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Jerusalem:
26 October , 1998
One citizen falls victim and four others wounded (all from
Fateh group), as a result of gunfire released by the
Palestinian Military Intelligence
Wassim Yousef Hassan al-Tarifi (16, student, from al-Bireh),
died yesterday, 25/10/98, as a result of gunfire released by
the Palestinian Military Intelligence (MI). Four other
persons were injured by stones thrown at them by the MI.
This all took place while these five people participated in
a march organized by Fateh.
Almost 400 people from Fateh,
headed by Marwan al-Barghouti (secretary of Fateh in the
West Bank), including other members from Fateh, participated
in the march which took flight from downtown Ramallah (Ramallah
al-Tahta) at three in the afternoon, heading towards the MI
headquarters, to protest the attack of MI members on Fateh
office in Ramallah at one in the morning on 25/10/98. When
the MI attacked the office, they destroyed the furniture,
and arrested five Fateh members from their homes.
When the march settled by
the GI headquarters, the demonstrators shouted words
attacking the MI, requesting that those who attacked the
office be tried. Marwan al-Barghouti spoke with the governor
of Ramallah and al-Haj Ismai’il Jaber (head of the National
Security in the West Bank), and he was told that those who
attacked the office were arrested.
When the demonstrators
returned to their starting point from downtown Ramallah, two
of them threw stones at the headquarters, but they were
stopped. All of a sudden, the demonstrators were caught off
guard by gunfire and stones released and thrown by the MI.
this resulted in killing one person and wounding four
others.
The MI claimed that the
reason they broke into the office was because two Fateh
members attacked a MI official prior two days earlier. It is
important to mention that the five members from Fateh, who
were arrested by the MI were released on 26/10/98.
The Palestinian Human Rights
Monitoring Group (PHRMG) condemns the MI attack on unarmed
demonstrators who have every right to express their opinions
freely. The PHRMG asks President Arafat to fire Moussa
Arafat (head of the MI), and try him. The PHRMG also
requests that all those who participated in the attack be
tried in a public hearing, to put an end to the practices of
the security forces against the freedom of opinion and
expression, which are considered the most important aspect
of a civil society.
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