ARRESTED WHILE
APPLYING FOR WORK
On 18 September, 1994 Mahmoud Badra went to the Saraya military camp to
apply for a job with the Police. Upon arrival, he was arrested for being a
collaborator. For the first ten days of his arrest, the Palestinian
General Security Service (Mukhabarat-PGSS) held him incommunicado and
refused to allow visits.
After ten days, Badra's mother, Maryam, was
allowed to see her son. She told the PHRMG that Badra was tortured. She
saw bruises and cuts on his face. He reported that they tied him from his
feet and beat him with clubs and electric cables to force him to confess.
The charges to which Badra confessed include: working for the Egyptian
Mukhabarat and other foreign intelligence agencies, possessing a radio
transmitter to stay in touch with other agents he recruited, having an
illegal weapon, and traveling to Romania for 15 days.
Maryam claims that her son has never been outside
of Palestine. A search was never conducted at their home, so the story
about a radio transmitter is a fiction.
Badra spent three years in Israeli prison, from 9/90 - 9/93 for activities
related to the Intifada. After one year of freedom, he was imprisoned
again. His wife left him after he was in prison for 7 months.
Maryam approached PGSS agent Omar Al-Yaziji and
asked how she could get her son released. He said he would release him in
exchange for 1000 Jordanian Dinars ($1500). She explained that she could
only pay him 200 JD. He took the money, but never did anything. He also
refused to return the money. The lawyer hired by Maryam, Omar Al-'Ammouri,
also took 200 JD and did nothing for Badra.
Six months ago, in despair, Maryam gave the
speaker of the Legislative Council, Abu-'Ala, a letter describing her
son's case. No reply has been received She told PHRMG Director Bassem Eid
that she had been to a few human rights organizations in Gaza, but none of
them did anything for her son. Who can help this old women bring her son's
case to the attention of the public?
This case is typical in that the only evidence
used at his trial was a confession extracted by torture. The use of
torture is still widespread, and the courts are still accepting torture
extracted confessions as sufficient for conviction. |
