Hamas Leader, Shaikh Majd Al-Barghouthi, Tortured to Death by PA Intelligence, With Israeli Coordination

Mansi: The murder of Barghouthi result of PA-Israeli security coordination

[ 24/02/2008 - 11:40 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Dr. Yousef Al-Mansi, the justice minister in the PA caretaker government, strongly denounced on Saturday the PA intelligence apparatus in Ramallah for torturing to death Shaikh Majd Al-Barghouthi, a local Hamas leader, in its jails, considering his murder as a result of the PA-Israeli security coordination.

In a press release received by the PIC, Dr. Mansi underlined that this heinous crime committed by the PA security apparatuses in the West Bank which are contrary to all human values is a serious indication that the lives of more than thousand kidnapped citizens inside its jails are in jeopardy.

The minister called on PA chief Mahmoud Abbas to bring those responsible for the killing of Shaikh Barghouthi atop of them Tawfiq Al-Tirawi, the intelligence chief, to trial before the Palestinian people prosecute them sooner or later.

He also called on the PA chief to order the immediate release of all abductees in his security apparatuses' jails in the West Bank and to stop his security coordination and frivolous negotiations with the Israeli occupation, which harm the higher national interest of the Palestinian people.

In the same context, the Hamas Movement organized two massive rallies in Gaza and Rafah in condemnation of the crime of killing Sheikh Barghouthi during which the protesters chanted slogans deploring the crimes of Abbas's militia in the West Bank against Hamas supporters and cadres.

In a speech delivered before the furious crowds, MP Mushir Al-Masri, the secretary-general of the Hamas parliamentary bloc, held the PA chief, his illegitimate premier and his intelligence chief fully responsible for the murder of Sheikh Barghouthi.

Masri underlined that it is the time for Abbas to take off the "Zio-American dress" and be a leader of all Palestinian people, not just a chief of a "bunch of traitors", calling on Salam Fayyad to leave Palestine because he was imported from the World Bank and derived his legitimacy from the US and the Israeli occupation.

For it part, the Hamas Movement highlighted in a statement issued in the West Bank that the death of Sheikh Barghouthi opened all the files of past crimes committed against Hamas cadres such as the killing of Radad and Al-Taher at the hands of the PA security apparatuses, adding that the mentality of killing and execution became the most prominent attempt to break the will of Hamas.

In a statement received by the PIC, Hamas considered Abbas's hastening to announce the formation of a committee to investigate the death of Sheikh Barghouthi an attempt to "pull the wool over the eyes" and to absorb the natural angry reactions.

For its part, the Palestinian scholars league stated that the murder of Sheikh Barghouthi is a continuation of the PA approach which targets preachers, scholars and Imams of mosques, recalling the massacre committed by the PA security apparatuses in the Hedaya mosque in Gaza and the murder of Shaikh Mohamed Al-Rafati.

The league held the PA chief fully responsible for this crime and every crime committed by his security apparatuses, considering Fayyad, Al-Yahya, and Tirawi the tools of executing those crimes under direct supervision of Dayton.

Dhameer: Barghouthi died under torture in Abbas's jails

[ 24/02/2008 - 06:24 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

The Dhameer (conscience) foundation for human rights has asserted on Saturday that Sheikh Majd Al-Barghouthi perished under torture in the PA intelligence jail in Ramallah city.

Last week, Barghouthi, 47, was arrested by the PA intelligence apparatus under the command of Tawfik Al-Tairawi. He was known as one of the social reformists in the city.

According to an investigation carried out by the foundation, Barghouthi arrived to the city's Khaled hospital lifeless body, quoting doctors as asserting that the victim was brought to the hospital by the PA intelligence elements three days before he died, and that they strongly recommended retaining him in hospital due to his critical health condition, but the PA security elements forcibly brought him back to the jail.

The doctors also acknowledged that body of Barghouthi bore signs of torture when he was first admitted into the hospital.

The Dhameer asserted that an autopsy will be carried out on the body of Barghouthi to know the real reasons behind his death, adding that all those involved in his death should be held accountable.

The PLC, which is the highest legislative body in the PA, condemned the killing of Barghouthi, adding that torture in the PA jails in the West Bank was rampant and that it must stop once and for all.

The council also called on PA chief Mahmoud Abbas to immediately relief Tirawi of his position "for being directly responsible for Barghouthi's death".

In a statement it issued and a copy of which obtained by the PIC, the PA legislature asserted its opposition to torture and political arrests in the West Bank at the hands of the PA security apparatuses under Abbas.

Factional cleansing: For his part, Fawzi Barhoum, the spokesman of Hamas Movement in Gaza Strip, accused the PA leadership in Ramallah city of practicing "factional and partisan cleansing" in the West Bank against Hamas Movement.

"Hamas Movement affirms that the practices of the PA security forces against its political leaders, cadres, and charitable societies in the West Bank come in the framework of a concocted factional cleansing against the Movement in favor of the Israeli policies and at the expense of the Palestinian national unity and harmony", underlined Barhoum in a press statement he issued in Gaza and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC.

He also urged human rights and legal organizations to pressure Abbas into halting political arrests and torture sessions in the West Bank's PA prisons, calling on Arab states that train and equip those forces to review their policies of supporting "this criminal trend", and to stop financing them.

Palestinian MP Younis Al-Astal of the Hamas-affiliated reform and change parliament bloc stressed that "the time when the West Bank revolts against its executioners will come soon and it will dump them into the garbage of history similar to their fate in Gaza Strip".

He also called on the Palestinian resistance factions to intensify their retaliatory attacks against the Israeli occupation being directly responsible for the death of Barghouthi.

He also invited media outlets to expose the illegal practices of the PA security elements in the West Bank.

The PA security forces in the West Bank under the command of Abbas were publicly coordinating security matters in the West Bank and changing roles with the IOF troops in arresting Hamas's cadres and supporters.

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