Friday, October 24, 2008

Tortured in West Bank Prisons


By Ola Attallah – Ramallah
Palestine Chronicle

"Hamza Al-Qaraawi, a nursing student at An-Najah University, was sitting with his family when he heard knocks at their door. When he opened the door, a dozen of plain-clothed, grimed-faced people stormed their way into the house.

"They beat me before taking me to an unknown destination," Qaraawi told IslamOnline.net.

Qaraawi was taken to a Palestinian Authority-run prison, as he later discovered, where he reportedly suffered a new episode of assaults.

"My body was bleeding from everywhere," he said, recalling his nightmarish experience. "They brought me a doctor, who asked them to stop hurting me but in vain," added Qaraawi, who was released nine days later.

"They are using the same torture techniques used by Israeli occupation forces, such as Shabh and sleep deprivation."

Shabh (Arabic for ghost) is a torture technique in which the prisoner is tied up for long periods so as to cause severe pain, especially in the hands and back.

Hamas has accused security forces loyal to rival Fatah of carrying our a series of "political" arrests against its supporters in the West Bank since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip last year.

"My husband was badly tortured at Al-Janeed prison in Nablus," said the wife of Ismail Abdul-Kareem who was taken from his house by Palestinian security forces.

"We kept asking about his whereabouts for weeks before we found out that he was held at Al-Janeed prison."......"

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