Sunday 8 August 2010

Torture against Palestinian prisoners in Egypt rises after Eilat firing

[ 07/08/2010 - 03:37 PM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Informed Egyptian security sources disclosed an escalation of torture against Qassam Brigade leaders of Hamas’s military wing detained in Egyptian prisons, after accusations against the resistance movement of firing missiles from the Sinai Peninsula at Eilat and Aqaba.

The sources, who requested anonymity, told the Quds Press: “The Qassam detainees in the Egyptian prisons are subjected to intensive investigation in the wake of the missiles fired at Eilat and Aqaba from Egyptian territories,” noting that violence is used in the investigations to extract information leading to who fired the rockets. Previous investigations focused on how weapons were brought into Gaza through Egypt.

The sources noted that one of the top Qassam leaders imprisoned in Egypt was suffering “critical medical conditions, as a result of the torture he suffered.” He has been imprisoned for several years.

“Egyptian security leadership ordered interrogators of the Palestinian prisoners to focus on the structure of the Hamas movement and the location of Gilad Shalit,” the anonymous officer told Quds Press.

The Egyptian official Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted an Egyptian security source as saying: “The preliminary findings by security forces point to Palestinian factions being behind the operation.”

He suggested that the missiles were in fact launched from Sinai, noting that Egypt “will not under any condition allow its land to be used to harm Egyptian interests.”

In related developments, Abu Murad al-Quqa, the father of a longtime Palestinian prisoner detained in Egyptian jails, expressed concerns over his son’s life after learning about the rise in torture administered by Egyptian security after the recent firing.

His son Mu’tasim, 29, is the oldest detainee of the 24 Palestinian prisoners in Egyptian jails, having been jailed for six years.

Quqa deplores the way Egyptian security deals with Palestinian detainees in Egyptian prisons, and expressed fears for the life of his son after constant news of torture against them, explaining that he has no news on his son’s condition.

He said: “The Egyptians deal with us as if they were our enemies,” alluding to the interrogations into matters which do not concern the Egyptian government, such as the location of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and the nature of weapons used by Hamas.

Moussa: Violations against Palestinians in Egypt prisons bad for Cairo

[ 08/08/2010 - 10:17 AM ]


GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian Legislative Council member Dr. Yahya Moussa said the rise in Egyptian security service torture of Palestinians detained in Egyptian prisons is “bad for the political regime in Egypt and for the ties between the Palestinian and Egyptian peoples”, calling on Egyptian leaders to re-evaluate the situation.

24 Palestinians are being detained in Egyptian jails, including the oldest serving prisoner Mutasem Al-Quqa (six years) and Qassam Brigades senior leader Ayman Nofal, who has been in Egypt’s custody for two years.

Egyptian security sources informed media of renewed torture against Palestinians in Egyptian jails after the recent barrage of missiles fired at Eilat and Aqaba last weekend.

“This is not new,” Moussa said in a press release, “The history of security agencies in the Arab world is full of such things. Egypt is part of a system that operates from a security perspective, giving little attention to the lives of citizens or human rights. This is not our claim, but what has been published and confirmed by humans rights organizations.”

“We’ve listened to a number of those who were detained in Egyptian jails and came out. They talk about the tragic situations and violations against people’s humanity without justification. It is bad for ties between the people of Palestine and Egypt, and bad for the Egyptian political regime,” Dr. Moussa added.

“Therefore, out of brotherly relations between us and Egypt, we always hoped that the regime in Egypt would put a limit to violations like these and maintain the close ties between the Egyptian and Palestinian people,” Moussa went on to say.

“We hope the political leadership of Egypt will reconsider the grounds for interrogations of Palestinians in its jails, and the subjects of these investigations, and the denial of freedoms. All of that is unjustified and harmful to the relationship between us and Egypt.”


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