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Jerusalem: 25
June , 1997
Gazan Lies Brain Dead After
Being Arrested By Force 17
A personal dispute between a young
Gazan, Nasser Radwan, and Mahmoud Zayyed of the Presidential
Security Guard has led to the hospitalization Radwan who is
now in critical condition. Doctors have told the family
that Radwan is brain dead after suffering a severe blow to
the skull.
Radwan was arrested at his house on
June 23, at 16:00 and transferred to an unknown location in
a vehicle belonging to Force-17. The arresting officer was
Mahmoud Zayyed, who is a bodyguard for Colonel Abu Nasser
Freihat. Radwan was later admitted to the hospital at 03:00
the following morning with a fractured skull.
Two hours after the arrest, Zayyed
denied knowing where Radwan was. That evening, after
approaching Colonel Freihat, the family learned that Zayyad
had his superior officer’s complete support. The family has
told the PHRMG that upon meeting the Colonel he stated that
“if I were Mahmoud [Zayyad] I would have killed him.... I
didn’t want Radwan to be arrested at his home. I wanted his
arrest to be from the streets so that it would take you
months to find him.”
These details and others have been
presented to President Arafat’s office, who has not yet
commented publicly on the matter.
The PHRMG is concerned about this
case which points to the following systematic human rights
problems within the Palestinian Authority:
1.
A culture of violence within the
security forces
2.
Lack of accountability extending up
the chain of command
3.
The use of official status to solve
personal disputes
4.
The use of torture by the security
services leading to the crippling and death of detainees
In our recent report, “The State of
Human Rights in Palestine” the PHRMG pointed out in a study
of 42 cases of torture investigated by human rights
organizations, that:
·
Torture is widespread,
involving every branch of the security forces
·
Torture takes place in almost
every detention center and prison
·
Torture is used by all ranks
for every type of suspect, criminal or political
Torture may include whipping, burning, exposure to cold air,
sexual abuse, and denial of medical treatment. In our study,
all 42 cases involved beating .
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