NOVANEWS
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the attack carried out by members of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas) against a judge and his family in ‘Abassan village, east of Khan Yunis. The attackers beat and insulted the judge, in addition to treating him cruelly and inhumanely at the Palestinian police station. PCHR calls upon the Attorney General in Gaza to open an investigation into the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.
In his statement to PCHR, Judge Yousef Khalil Abu Latifa (65) said that at approximately 10:00 on Wednesday, 25 July 2012, he cut down some trees that he had previously planted in front of his house as some armed men used to sit under the trees, which disturbed the residents of the house. Approximately one hour later, about 10 armed men from the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades came to his house and started beating him with gun butts and tree branches. Abu Latifa added that these armed men accused him of collaborating with the Israeli occupation, because he was cutting down the trees. They also attacked his family members, including his wife Randa ‘Atiya Abu Latifa (43), who suffers from health problems and recently had surgery.
Abu Latifa said that when he tried to prevent the gunmen from attacking his sick wife, one of them pushed him violently, and, as a result, he fell onto the road, felt severe pains in his chest and fainted. When he regained consciousness, his nephew and he were in a police car transporting them to al-Sharqiya police station, where they were detained in a cell. Someone at the police station told them that they would be detained for 24 hours.
After the police identified him as a judge in the Court of Appeal, someone ordered that he be isolated from his nephew, so they were placed in separate cells. Although Abu Latifa had told them about his bad health conditions and that he needed medical examination, they ignored his request and detained him with other criminal prisoners until late that afternoon. He was then transferred to the MilitaryHospital in ‘Abassan, where he underwent medical examination. The doctor there recommended that Abu Latifa be examined by an orthopedic doctor, but the officals returned him to the prison instead.
At 18:00, a number of political leaders in the area, including 2 of those who attacked him, came and took him from the prison to the police station’s yard. They requested that Abu Latifa end the issue. The prison’s director arrived and had Abu Latifa sign a paper whose content was not known to him. After Abu Latifa was released, he and 14 of his family members who were attacked, 8 of whom had medical reports showing that they were beaten, headed to the police station, where they were asked to sign similar papers.
PCHR strongly condemns this attack against Judge Abu Latifa and his family, and:
1. Calls upon the Attorney General to open a serious investigation into the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice;
2. Stresses that the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades is neither a police force nor a judicial one. In addition, al-Qassam Brigades’ members do not have a right or an authorization to treat civilians in the manner they treated the judge, and any measures taken like this are illegal; and
3. Calls for an investigation into the improper behavior of policemen against Judge Abu Latifa, including the policemen who arrested him and detained him under humiliating and degrading conditions at the police station even though they knew he was a judge.
