For Abdel-Nasser Saeed, a whiz of bullets replaced the cannon fire announcing Iftar on the 17th day of Ramadan in 2020. Whenever Abdel-Nasser sees the Palestinian Security forces, an image imprinted in his mind haunts him. He sees himself prostrated on the ground, with blood flowing from his head.
On the morning of May 10, 2020, Abdel-Nasser went to his cow farm in Jamaeen, a town to the south of Nablus. He passed through two security checkpoints; the first was set up by the Palestinian National Authority when the state of emergency was declared to restrict the movement of citizens and limit the spread of the COVID-19; the second is the Israeli Huwwara checkpoint, which is about 100 metres further ahead.
When Abdel-Nasser returned home in the afternoon to bring his family to the farm for Ifatr, an Israeli officer stopped and said, “The gates will be closing shortly. Tell them to open the gate,” in order to clear the traffic jam at the checkpoints before breakfast time. He continued on his way after notifying the Palestinian officers.
Abdel-Nasser reached the checkpoint again –– this time with his family. The roads had been backed up since the lockdown lifted, and most Palestinian families went to spend their time in their farms and gardens. Abdel-Nasser was afraid that he would be late, so he passed some vehicles while driving. His 16-year-old son, Abdel-Jabbar, was sitting next to him and filming the traffic jam on his phone.
A Palestinian soldier saw Abdel-Jabbar filming. He pulled him out of the car. “Why are you filming?” he yelled, shoving him aside and confiscating his phone. Abdel-Nasser got out of his car and told the soldier, “I am the one who instructed my son to film the traffic jam.” The soldier took his identity card and asked him to wait.
“We deleted the pictures in front of him,” Abdel-Nasser says. “He told me that things were not as simple as that, and asked me to be quiet.” After waiting a while, Abdel-Nasser told him: “Excuse me… It is the end of the day, and I do not want to be late for work while fasting. I will come back to you after Iftar.” He began to drive away as soldiers shouted behind him, heading towards the Israeli checkpoint to pass through before it closed.
The iron gate at the Israeli Huwwara checkpoint was closed, so he returned to the Palestinian checkpoint to reach his farm via the winding road.
Soldiers there stopped Abdel-Nasser –– one even punching him. “In this country, we lost everything,” Abdel-Nasser says. “The only thing we have left is a little bit of dignity. When he hit me and insulted me, I hit him back in self-defense.” The soldier pulled him out of the car, and with the support of more soldiers, beat him with sticks and rifle butts, kicking, punching, and humiliating him.
His wife and son Abdel-Jabbar stepped in to defend him, but they were beaten too, with pepper sprayed in their eyes. Abdel-Nasser’s twelve-year-old daughter, Salsabil, his six-year-old son, Yaqoub, and his two-year-old daughter were sitting in Abdel-Jabbar’s lap when they were all attacked with the pepper spray.
This investigation’s reporter documented 16 cases that were subjected to violations
by the Palestinian National Authority security forces during the emergency state declared to limit the spread of COVID-19.This is in addition to 95 depositions that were documented over the past five months
by civil society organizations about people who were subjected to violations, including 65 people in the West Bank.
Islam Al-Tamimi is the director of the Training, Awareness and Advocacy Department at the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR). He explains that there were violations, especially against the freedom of opinion and expression, and peaceful assembly, during the emergency state period. There were also restrictions on the freedom of movement and transportation. He says that comparing the numbers of violations with those before the state of emergency and virus spread should not be used to indicate the reality of violations, because this does not reflect the actual state. These violations must be analyzed and linked to breaches of the emergency laws due to COVID-19.
When the first case of COVID-19emerged in the city of Bethlehem, a state of emergency was imposed in the West Bank on March 5 for the first time, and for a period of thirty days. It has been renewed since then. The amended Palestinian Basic Law of 2003 allows the possibility to declare a state of emergency for a period of 30 days by presidential decree. This may be extended for another thirty days with the approval of two-thirds of the members of the Legislative Council, which has not happened since the Legislative Council became inactive in 2007.
Abdel-Nasser fell to the ground and surrendered. One of the soldiers came over and stepped on his head. “I did not allow him to do that; I rose and flipped him on his back and defended myself,” Abdel-Nasser says. He lost consciousness as a result of the beating, but the scene remained with him. “A person’s heart aches and hurts because his own countryman is treating him in this way,” he says. “The law does not give him the right to do this: as long as he is wearing the military uniform, he represents the law, and does not represent a gang or the law of the jungle.”
After 12 days, Abdel-Nasser was released on bail from the prisons of the Palestinian Authority. His son was released three days after that. They were charged with resisting security officials. He filed a complaint with the Intelligence Services, and was asked to settle or drop the complaint against the officers who attacked them to close his case file.
Lawyers for Justice followed 38 cases of arrest during the state of emergency which were concentrated in the northern and central regions of the West Bank. According to the report that the organization provided to the investigative reporter, the Preventive Security and the General Intelligence agencies were the most frequent perpetrators of documented violence, in addition to the administrative detention that the Governor was responsible for.
Diala Ayesh, a lawyer at Lawyers for Justice, says that the foundation recorded human rights violations during the pandemic period, including subpoenas for security interviews, arbitrary arrests, and detentions. She adds that courts were only open two days a week until 1 p.m. at the beginning of the state of emergency. This led to the extension of detentions and to a delay in legal procedures, including releases or bails. Both of these require four days before a court approval is secured.
