Hamas mishandelt politieke tegenstanders in Gazastrook

Uit onderstaand verhaal blijkt dat Hamas nog steeds Fatah leden intimideert en mishandelt, en er nog dagelijks nieuwe gevallen in ziekenhuizen belanden.

"Every day we have one or two cases that arrive at the hospital," Saqqa told AFP. "They say that they are members of the security services or linked to Fatah. Some of them have signs of beatings, others sustained bullet wounds to their limbs."

Dit wordt bevestigd door het Palestinian Centre for Human Rights:

"PCHR calls for opening an immediate investigation into the death of Waleed Abu Dalfa during his detention in al-Mashtal intelligence outpost, northwest of Gaza City, after he and his bother had been tortured by the Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) which currently control the outpost. PCHR also strongly condemns arrests and detentions by the Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades, which are often accompanied by practicing torture against a number of detainees, and calls for stopping such illegal practices, emphasizing that Hamas' military wing does not have any legal status that entitles them to arrest or detain people." 

Om de één of andere reden komen dit soort zaken zelden in het nieuws, en wordt hier een beeld gecreëerd van Hamas dat orde op zaken weet te stellen, wetteloosheid tegengaat en waarbinnen pragmatisme de overhand heeft.

Ratna
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Agence France Presse - 15/07/07 20h46 GMT+1

Hamas settling old scores a month after seizing Gaza
by Mehdi Lebouachera
http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070715194544.5pafoiof&cat=null

The bruises on Mohammed's body and his swollen blue feet are the price he says he paid for being an officer loyal to the Fatah party in a Gaza Strip now ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement.

One month after factional Palestinian fighting in the impoverished territory ended with Hamas seizing control there on June 15, the settling of accounts by the Islamists continues, say loyalists of president Mahmud Abbas's party.

It was Mohammed's turn on Monday, when a Hamas police squad raided his house.

"They came to look for weapons in my home, but I had none. They then tied me to a chair, covered my head with a sack and beat me with their guns and clubs, just because I am Fatah," the officer said from his hospital bed.

Despite explicit threats to his life Mohammed agreed to tell his story of arbitrary arrests and beatings by the Islamists, as long as his full name was not revealed.

Jumma al-Saqqa is the director of Gaza City's rundown Shifa hospital, where many patients were wounded during the fierce week-long clashes that killed more than 100 people before ending in the Hamas takeover.

But although the fighting ended a month ago, patients bearing the scars of factional clashes keep arriving.

"Every day we have one or two cases that arrive at the hospital," Saqqa told AFP. "They say that they are members of the security services or linked to Fatah. Some of them have signs of beatings, others sustained bullet wounds to their limbs."

Hamas's paramilitary Executive Force that has assumed police functions flatly denies any wrongdoing.

"We categorically deny using such methods. We arrest only those who refuse to hand in their weapons," spokesman Islam Shahwan said. "If there is any abuse by our men, we will investigate and punish those found guilty."

On Wednesday, the Executive Force paid a visit to the deputy director of the public Palestinian television, Mohammed al-Dahudi, a Fatah supporter.

They searched his home in the eastern neighbourhood of Tal al-Hawa, or "wind hill", which Hamas renamed Tal al-Islam -- "hill of Islam" -- after its takeover.

"Four men came to look for weapons at my place but they knew I didn't have any. They then confiscated my car and phone," Dahudi said.

The director of the Al-Mizan centre for human rights protection, Issam Yunes, confirmed that "illegal actions are occurring in Gaza. Some people say they were mistreated. There have been arrests, people were taken in for interrogation."

But Yunes also said "it is very difficult to get precise information because many people are afraid to talk and we can't visit them in prison. We have twice asked to visit Al-Machtal but Hamas turned us down," referring to the infamous detention centre that once headquartered the pro-Fatah intelligence services.

One person who did get to see Al-Machtal recently was Ezzedine Abu Safiya, the Fatah director general of the Palestinian parliament in Gaza.

"Armed men from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas's armed wing) took me to Al-Machtal for questioning," he told AFP. "They think that I had incited civil servants not to respect the weekly days off."

The weekly days of rest have been a bone of contention between Hamas and Fatah. The Islamists have decreed them to be Thursday and Friday, while Abbas's new emergency government said the weekend should be on Friday and Saturday.

In order not to risk the ire of either side, some civil servants take all three days off.

"The Qassams have no right to interfere in parliamentary affairs," Abu Safiya says. "They are destroying democracy and are violating human rights."