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PA daily reports on cases of torture committed by ‎the PA and on calls to investigate them

     ‎“Dr. Ahmed Harb, the Commissioner-‎General of the Independent Commission ‎for Human Rights, met with [PA] Minister‏ ‏of the Interior Said ‎ Abu-Ali to discuss ‎issues relating to the cases of torture and ‎abuse against individuals detained by the ‎‎[Palestinian] Preventive Security Forces in ‎Bethlehem, and the issue of the sit-down ‎strike of the students of the Islamic ‎‎[student] group at Birzeit University, ‎following the [police’s] summoning of ‎several students from the Islamic [student] ‎group on grounds of their political ‎affiliation… ‎
Harb reviewed the cases of torture that ‎had occurred at the [PA] Preventive ‎Security Forces headquarters in ‎Bethlehem, and explained that most of ‎these [torture] cases and abuses – which ‎included beatings, Shabah (a method of ‎torture in which the detainee is hung by ‎his hands), humiliations, threats and the ‎application of pressure to sensitive body ‎parts – occurred at the detention center of ‎the Preventive Security Forces in ‎Bethlehem.‎
In addition, several torture and abuse ‎cases were committed by the Bethlehem ‎Police Force; all the complainants had ‎been arrested in the wake of the events ‎that occurred in the Bethlehem district last ‎January [2013], and the murder of police ‎officer Naser Othman Brewish ‎ at the ‎Tekoa police station, [also] in the ‎Bethlehem district. Harb emphasized the ‎importance of imposing criminal penalties ‎‎– and not merely internal disciplinary ‎measures – on perpetrators of torture and ‎abuse, in cases in which the charges ‎against them are confirmed. ‎
Furthermore, he emphasized the urgency ‎of publishing the results of the ‎investigative committees, in order to put an ‎end to rumors, and [underscored] that the ‎PA must assume responsibility for these ‎incidents. ‎
Regarding the sit-down strike of the ‎students at Birzeit University following ‎their summoning by the Security Forces, ‎Harb asserted that summons must not be ‎issued arbitrarily, as they disrupt the lives ‎of the citizens and affect the students’ ‎ability to continue their course of studies. ‎Furthermore, he underscored [the need] to ‎reemphasize the previous directives ‎banning the summoning of students on ‎grounds of their political affiliation or ‎student activity.”‎
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