Posted on 9/21/2003, 4:44:44 AM by yonif
A member of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service in the Gaza Strip who was kidnapped by Hamas activists said on Saturday that he was brutally tortured by his captors.
Muhammad al-Sheikh, 38, told The Jerusalem Post from his hospital bed in Gaza City that he was kidnapped by six armed men belonging to Hamas from his home in the Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip last Wednesday.
"I was sitting outside my home when a yellow minivan pulled up," he recounted. "Three masked men carrying rifles and pistols got out of the vehicle and ordered me to get in. When I tried to resist, they hit me with the butts of their guns. They told me, 'You are a collaborator.'" Sheikh's brother and mother, who were present at the scene, first thought that the kidnappers were undercover soldiers. He was blindfolded and bundled into the car, where three more armed men were sitting.
"They started beating me all over the body and I was bleeding non-stop," he added. "I was severely wounded in the eye and forehead." Sheikh said the kidnappers drove him to an undisclosed location, where he was held until Friday noon.
He said that all this time he was subjected to various methods of torture. "They beat me with chains, clubs, and pipes," he said. "I wasn't able to sleep for two days because of the pain. They told me, "You and [PA Security Minister Muhammad] Dahlan are traitors and Israeli spies."
Sheikh's abduction was part of an armed confrontation between Hamas and the PSS in Gaza City. The clash erupted on Wednesday night and continued throughout Thursday and Friday. At least five people were wounded, two seriously, in the clashes.
The PSS accused Hamas of triggering the clashes by kidnapping Sheikh. It said its forces immediately detained seven members of Hamas in the context of investigations to arrest the kidnappers and bring them before the justice.
A spokesman for the PSS warned that anyone who tries to undermine the unity of the Palestinian Authority would be held legally accountable. The shooting erupted in Gaza City on Thursday after the arrest of the seven Hamas members suspected of kidnapping Sheikh.
Hamas said the confrontation began when the Preventive Security Service arrested one of its senior activists in Gaza City.
Hamas activists attacked police stations with stones and burned tires in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.
Under a deal to end the dispute, Hamas released Sheikh and another police officer it had detained on Wednesday, and the PA freed the seven Hamas members it arrested.
In another incident on Saturday, PA security officials said that two Palestinian gunmen were killed in Tulkarm in clashes between rival fractions of Al-Aksa Brigades.
All lies. This was clearly the work of the Joos.
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