Nablus- Palestinian Anas Shtayyeh spent eight consecutive days detained by the Palestinian security services without being able to find out the real reason for his arrest, but “the charge is ready” – according to his description – which is participating in an illegal activity, chanting against the authority and inciting against it through social networking sites.
Among the crowds of participants in a pro-Gaza march organized in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank in mid-December, Anas (25 years old) was arrested after members of the security services attacked him “violently and abused him.” They arrested him in handcuffs and stayed for 8 consecutive days, and he was released after threatening him. Lined, and a warning against returning to what he was accused of.
Although the young man was not subjected to any assault inside his detention, he wondered why his freedom was restricted for an entire week “unlawfully,” and he told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that he had not committed any violation, but rather, like others, participated in a solidarity demonstration with the Gaza Strip, noting that he had met 5 Detainees were facing the same charges.
“Political arrests”
Anas, who suffered the same “political arrest” in 2017, adds that his recent detention experience, despite its short duration, was difficult, especially in light of the difficult war in which the Palestinians with all their components stand in support of Gaza.
According to the Committee of Families of Political Prisoners in the West Bank, there are now about 40 other detainees in the prisons of the Palestinian Authority, and it confirms that “political detention” and persecutions continue in the West Bank, and did not stop before or after the war.
The committee monitored the killing of 5 citizens during the demonstrations denouncing the aggression on Gaza, and more than 1,000 arrests and summonses since the beginning of this year.
The committee told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the security services arrested 36 activists during the current month, who were organizing solidarity demonstrations with Gaza, and suppressed some marches, most notably in the city of Ramallah last October, in one of which the young man Mahmoud Abu Laban was killed by being run over by Palestinian security cars. The security establishment in the Palestinian Authority announced that it bears responsibility for this.
The violations varied between summons, arrest, assault, house raids, and suppression of demonstrations. The committee confirmed that these arrests, which included activists and freed prisoners, were “political and against the backdrop of union work,” and called on the authority to stop persecuting activists, “particularly in light of the Israeli aggression and the dripping waterfall of blood,” and to release political detainees.
Regarding the reasons for the arrest, the committee says that they vary between “targeting and prosecuting resistance fighters, harming freedom of expression, and persecuting trade union work and its activists, especially in universities and other cases,” and adds, “Most of the charges are ready with the authority, which are receiving illegal funds, inciting strife, and possessing weapons.”
What is reprehensible – according to the committee – is that the investigation is not conducted and the details of the arrest are related to issues, political or student activity, or freedom of opinion, and do not directly or remotely affect the charges brought by the Authority’s security.
Before and after the war
What the Committee of Detainees’ Families said was confirmed by Raafat Abu Khader, a researcher at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, who said that the goal of political arrests is “to remove the resistance and any armed manifestations (resistors) from the Palestinian arena, so that the occupation does not enter the areas of the Authority and arrest them from there, as it claims.”
He added, “The charges continued to revolve around receiving money for the purpose of armament and inciting sectarian strife, but in reality, they are political arrests that we reject completely,” and he confirms that they did not stop, but rather escalated significantly in the three months that preceded the war, and continued during it.
Some people were also rearrested, especially university students, after their release. Political detention was carried out in the form of “collective campaigns,” as happened in the town of Tal near Nablus. People were arrested after being summoned for investigation, and others were arrested from the streets, their workplaces, and their homes.
Raafat said that no party has the right to confiscate anyone’s right to freedom of opinion and expression, which is guaranteed by all international norms, and it is not permissible to be arrested on the basis of a political opinion or practice without a main charge.
In more than one statement, the “Lawyers for Justice” group – which specializes in following up on the cases of political detainees in the courts – rejected “political detention,” and considered that the arrest of demonstrators contradicts the Palestinian Basic Law, which guarantees freedom of opinion and expression, and called for the immediate release of all… Detainees.
Muhannad Karaja, a lawyer in the human rights group, says that although the pace of political arrests in general “reduced” during the war, they occurred especially against participants in the demonstrations in support of Gaza, where in one of them in Ramallah, about 100 citizens were arrested and most of them were released, and some of them were later accused of sabotaging public property. .
“Security arguments”
According to Muhannad, the authority justifies the arrest of resistance fighters, such as Musab Shtayyeh, who is persecuted by the occupation, and others, and detaining them under what is known as “the governor’s custody” in the cities of Jericho, Ramallah, and others, “under the pretext of security to prevent their arrest or assassination by the occupation.”
The most difficult thing that Muhannad and the lawyers who follow up on the file of political arrests face is the failure to facilitate their work by obtaining the powers of attorney for detainees or detainees, or knowing the charges against them, in addition to obstructing their visits, and the failure of the security services to implement court decisions regarding them.
Despite its attempt, Tel Aviv Tribune Net was unable to reach the General Political Commissioner and spokesman for the security establishment, Major General Talal Dweikat, to comment on the matter, but the Palestinian Authority has always denied the existence of political arrests, and says that the arrests that are made are for violations, and are based on legal memos.
Regarding the arrests of resistance fighters, Major General Talal explained – in a previous statement that reached Tel Aviv Tribune Net – that the decision to “seize” the resistance fighters is “for reasons and motives that exist within the security establishment.”