At approximately 9:00 pm on Sunday 4 January 2015, the Internal Security Apparatus in Gaza arrested at least 16 members and leaders of Fateh Movement in the east and west of Gaza City.
They were detained at the apparatus office in Al Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, the detainees were subject to interrogation about their political opinions, their political activities, and how they communicate with their colleagues in the West Bank.
Some of the detainees were subject to searches and were forced to take their most of their clothes off in cold weather for about two hours.
They were released at 00:30 am on Monday 5 January 2015; expect Mohammed Abu Nahel, who was released at 7:00 am on the same day.
Al Mezan has identified some of the detainees as: Nehro Al Hadad, Ziyad Mattar, Waseem Obeid, Mohammed Al Temrasi, Ahmed Al Hwettei, Hamdan Al Amassi, Lutuf Mahani, Iyad Helles, Raed Ayyad, Naif Khueiter, Sa,adi Al Zaeigh, Mohammed Al Wheedi, Redwan Al Shantaf, and Iyad Ramadan.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns these politically-motivated arrests, which gravely violate the Palestinian Basic Law as well human rights standards.
Al Mezan asserts that the inhumane treatment of the detainees violates the International Declaration of Human Rights and the articles 7 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Al Mezan views the political arrests as part of the ongoing Palestinian internal political split.
Al Mezan asserts that the Palestinian internal political split is the main reason behind human rights violations, particularly political arrests, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Al Mezan calls on the concerned authorities to investigate the aforementioned violations, to bring perpetrators to justice, and to take the necessary procedures to ensure non repetition of such violations.
Al Mezan calls on Fateh and Hamas Movements and other Palestinian political factions to work seriously towards ending the Palestinian political split, which causes deterioration in the human rights situations in the occupied Palestinian territory and undermines Palestinian efforts to end the occupation and secure the rights of the Palestinian people.
Ends