Hamas on Wednesday dismissed as “politically biased” a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that accused the Islamist movement of torturing detainees.
The Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry described the report as “purely political” and claimed it had been written “under the influence of various external parties.”
Hamas also expressed disappointment that the report did not refer to human rights violations under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Hamas also denied that its security forces have been torturing Palestinian detainees.
The HRW report, which was published Wednesday, said that Palestinians face serious abuses in the Hamas criminal justice system, including arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, torture and unfair trials.
Since it took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has executed at least three men convicted on the basis of “confessions” apparently obtained by torture, the 43-page report said.
The report documents extensive violations by Hamas security services, including warrantless arrests, failure to inform families promptly of detainees’ whereabouts, and subjecting detainees to torture.
It also documents violations of detainees’ rights by prosecutors and courts.
Military courts frequently try civilians in violation of international law.
Prosecutors often deny detainees access to a lawyer and courts have failed to uphold detainees’ due process rights in cases of warrantless arrest and abusive interrogations, HRW found.
“After five years of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, its criminal justice reeks of injustice, routinely violates detainees’ rights, and grants impunity to abusive security services,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW. “Hamas should stop the kinds of abuses that Egyptians, Syrians and others in the region have risked their lives to bring to an end.”
The report pointed out that Hamas authorities have failed to investigate and prosecute abusive security officials, and have in practice granted impunity from prosecution to officials in the Internal Security service in particular.
Witnesses told HRW that the Hamas Internal Security agency, the drugs unit of the civil police and other detectives all torture detainees.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights, a non-partisan Palestinian rights group, reported receiving 147 complaints of torture by various Hamas security agencies in 2011 alone.
The report found that some of the abuse cases were against Palestinians detained on suspicion of collaborating with Israel or the Palestinian Authority.
“There is ample evidence that Hamas security services are torturing people in custody with impunity and denying prisoners their rights,” Stork said. “The Gaza authorities should stop ignoring the abuse and ensure that the justice system respects Palestinians’ rights.”