PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Press Release
Ref: 85/2011
Date: 18 August 2011
Time: 12:00 GMT
PCHR Is Concerned Security Services’ Interference into Public Liberties in
Gaza
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is gravely concerned over
increasing assaults on public liberties in the Gaza Strip by Security
Services recenetly. Such assaults have included: Repeated summons by the
Internal Security Service (ISS) of activists of the Popular Movement against
Fragmentation, in addition to questioning them after they returned from
France, banning two collective feasts for Ramadan Month in Haifa and Gallery
restaurants; holding and beating a number of members of the 15 March Youth
Coalition for participating in a protest. PCHR calls upon the Ministry of
Interior and security services in the Gaza Strip to stop these measures
which restrict public liberties, the right to freedom of opinion and
expression and the right to hold private and public meetings, which are
constitutionally ensured under Palestinian laws international standards of
human rights.
According to information and testimonies collected by PCHR, the ISS summoned
activists: Iba' Rezq al-Bura'i, 21, from Gaza City, and Mohammed Kamal
Matar, 25, from al-Twam neighborhood west of Jabalya, when they returned
from France, where they participated in a conference of bloggers, through an
official invitation from the French Cultural Center. Additionally, another
activist, As'ad Ala' al-Saftawi, 21, from al-Twam neighborhood east of
Jabalya, was questioned by the ISS about similar journeys.
On 28 July 2011, Iba' al-Bura'i was interrogated by ISS officers at Rafah
International Crossing Point on the Egyptian border while she was on her way
back to Gaza from France. She was interrogated regarding her trip,
participation in the bloggers' conference and activities in the Popular
Movement against Fragmentation. The ISS confiscated al-Bura'i's mobile
phone, iPod, external computer memory, CDs and a personal notebook. She was
also ordered to appear in the ISS's head office in Ansar Security Compound
on 07 August 2011. Al-Bura'i headed to the ISS's head office on that date,
where she was questioned again on her activities in the Popular Movement and
her mission in France. They also confiscated her laptop and gave her
another summon order on 09 August 2011. On that date, she went to the ISS's
head office, as she was questioned for the third time on the same matter.
She was then told that she had to wait for their call to receive her
belongings after ISS examines them.
In the same context, on 07 August 2011, activist Mohammed Matar was summoned
to appear before the ISS in its head office in Ansar Security Compound. On
the following day, Matar headed to their head office, where his mobile phone
and laptop were immediately confiscated, and he was then subjected to
questioning on traveling with al-Bura'i to France and on his activities in
the Popular Movement. Matar received another summon order on 10 August
2011. On the said date, he was detained for hours without being questioned
him and he was ordered to appear at the ISS’s head offices again on 14
August 2011. He went there and was questioned on the same matter. The ISS
told him that he would be detained for 48 hours for interrogation. While in
detention, he was interrogated on the same matter again and was then
released in the evening on 16 August 2011, after receiving a new summon
order on 21 August 2011.
On 11 August 2011, As'ad Ala' al-Saftawi, 21, from al-Twam neighborhood west
of Jabalya, headed to the ISS's head office in Ansar Security Compound in
Gaza City upon a summon order he had received earlier. Al-Saftawi was
questioned in regard to his activities in the Popular Movement, his
relationship with al-Bura'i and Matar, a mission to Holland, where activists
of the Popular Movement were supposed to travel, and funds. Later, he was
instructed to appear in the ISS’s office again on 14 August 2011. Al-Saftawi
appeared there on the specified date, and he was questioned by new
interrogators on the same matters. During interrogation, he was subjected
to physical pressure and kicking for an hour, and he was then released. It
should be noted that al-Saftawi and his colleague, Mohammed al-Sheikh
Yousef, were summoned and questioned last month in regard to their travel to
Egypt.
It is worth saying that the Popular Movement against Fragmentation is a
youth gathering in the Gaza Strip that started its activities in mid-March
to contribute to ending the state of fragmentation in the Palestinian
Authority.
In another context, the Police General Investigation Department prevented
organizing two feasts for volunteers of Sharek Youth Forum in Haifa
Restaurant on Wednesday, 17 August 2011, and for workers’ rights defenders
in the Gallery Restaurant on Sunday, 14 August 2011. According to
information available to PCHR, at approximately 12:00 on Wednesday, 17
August 2011, Ma’ei Bashir, 25, a volunteer in Sharek Youth Forum,[1]received
a phone call from the commander of the General Investigation Department in
al-Zahra’ town, south of Gaza City, notifying him of a decision to cancel a
collective feast for Ramadan Month that Bashir coordinated for on the same
day in Haifa Restaurant for the Forum’s volunteers. The administration of
the above restaurant also received a phone call from the General
Investigation Department ordering them not to receive participants in the
feast.
The General Investigation Department had cancelled a similar feast invited
for by the Union of Independent Workers Committee in Gallery Restaurant in
the west of Gaza City on Sunday, 14 August 2011. Jamal Abu al-Qumsan, one
of the restaurant’s owners, stated that he was summoned by a police officer
on Sunday noon. When he went to the General Investigation Department, he
was informed that the feast was cancelled.
On 16 August 2011, the General Investigation Department in Gaza City
arrested a number of young men who participated in a protest against actions
by the Syrian regime against Palestinian refugees and the Syrian people.
The protest was organized at Palestine Square in the center of Gaza City.
At least 20 members of the 15 March Youth Coalition participated in the
protest. Police officer also beat a number of young men. Additionally,
they arrested Fathi Mahmoud Tbail, 57, Correspondent of the Palestinian News
Agency (Wafa), when he was in the area to cover the protest. Tbail was
detained until 14:30 on Wednesday, 17 August 2011. During his detention, he
was questioned about his work and presence in the area, and he was forced to
sign an oath not to participate in unlicensed activities and to pay a fine
of 2,000 NIS if he does not comply with the oath. They ordered him to refer
to the General Investigation Department’s office again on Thursday morning,
18 August 2011. Tbail went on time and he was detained until 11:00 without
being questioned. He was then released.
A released detainee[2] stated to a PCHR field worker:
“They transported me to the General Investigation Department’s office in
Ansar Security Compound at 23:00. They immediately interrogated me for two
hours, during which I was violently beaten. I was released at 01:00 on the
following day, after signing an oath not to participate in unlicensed
activities and to pay an amount of 3,000 if I do not comply with the oath.”
In light of the above:
1. PCHR expresses concerns over repeated summons by the ISS for
activists of the Popular Movement against Fragmentation and the 15 March
Youth Coalition.
2. PCHR calls upon the Ministry of Interior and security services in the
Gaza Strip to stop such measures which restrict public liberties and the
right to freedom of opinion and expression, which are ensured under the
Palestinian laws and international human rights standards.
3. PCHR stresses the Public Meetings Law No. 12 of 1998 is not
applicable to private meetings, conferences and celebrations organized in
closed places. Article 26-5 of the Palestinian Basic Law stipulates:
“Private meetings shall be held without the presence of police officers, and
public meetings, convoys and gathering shall be held within the limits of
the law.”
4. PCHR also calls upon Palestinian security services to respect the
international human rights standards, the Basic Law of the Palestinian
National Authority and relevant laws.
Public Document
**************************************
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8
2824776 - 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip.
E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
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