negative spiral of official violence and lawlessness in Palestine. In the meantime, signatures are added to the "Statement in Support of the Palestine Signatories" every single day and the total amount is heading towards 2,000 signatures.
Hanthala Palestine
16 December 1999PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR ABDUL JAWAD SALEH SERIOUSLY BEATEN BY PALESTINIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS
16 December 1999
Families of three Palestinian academics and intellectuals who were detained after signing a 27 November petition charging the Palestinian Authority with corruption and repression, today held a demonstration outside the General Intelligence detention facility in Jericho where the prisoners are being held.
Thirty-five demonstrators, about half of whom were wives and children of the detainees, gathered at 3:00pm with banners calling for the release of the prisoners and for the Palestinian Authority to guarantee freedom of expression. The three prisoners, Ahmad Qatamesh, Dr. Abdel Sattar Qasem, and Dr. Adel Samara, had been transferred on 30 December to the Jericho detention center from Ramallah to await sentencing by the Palestinian State Security Court, infamous for speedy night-time trials of detainees without defense lawyers in attendance.
Abdul Jawad Saleh, Palestinian legislator, former Minister of Agriculture, member of the Birzeit University Board of Trustees, and a signer of the 27 November petition, had asked Palestinian Intelligence officers at the detention facility if he could visit the three prisoners as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. At 3:30 p.m., officials asked him to come inside and showed him to a room. Saleh sat down, and was left alone.
A short time later, according to Saleh, seven or eight Palestinian Intelligence officers came into the room. One asked Saleh what his name was. Saleh told them, and added that he was a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
The group of officers jumped on Saleh, a 70-year-old man, and beat him violently. Saleh was punched repeatedly in his face and was struck all over his body. When the officers were finished assaulting him, they threw a pot of water over him, led him out of the room to the front door of the building, and threw him out into the crowd of demonstrators. Those present were shocked by the level of injuries visible on Abdul Jawad Saleh's body.
Immediately, 30 armed Palestinian military officers approached the demonstrators, presumably expecting a reaction. The demonstrators quickly met and decided to leave the scene immediately, taking Abdul Jawad Saleh by car to Ramallah Hospital, arriving at 4:30pm.
Saleh was observed to have bruises all over his body, abrasions from being struck by leather gloves on his ear and cheek, a bloody nose, and a badly swollen foot and knee. He was treated and later released from hospital and returned home.
An intelligence official later apparently justified the attack, claiming that Abdul Jawad Saleh had swore at the officers when they first entered the room.
Tomorrow morning (17 December) at 8:00 a.m., the Palestinian Human Rights Council, a coordinating body for the local human rights organisations, is meeting to discuss the events. At 12:00 p.m., Abdul Jawad Saleh will be holding a press conference at the Grand Park Hotel in Ramallah. All members of the press are invited.
The violent assault of an elderly Palestinian Authority legislator by Palestinian security officers is a sign of an increasingly negative spiral of official violence and lawlessness in the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank and Gaza Strip that began with the detentions of the original petition signers from 28-29 November, continued with the 1 December shooting attack on another Palestinian lawmaker and signatory, Mouawiyah Masri, and most recently manifest in the 10 December night-time assault on human rights worker Hanan Elmasu.
The information in this press release was reported to journalist Nigel Parry [nigel@nigelparry.com] in a telephone call from Palestine on 16 December 1999)