Group accuses Palestinian Authority of torture

JERUSALEM (AP) — A leading human rights group charged on Friday that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority has tortured prisoners and denied them fair trials.

In a report, New York-based Human Rights Watch estimated that 450 Palestinians, most of them suspected collaborators with Israel, are being held without trial in prisons, where some are subjected to "routine use of torture." Several have died, it alleged.

The report also said vigilante killings go unpunished, citing at least 30 such executions in the past 14 months and complaining that Arafat's police have "done virtually nothing to identify the perpetrators."

Palestinian Authority officials had no immediate comment on the report.

The 50-page report charges that Arafat's administration has "seriously undermined the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law." It said at least 10 security forces operate above the law, ignoring court orders to release prisoners.

At the same time, the report backed an Israeli charge that Arafat conducts a "revolving door policy" with suspected militants, arresting them, holding them briefly without trial and releasing them. Israel and the United States have demanded that the Palestinian Authority incarcerate suspected terrorists.

Palestinian human rights advocate Bassem Eid said five prisoners have died in custody, at least three from torture, since the current Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.

Human Rights Watch documents human rights violations around the world, but the report was the group's first study on the Palestinians since 1997. The report put part of the blame for legal disorder on Israel because of roadblocks in the Palestinian territories. The Israelis say the restrictions are necessary for security.

"The (Israeli) closures and blockades have brought chaos to the legal system because judges and lawyers can't get to court," said lawyer Nick Howen, who wrote the report.

Palestinian police often arrest suspected collaborators after a militant is killed in an Israeli military operation. Dozens of militants have died in such strikes. Eid said he has "no doubt that the Palestinian Authority is practicing a kind of torture" on Palestinians suspected of helping the Israelis single out their targets.

The report detailed different types of torture it said were used in Palestinian prisons. The report said prisoners are suspended from the ceiling by their wrists, beaten on the soles of their feet and forced to sit or stand in painful positions for long periods of time.

Most of these practices were borrowed from Israel, said Joe Stork, a Human Rights Watch official. "Most of the security officers have been in Israeli jails," he said.

Eid did not think the report would have any effect on the human rights violations.

"I wish so," he said, "but unfortunately the whole human rights issue doesn't appear either on the Israeli agenda or the Palestinian Authority agenda."

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2001