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Human rights orgs submit complaint against PA security forces for torturing Palestinians

Headline: “Precedent: The Arab Organization for Human Rights submitted a complaint against the PA Security Forces in the International Criminal Court (ICC)”
       “The Arab Organization for Human Rights in Britain submitted a complaint to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding what it described as arbitrary arrests and systematic torture being carried out by the PA Security Forces in the occupied territories. The organization stated in a press release published by Al-Jazeera Net that the complaint included evidence that proves that the [PA] Intelligence Service headed by Majed Faraj and the Preventive Security Force headed by Ziyad Hab Al-Rih has carried out a campaign of arbitrary arrests since June 12, 2014, which has included night raids, confiscation of personal property, and the forced disappearance and barbaric torture of a number of detainees.  The organization added that the documents submitted explained in detail the names of the detainees and the places where they were illegally held and barbarically tortured, beginning with hard strikes, and including all forms of hanging, the most severe being the tying of the hands behind [the body], and the tying of the detainee to a window or door like an animal intended for slaughter, it said. The organization emphasized that despite [the fact] that the phenomenon of arbitrary politically based arrests and systematic torture has become widespread, and despite the repeated pleas to PA President Mahmoud Abbas to stop these crimes, the relevant authorities have not investigated the matter, which has led to its continuation. The organization explained in the complaint that in the matter of political arrests and torture, the judicial authority is dependent on the orders of the Security Forces, as the public prosecutors fabricate accusations against the detainees in order to extend the period of their detention through the judges of the magistrate’s court, and they do not deal with the detainees’ complaints regarding the degrading treatment and torture at all. The organization in its complaint enumerated the number of different international bodies that give aid to the Security Forces, despite their knowing about the arbitrary detentions and torture being carried out by the Security Forces, they continue to give aid to these forces, which exposes them to prosecution. The organization clarified that what increases the severity of the crimes being carried out by the PA Security Forces is the fact that they are being carried out in cooperation with the Israeli occupation, which itself carries out systematic detentions and torture, and detains Palestinians who were detained by the PA Security Forces on the same charges, and the PA Security Forces are acting the same way in what has been dubbed The Revolving Door.”

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