Palestinian authorities launched a “vicious crackdown” on peaceful demonstrators this week, including the arbitrary detention and torture of an Amnesty International staff member, the rights group has said.
Laith Abu Zeyad had been monitoring a rare rally in the West Bank demanding that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, ease punitive economic measures in Gaza, the isolated enclave run by his political rival, Hamas.
Security forces fired stun grenades and teargas on Wednesday at the crowds of hundreds which amassed in the city of Ramallah in defiance of a protest ban announced by Abbas’s ruling Palestinian Authority (PA).
Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and north Africa research and advocacy director said the PA “revealed a dark underbelly of violence and dysfunction” when its security forces “launched a vicious crackdown on peaceful protesters demonstrating against sanctions on Gaza”.
He said security officers, many plainclothed, assaulted and arrested dozens of demonstrators and bystanders and beat them while they were in custody.
“Laith Abu Zayed spent several hours in police custody where he was severely beaten. Upon his release, he recalled seeing 18 other fellow detainees receive the same treatment,” said Luther, who called for an independent investigation.
“The state of Palestine is a party to the main international human rights treaties, so the authorities have obligations under international law to uphold human rights,” he said, calling for countries to “urgently review security cooperation and assistance to the Palestinian security forces to ensure they are not facilitating human rights violations”.
The coastal strip of Gaza, cut off from the West Bank, has suffered a decade-long Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has severely limited the movement of goods and people and which the United Nations calls collective punishment.
Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas’s forces in what was nearly a civil war in 2007, and the president has during the past year imposed sanctions on the strip, including not paying full salaries for more than 60,000 civil servants and temporarily cutting off payments for electricity.
The protesters say these measures compound the disastrous effects of the blockade for Gaza’s 2 million residents, vast numbers of whom are unable to leave.
Abbas, 83 and in power since 2005, has been widely accused by Palestinians of authoritarianism and polls show a majority want him to resign. As president, he has power in parts of the West Bank, which remains under Israeli military occupation.
After protests began on Sunday night, the PA’s official news agency, Wafa, announced a ban on planned rallies for Wednesday, saying it would disturb citizens during the holy month of Ramadan.
However, on Wednesday night protesters returned and were dispersed by security forces. The demonstrators say they are not aligned with Hamas or any political faction but want to end years of political infighting and alleviate suffering in Gaza.
The Guardian has contacted the Palestinian Authority for comment.