2018-08-05

Gaza

Human Rights Defenders / position paper

His Excellency attorney general

Advisor Diaa Al-Deen Al-Madhoun/ Gaza

Subject: Personal relations as a barrier to accepting civilians’ complaints at police stations

MUSAWA – The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession extends their warmest greetings to you, noting that we received a written complaint from the citizen Suad Mahmoud Qasem from Beit-Hanoun to the north of Gaza. The complainant states that her son was shot, threatened, and humiliated by the defendant who is called Imad Ibrahim Al-Kafarneh who was released right after ending 2/3 of his imprisonment penalty for what is regulated on his good reputation and his decent behavior while serving his sentence. However, he attacked the complainant’s son, threatened, and humiliated him again, which led the complainant to file a new complaint at Beit-Hanoun’s police station.

The complaint also added that Beit- Hanoun’s police station rejected her new complaint against the defendant, claiming that the reason behind rejecting her complaint is the kinship between the defendant and the intelligence service’s deputy director, officer ……………, noting that despite her assertion of her right to file the complaint; to ensure the safety of her son and to save him from similar attacks, the police station did not pay her complaint any kind of attention and refused receiving the complaint or even following up with it duly.

As an independent non-governmental watchdog organization, MUSAWA believes that the contents of the complaint, if true, constitute a violation and a serious infringement of the complainant’s right to access to courts, and a violation of the civil service’s duties, which require the police officers to receive all civilians’ complaints without discrimination, to take the legal action about them without any delay or inaction, and to refer them to the specialized bodies “The Public Prosecution Service” in order to ensure everyone who violates law or human rights regardless of their name or their position held accountable.

Monitoring and accountability must include administrative corruption, access to law obstruction and the degree of adherence to the constitutional behavior’s neutral policies that control the law enforcement’s performance, as well as all other bodies that are responsible for law enforcement as a guaranteed mean to maintain the society’s safety and security.

In light of what has been pointed out, we urge you to pay attention to our memo and to take the necessary legal action in this regard; hoping your Excellency to keep us updated on the taken action its outcomes.

With all due respect

Issued on 5/8/2018  

MUSAWA