Articles 111 and 112 of the Amended Palestinian Basic Law of 2003 state the following: “It is not permissible to impose restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms except to the extent necessary to achieve the declared goal in the decree announcing a state of emergency. Any arrest resulting from the declaration of the state of emergency must be subject to the following minimum requirements: any arrest conducted under the decree declaring a state of emergency must be reviewed by the Attorney General or the specialized court within a period not exceeding fifteen days from the date of arrest. The arrested person has the right to appoint a lawyer of his choice.”
The investigator obtained 60 statements from Al-Haq Organization. Thirty of them come from the West Bank and thirty from the Gaza Strip. The reporter classified the violations that took place during the past five months into 13 types. They are:Types of Violations1.Violating the right to a fair trial2.Violating the right to security and physical safety from mistreatment3.Violating the right to freedom of opinion and expression4.Violating the right to freedom5.Violating the right to humane treatment in detention6.Violating the right to private ownership7.Violating the right to peaceful gathering and the formation of associations8.Violating the right to human dignity9.Violating the right to work10.Violating the right to privacy11.Violating the right to the freedom of movement and travel12.Violating the right to health13.Violating the right to protection from the confiscation of assetsWest Bank201074544241320Gaza362722171298664321
On the afternoon of Friday, March 20, someone knocked on the door of Asaad Qubbaja’s house, saying, “We are health workers from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and we want to see your father.” Asaad’s eldest son opened the door. Asaad went to the door and spoke to them, and they asked him to accompany them. He discovered that they were members of the Preventive Security Service impersonating health workers.
The soldiers entered Asaad’s house by force to take him to the Palestinian Preventive Security Center in the village of Tarqumiyah in the Hebron governorate. Asaad asked for a court order, or any legal basis for the arrest. He refused to submit to the arrest warrant, fearing that they might be a gang. They started beating him, insulting him and dragged him to the car forcibly. Fearing for their father, Asaad’s children resisted the soldiers and started screaming, crying and pulling Asaad from their hands. One of the soldiers took out his weapon and fired it to frighten them and keep them away from their father.
Article No. 202 of the Jordanian Penal Code No. 16 of 1960, which is applied in the West Bank, entails a punishment ranging from a month to a year
for “anyone who impersonates a public service employee, whether civil or military. This also applies to occasions on which that employee is assigned to perform a role or to be present at a place within the capacity of his position. It also covers instances wherein a person unlawfully pretends to be an employee in the public service, whether civil or military, and claiming that he has the right to perform any of the roles or to be present at a place in order to take any action by virtue of his position. The punishment shall be imprisonment from three months to two years if the person commits any of the aforementioned acts while working and wearing a uniform or badge belonging to the employees.”
Ayesh clarifies that the punishment for a military employee impersonating a government employee is more severe than that imposed on a civil employee. This is because military ranks may be withdrawn from soldiers if they should do this, and if it is proven in specialized military trials.
Ayesh clarifies that the punishment for a military employee impersonating a government employee is more severe than that imposed on a civil employee. This is because military ranks may be withdrawn from soldiers if they should do this, and if it is proven in specialized military trials.
Asaad arrived at the Preventive Security Center without knowing the reason for his arrest. Eventually, one of the investigators told him that he was charged with trying to spread the Coronavirus, since he held Friday prayers violating health protocols. However, during the investigation, it became clear that Assad had nothing to do with the order to hold prayers in one of the village’s mosques, as the charges claimed. Asaad had held the first Friday prayers with his children in his backyard after the state of emergency was declared.
The Public Prosecution is the only authority entitled to arrest people and investigate them, as per the Criminal Procedures Law No. 3 of 2001. This law is consistent with the amended Palestinian Basic Law of 2003, of which Article 11 stipulates that “Freedom is a natural right that is guaranteed and untouchable. No one may be arrested, searched, imprisoned, or his freedom restricted in any way or prevented from movement except by a judicial order in accordance with the provisions of the law.” Article 12 of the Basic Law states, “Anyone who is arrested or detained shall be informed of the reasons for his arrest or detention. Further, he must be informed quickly in a language that makes him comprehend the accusation leveled against him. He should also be enabled to contact a lawyer and be brought to trial without delay.”
Asaad was not brought before the court, and was arrested under the orders of the governor for three days. Ayesh asserts that administrative detentions by orders of the governor violated the amended Palestinian Basic Law, especially Article 32 therein. The Public Prosecution is the only entity that has the authority to press charges and is responsible for sending files to the specialized court, which in turn follows the necessary procedures to conduct the arrest.
Practically, the administrative detentions by orders of the governor stem from the enforcement of the administrative authority which granted him exceptional measures. In practice, these allow him to take away the personal freedom of the individual in order to maintain public security and order, based on the text of the Jordanian Crime Prevention Law No. 7 of 1954. This law was repealed from the Jordanian Court of Justice. It is also in violation of Article 119 of the Basic Law stating that “it repeals everything that conflicts with the provisions of the amended Basic Law”. Moreover, it clashes with Article 11, which clearly states that “personal freedom is a natural right and can only be restricted by a judicial order”.
Asaad points out that the detention cells are not suitable for the situation in light of the spread of the Coronavirus. No health measures are followed except for temperature checks. Prisoners unsafely mix with each other, and soldiers talk to them without wearing masks.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), Ombudsman Bureau, issued reports for the months of January to June. It classifies the violations into 10 types, arranged by months and the type of violation divided between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip:Click on dates for details2020January 2020February 2020March 2020April 2020May 2020June 2020
TotalIn West Bank And the Gaza Strip10713183443181Click on dates for details2020January 2020February 2020March 2020April 2020May 2020June 2020
TotalIn West Bank And the Gaza Strip10713183443181January to June 2020In West Bank And the Gaza Strip
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