Palestinians continue to have their rights abused by the PA

Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank continue to have their human, civil and legal rights abused by the Palestinian Authority, it was reported on Friday. A total of 417 such abuses were recorded in April, said the Palestinian Information Centre.

According to the Committee of Political Prisoners’ Families, the PA security services not only arrested 154 people and issued 165 summonses, but also carried out 32 raids and 10 crackdowns on ordinary freedoms.

Some prisoners, explained the Committee, have gone on several hunger strikes in protest at the conditions in which they are held. At least six have seen a serious deterioration in their health. While 32 were sentenced, 10 actually had release orders issued in their name but are still being detained.

Among those detained are 117 Palestinians who have spent periods in Israeli jails, as well as 26 university students, three teachers, 11 journalists, two rights activists, seven engineers, two physicians, one university professor and an Imam.

The Committee said that the abuses increased notably after PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech on 19 March, when he alleged that Hamas had orchestrated the assassination attempt against Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.