|
Jerusalem: 12
June , 1997
Hussein ‘Alayan Sa’ada “Samour”
Arrested
Served as Head of Military
Intelligence in Ramallah District
‘Samour’ has finally been stopped,
more than six months after calls for his resignation first
surfaced in the Palestinian human rights community. The
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group is pleased that
steps are finally being taken against senior officers
accused of various offenses. However, the impunity which
Samour had enjoyed in the past, along with the lack of
investigations into allegations of torture, illegal
detentions, and the misuse of power by members of the
security forces point to the fact that the PA must be more
serious about attempts to clean up its human rights record.
Samour has been involved in the
following cases, monitored by the PHRMG:
·
Following the December 11,
1996 armed attack on settlers from Beit-El by the PFLP,
Samour was involved in the torture of a young man, who was
not even a suspect. He was arrested, and whipped with
electric cables stripped of their insulation, in order to
pressure his brother to turn himself in to the authorities.
This incident was report in the Palestinian Human Rights
Monitor in January.
·
In another incident, Samour
was responsible for keeping a detainee in tied up in a
painful position (shabeh) for two days in a well.
·
On January 5, it was reported
that President Arafat had fired some security personnel in
the Ramallah district including Samour. The Governor had
received complaints regarding torture, bribe-taking, and
corruption on the part of the security services. A few days
later, Police Head Ghazi Al-Jabali and General Intelligence
(Mukhabarat) chief Amin Al-Hindi denied that anyone had been
fired, insisting that the officers in question were merely
being shifted to other positions.
According to press reports, two weeks
ago Samour was arrested for a week, and following a trial
was demoted in rank. After his release he returned to his
job, but as an officer of even higher rank.
The PHRMG remains concerned about the
rule of law in Palestine. Our recently report detailed
widespread torture practiced in over twenty locations
throughout the West Bank and Gaza. The only response from
the PA has been to call the report “lies,” in the words of
former Attorney General Al-Qidrah. The official results of
investigations into the murder by torture of Yussuf Ismail
Al-Baba and the suspected murder by torture of Fayez Qumsieh
have not yet been released. We call upon the leadership of
the Palestinian Authority to be more responsive to the
efforts of Palestinian human rights organizations to promote
human rights and the rule of law.
|
