Wednesday, October 24, 2018

PA, Hamas Tend to Use Torture to Crush Dissent; Human Rights Watch: A Crime against Humanity

A Human Rights Watch investigation has found that security forces of the rival Palestinian governments in both the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority (PA) routinely use torture and arbitrary arrests -- among other tactics -- to quash dissent by peaceful activists and political rivals, the Worthy News website reports today (October 24, 2018).

The charges come in a report issued today by the New York-based watchdog following a two-year investigation that included interviews with nearly 150 people, many of them former detainees.

In the report, the group accused both the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the militant Islamist Hamas in Gaza of using "machineries of repression" to stifle criticism.

Human Rights Watch also said the systematic use of torture could amount to a crime against humanity under the United Nations' Convention against Torture, and called on countries that provide funding for Palestinian law enforcement to suspend their assistance.

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