2022-03-01

Gaza

Gaza / Announcement / Core Program / position paper

His excellency, the esteemed General Nasser Musleh, Minister of Interior in Gaza

His Excellency, the esteemed Dr. Mohammad Al-Nahal, the Public Prosecutor in Gaza,

Subject: A demand for investigating the conditions and circumstances of the death of the detainee Fadi Abbasi and holding his torturers and the violators of his right to psychological and physical integrity and fair trial guarantees accountable

The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the judiciary and Legal Profession “MUSAWA” expresses its greetings, and informs its receipt of a written complaint from the citizen Darwish Hamada Al-Abbasi from Khan Younis, who is married and working as a worker, stating that his 18-year-old son, Fadi, who was suspected of having had stolen smoking cigarettes from a booth, and was arrested in the Western Prison in Khan Yunis since December 2021 based on this suspicion, died during his detention in Asdaa prison, and that according to the complaint he was never left to appear before the court and his detention was extended one time after another by the Public Prosecution without his presence before the court and without a lawyer, and that since his detention and until his death no indictment was issued against him, and the complaint indicated that Fadi suffered from epilepsy, and that his mother used to visit him while in Asdaa’ Prison every Tuesday and used to tell his father after each visit that he is exposed to beating and torture by one of the officers working in the prison, following a dispute between him and another inmate. The aforementioned officer intervened to separate them, and while breaking up the quarrel, Fadi’s shoulder touched the chest of the officer who got enraged and beat and cursed Fadi. Since then, the officer has been constantly beating and ghosting Fadi during his shifts in prison. In his complaint, which was appended by his signature and included his acknowledgment of taking full responsibility if proven wrong in his complaint, the complainer added that his son had hurt himself with the room’s window glass where he was being held two weeks before the announcement of his death. He was also denied visits since then which forced him inform his prisoners that he would hang himself. Instead of the prison’s administration immediate intervention to provide psychological and physical care to the detainee, taking his threats seriously and ensuring his communication with his family, his detention continued without the slightest concern for his legal and health rights, and without appointing a lawyer to defend him, including enabling him to go to the judiciary to demand his release and speedy dismissal of what was attributed to him which would constitute a minor misdemeanor if proven.

We, at the Palestinian Center for the Independence of Judiciary and Legal Profession “MUSAWA”, believe that the contents of the complaint if the facts were proven true, constitutes a grave violation to the rights of the detainee and a deprivation of his right to defense, and being detained in a place inappropriate for his age, in addition to the failure of provide him with treatment and having been denied his parents’ visits and having been exposed to beating by a police officer who continued torturing him without stopping or being held accountable, which made his death surrounded by circumstances suggesting a suspicion of a violation of his physical and psychological integrity, and a violation of his right to access justice and fair trial guarantees, which in turn requires an impartial and transparent investigation into the circumstances of his death and the accountability of those responsible for violating his rights in physical and psychological  integrity including holding the officer who beat and ghosted him several times accountable, announcing the results of the investigation, and taking administrative, criminal and civil accountability measures as per the rules and law, looking forward to being provided with the results of the investigation and the measures taken regarding the perpetrators of those violations.

With respect,  

MUSAWA

Issued on 1.03.2022