Palestinian Authority
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Covering events from January - December 2002
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
President: Yasser Arafat
Death penalty: retentionist
Scores of people were arrested for political reasons. They included alleged members of armed groups and people suspected of “collaborating” with Israeli intelligence services. At least 13 people were sentenced to death, three of whom were executed. The majority of those sentenced to death were accused of “collaborating” with Israeli intelligence services. Scores of alleged “collaborators” were unlawfully killed by armed groups or individuals.
Background
The al-Aqsa intifada (uprising), which started on 29 September 2000, continued. More than 1,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces, the majority of them unlawfully.
Palestinian members of armed groups attacked Israeli soldiers and civilians. They killed more than 420 Israelis, including some 180 Israeli civilians within Israel and more than 80 Israeli civilians in the Occupied Territories, and injured thousands of other people. Their deliberate targeting of civilians constituted crimes against humanity (See also Israel and the Occupied Territories entry.)
The main armed groups involved in the attacks were the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (an offshoot of Fatah), Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas), Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Administration of justice
President Yasser ‘Arafat and other Palestinian Authority (PA) officials routinely condemned suicide bombings and other killings and attacks against Israelis and called on Palestinian armed groups to put an end to such attacks. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases those responsible for ordering or planning such attacks were not brought to justice and no investigations were known to have been carried out. It remained unclear to what extent the PA could exercise effective control over any of the armed groups involved in attacks against Israelis. The systematic bombings and raids by the Israeli army of virtually all PA infrastructure, including prisons and security installations, reduced the PA’s ability and willingness to exercise control over armed groups and to address serious human rights concerns.
As a result of the destruction and targeting of PA prisons and detention centres by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), many prisoners were transferred to makeshift detention centres in undisclosed locations (so-called “safehouses”) to avoid bombings, raids and assassination of prisoners by the IDF. On several occasions, the PA released prisoners, or they escaped, when prisons and detention centres were attacked by the Israeli air forces. On other occasions, prisoners were released when “safehouses” or prisons were broken into by groups of Palestinians. In at least one instance, Israeli forces broke into a Palestinian prison and released alleged “collaborators”. Files on detainees and possible defendants were also destroyed or taken during IDF raids on PA security installations and administration buildings. Prolonged closures and curfews prevented or restricted the functioning of PA courts as judges, lawyers and witnesses could not travel freely or at all within the Occupied Territories.
Legislation
In May, President ‘Arafat ratified the Basic Law, which had been passed by the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996. The Basic Law affirmed the independence of the judiciary and recognized the rights of all people living under the jurisdiction of the PA as contained in international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The law came into effect in July.
Arbitrary detention and unfair trials
The PA arrested scores of alleged members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other armed groups as well as people suspected of “collaborating” with Israeli intelligence services. Some of them remained detained without charge or trial in PA prisons, detention centres or “safehouses”. There were reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by various Palestinian security forces.
- Six men were held in the custody of the PA in a Jericho prison, under the monitoring of United Kingdom and US observers. Five of them were held in connection with the killing of Israel’s Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Ze’evi, on 17 October 2001, claimed by the PFLP. Ahmad Sa‘adat, General Secretary of the PFLP, was arrested on 15 January by the Palestinian General Intelligence Service. On 3 June the Palestinian High Court of Justice in Gaza ordered his immediate release as he had never been charged or brought before a judge. However, the next day the Palestinian Cabinet, while expressing respect for the court’s decision, decided that Ahmad Sa‘adat should not be released because of “Israeli threats of assassinating” him. The four others, Hamdi Qar’an, Basel al-Asmar, Majdi al-Rimawi and ‘Ahed Abu Ghalma, were tried before a special “field court”, in unfair proceedings, and on 25 April were sentenced to up to 18 years’ imprisonment. The sixth man, Fuad Shubaki, was detained on suspicion of involvement with a shipment of arms from Iran, but was never tried. On 10 December the Palestinian High Court in Ramallah ordered his release, but he remained in detention at the end of the year.
Palestinian State Security Courts sentenced at least 13 people to death after unfair and summary trials. Three of them, who were convicted of ordinary criminal offences, were executed. Another was killed by security forces, allegedly while he was trying to escape from prison. Nine of those sentenced to death were accused of treason and “collaboration” with Israeli intelligence services. Those sentenced to death are not entitled to appeal against the sentence, and can be executed when the sentence is ratified by the PA’s President. During 2002, President ‘Arafat did not ratify any death sentences passed on alleged “collaborators”.
- Khaidar Ghanem, a 39-year-old former field worker for the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, was sentenced to death on 28 October by the State Security Court in Gaza. He was convicted of “collaboration” with Israeli intelligence services. His trial apparently lasted two and a half hours and he was represented by a court-appointed lawyer. According to reports, Khaidar Ghanem was convicted mainly on his own admission. He allegedly said during his trial that he did not know the information he gave to the Israeli intelligence officers would be used to kill people.
- Faisal Ahmed Suleiman Abu Teilakh, aged 26, and Sa’id al-Barrawi Mohammed al-Najjar, aged 29, were executed by firing squad in Gaza on 6 June, just 24 hours after they were sentenced to death by the State Security Court for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl. The trial failed to meet minimum international standards for fair trial. It lasted just three hours and the court was not told that one of the defendants was mentally disabled. The case was heard by the State Security Court, even though the crimes committed should have fallen under the authority of the ordinary criminal courts.
Scores of Palestinians suspected of “collaboration” with Israeli intelligence services were unlawfully killed. Most of these killings seemed to have been carried out by members of armed groups or by armed individuals. Some appeared to be extrajudicial executions carried out by members of Palestinian security services. The PA consistently failed to investigate these killings and none of the perpetrators was brought to justice.
- On 14 March, Muhammad Dayfallah al-Khatib was killed on suspicion of being a “collaborator” by armed Palestinian gunmen apparently not affiliated to the Palestinian security forces. Muhammad Dayfallah al-Khatib had been sentenced to death by the Higher State Security Court in Bethlehem on 13 January 2001 for treason and “collaboration” with Israel, after an unfair trial which lasted only five hours. According to reports, he and other prisoners had been transferred to a “safehouse” from a Bethlehem prison that was later shelled during Israeli air strikes.
- Mundher al-Hafnawi and Hussein Abu al-’Uyun were shot dead in Nablus on 15 March by armed Palestinians apparently not affiliated to the Palestinian security forces. They had escaped from Nablus prison on 9 March after the gates of the prison complex were damaged by Israeli helicopter gunfire. Both men had been sentenced to death in 2001 after unfair trials for “collaborating” with Israel.
- On 14 July, ‘Abd al-Hay Diab Sababa, aged 42, was killed by armed gunmen during his trial by the Palestinian State Security Court in Khan Yunis. He was accused of “collaborating” with the Israeli security services and providing them with information that facilitated the assassination by the IDF of four Hamas activists. More than 50 people, including policemen and relatives of the victims, were witnessing the trial. During a recess, the accused was escorted to a cell. As people were leaving the court, a heavy blast was heard – the result of shelling by Israeli helicopters. During the confusion, a number of gunmen fired at ‘Abd al-Hay Diab Sababa in his cell and killed him. No measures were taken against the gunmen.
In October the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that non-state actors establish and strictly enforce rules of engagement for military and other personnel which fully respect the rights of children as contained in the UN Children’s Convention and as protected under international humanitarian law. It also recommended that they refrain from using or targeting children in armed conflict and comply fully with Article 38 of the Convention, and as much as possible with the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
Visits
AI delegates visited areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority in January, March, April, May, June, July, August, and October. AI’s Secretary General visited the area in April/May.
