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October 10, 2017
Where's the Coverage of Torture in Gaza Prisons?
Earlier this month, the online news site Al-Monitor wrote about two Palestinian human rights organizations’ reporting on complaints of torture in Gaza prisons. (“Gaza activists decry rise in torture within prisons,�? October 1, 2017.) Al-Monitor wrote:
Human rights organizations operating in the Gaza Strip have monitored many cases of torture in Gaza prisons in 2016-17, which were described as “recurring.�?After he was severely tortured, detainee Khalil Abu Harb, from Gaza City, committed suicide on Sept. 19. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) demanded in a Sept. 20 statement that the attorney general and decision-makers in the Gaza Strip stop what the PCHR described as a state of decay in detention centers. The PCHR demanded that they put an end to torture in prisons and abide by Palestinian law.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) issued its monthly report for July on Sept. 20. The ICHR noted that during July, it received 38 complaints of torture and ill-treatment in the Palestinian territories, 26 of which were in Gaza, and they included 22 complaints against the police and four against the Internal Security Service.
In its annual report for 2016, the ICHR revealed that it documented hundreds of complaints submitted by victims of torture in detention centers and prisons in the Gaza Strip that year.
PCHR's legal researcher Mohammed Abu Hashim told Al-Monitor that there is a lack of comprehensive and accurate statistics on cases of torture in prisons and detention centers, because the victims of torture are reluctant to confront the authorities. They do not trust in their ability to protect them or provide some form of compensation either by the judiciary or human rights centers.
With the help of Google Translate, CAMERA reviewed the IHCR report for July as well as the PCHR September 20 statement that Al-Monitor cited, which support the article.
The IHCR was founded in 1993 by Yasser Arafat. The PHCR has been noted for its bias against Israel and its reliance on lawfare against Israel. Yet, it has taken the step of criticizing the Hamas government of Gaza.
No mainstream American news media, however, has prominently featured this story. Palestinian suffering is only newsworthy, it seems, when Israel can be blamed.
Posted by kabe at October 10, 2017 04:22 PM
Comments
Can we share this info on Facebook?
Posted by: Nancy Hart at October 12, 2017 12:22 PM
Does anyone expect a propaganda sheet like Al-Monitor to expose the failings of Hamas? And the treatment of prisoners tortured in their prisons and other cruel punishments, lashings for blogging blasphemy in Saudi Arabia, a student beaten to death by his peers in a Pakistani high school because he would not convert to Islam. And these are daily daily occurrences.
Al-Monitor is unlikely to criticize Muslims. It would be like criticizing Islam and we shouldn't allow that. Islam and its Jihadis are above reproach. Al-Monitor is a chameleon.
What is never properly put in perspective in the west is the effect demographics plays on the nature of Islam and its practitioners. Wherever there are Islamic majorities we find intolerance of other beliefs and any politics offensive to its followers.
Wherever there are Muslim minorities, compromise is an accepted practice but only with the intent of implementing a long term goal; the subjugation of the world.
Christian missionaries have been excoriated for the same sort of evangelical zeal.
I have met "moderate" Muslims but in truth they are simply constrained by demographics.
The problem is inherent in the religion and cultures themselves.
Why is anyone surprised that Al-Monitor despite its attempts to appear to be an inclusive publication has retained an Islamist evangelist edge?
Posted by: Anonymous at October 14, 2017 10:45 AM
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