PA Accused of Inhumane Practices by UK Based Arab Human Rights Group
by JNS.org
Palestinian territories police licenseplate. Photo: wiki commons.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, have been accused of inhumane practices and human rights abuses, according to a report from the UK-based Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR).
The group monitored the practices of the PA’s security forces from January until July in 2012, using testimonials from victims and their families as well as reports from local nongovernmental agencies, the Jerusalem Post reported.
AOHR accused the PA of using torture and degrading treatment of its prisoners, with 18.7 percent of a sample of 300 former detainees stating that they experienced “severe torture” and 99.7 percent claiming that they were exposed to degrading treatment.
The group calls on the international community to do more about the PA’s alleged violations.
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“AOHR places complete responsibility for these human rights violations on the Palestinian President Abbas… AOHR calls for the secretary-generals of the UN, Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to put pressure in Mahmoud Abbas to stop political detention as it harms the interests of all Palestinians,” AOHR said.
The PA, which was established as an interim Palestinian government as part of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, is currently controlled by Abbas’s nationalist Fatah party and governs in cooperation with the Israeli military over Palestinian-majority areas of the West Bank.
