NABLUS: Palestinian security forces in the West Bank have stopped torturing Hamas prisoners, ending two years of systematic abuse, Hamas inmates told The Associated Press in jailhouse interviews.
The change in practice, said to have taken effect in October, was confirmed by a West Bank Hamas leader, human rights activists and the Palestinian prime minister. It defuses a potential problem for Washington since the US has been closely involved in training Palestinian troops under the control of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas legislators and human rights researchers said they still get sporadic reports of prisoners being slapped or forced to stand for several hours during interrogation. And security forces continue to keep a close watch on Hamas activities, often arresting activists and holding them for lengthy periods without charge.
However, they said the worst abuses — prisoners beaten with clubs and cables, suspended from the ceiling while tied up in painful positions and forced to stand for days — have ended.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad confirmed a “dramatic change for the better” in West Bank prisons and said 43 officers have been jailed, fired or demoted for abusing prisoners.
In an interview, he denied torture was ever official policy, but acknowledged past “excesses” that he said stemmed from a flawed culture of revenge.
President Abbas’ security forces, dominated by supporters of his Fatah movement, have been clamping down on Hamas in the West Bank since June 2007, when the Islamist group wrested control of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian leader.
Since then, some 4,000 Hamas followers were arrested in the West Bank, and 500 are currently in detention, according to Hamas. Just two weeks ago, dozens of Hamas supporters were detained during the group’s anniversary celebrations.
In Gaza, Hamas has rounded up hundreds of Fatah supporters, who also have complained of severe mistreatment.
Hamas and Fatah have failed to reconcile, despite many rounds of Egyptian-brokered mediation. However, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said in a visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday that significant progress has been made in reconciliation talks.
In the West Bank, persistent reports of abuse emerged over the past two years from prisons and interrogation centers.
Since 2007, eight detainees have died in West Bank lockups and 15 in Gaza, human rights researchers say, though circumstances in some cases remain murky.
The abuse was driven both by a desire to take revenge for the Gaza takeover and by fear that Hamas would seize control of the West Bank, said Salah Mousa, a human rights activist and former member of the Palestinian security forces.
The worst accounts of abuse came from those held at Jneid Prison, a barbed wire-topped jumble of low buildings in Nablus, a former Hamas stronghold.
Last week, an AP team was granted access to the prison, including the wing holding 40 Hamas prisoners. Officials unlocked the metal cell doors on both sides of a hallway and bearded inmates in track suits stepped out. With wardens out of earshot, inmates described past abuse and said it has largely stopped.
