Hamas Rejects HRW Report on Arrests
GAZA (Dispatches) – The Ministry of Interior in Gaza Strip, run by Hamas resistance movement, on Tuesday dismissed a report by Human Rights Watch on Hamas arrests and torture as lacking accuracy.
Eyad al Bozzom, the ministry's spokesman, said in an emailed press statement that "the recent HRW report which accused Hamas of practicing arrests and torture is a report that lacks accuracy."
"This report really contradicts with reality on the ground," said al-Bozzom, referring to the HRW report which accused both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) of practicing torture in their prisons against the prisoners.
Al-Bozzom clarified that, several months ago, HRW asked Hamas to brief it with reports related to arrests in Gaza, and Hamas provided detailed information about the real situation in Gaza.
"Unfortunately, we found out that their report has totally ignored the accurate data we provided to the organization and published inaccurate information that contradict with reality," he said.
The HRW 149-page report, which was titled "Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent," said there are arbitrary arrest and torture under the PA and Hamas.
The report, which was a result of a two-year investigation of 86 cases and interviews with 147 people, evaluated "patterns of arrest and detention conditions" in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Adnan Dameri, spokesman of the PA security authorities in the West Bank, told reporters that the report "is highly biased and it is full of mistaken information."
He denied that any of the HRW representatives has contacted it to get accurate information on the incidents.
Dameri stressed that the state of Palestine "has signed all international laws and conventions that ban human rights abuses and torture and is committed to enforcing them."
Eyad al Bozzom, the ministry's spokesman, said in an emailed press statement that "the recent HRW report which accused Hamas of practicing arrests and torture is a report that lacks accuracy."
"This report really contradicts with reality on the ground," said al-Bozzom, referring to the HRW report which accused both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) of practicing torture in their prisons against the prisoners.
Al-Bozzom clarified that, several months ago, HRW asked Hamas to brief it with reports related to arrests in Gaza, and Hamas provided detailed information about the real situation in Gaza.
"Unfortunately, we found out that their report has totally ignored the accurate data we provided to the organization and published inaccurate information that contradict with reality," he said.
The HRW 149-page report, which was titled "Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent," said there are arbitrary arrest and torture under the PA and Hamas.
The report, which was a result of a two-year investigation of 86 cases and interviews with 147 people, evaluated "patterns of arrest and detention conditions" in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Adnan Dameri, spokesman of the PA security authorities in the West Bank, told reporters that the report "is highly biased and it is full of mistaken information."
He denied that any of the HRW representatives has contacted it to get accurate information on the incidents.
Dameri stressed that the state of Palestine "has signed all international laws and conventions that ban human rights abuses and torture and is committed to enforcing them."