Posted on 10/03/2012 8:36:35 AM PDT by Hunton Peck
JERUSALEM (AP) -- An international rights group said Wednesday that Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip commit rampant abuses against Palestinian prisoners, including beatings with metal clubs and rubber hoses, mock executions and arbitrary arrests, and urged the Islamic militant group to swiftly reform its criminal justice system.
In a new 43-page report, Human Rights Watch documented a long list of abuses that it said Palestinians in Gaza endure under the justice system run by Hamas, which has ruled the seaside strip for the past five years.
"There is ample evidence that Hamas security services are torturing people in custody with impunity and denying prisoners their rights," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for the New York-based group. "The Gaza authorities should stop ignoring the abuse and ensure that the justice system respects Palestinians' rights."
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 after street battles with the Palestinian's Western-backed secular Fatah party. Since then the Palestinians have been split between Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, which governs the West Bank.
The West supports Abbas' West Bank government but mostly shuns Hamas, which is considered a terror group by the U.S., EU and Israel because it has carried out attacks over the years that have killed hundreds of Israelis, most of them civilians, blowing up buses, cafes and other such targets.
In a statement, Hamas' Interior Ministry denied the allegations and accused HRW of political bias.
"The cases mentioned in the report, although they are not accurate, took place long time ago and we wonder why they were raised now," the ministry said. "Regarding the issue of torture: we don't have such a practice in any prisons."
Human Rights Watch said it based its conclusions on interviews with individuals who...
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Remind me, how many elections have there been in Gaza since the one that put Hamas in power?
I don’t care if they are cutting off their heads and making soup out of them.
“Hamas’ criminal justice system”. Oh, yeah. The “criminal” part is right, at least!
My Give-A-Damn is still busted.
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