PA arrests representative of the Islamic Bloc at Birzeit University

Informed sources have confirmed that the Palestinian Authority’s security forces in Ramallah arrested the representative of the Islamic Bloc at Birzeit University Jihad Salim on Saturday as he was leaving campus.

In addition to arresting Salim, the security forces also raided the home of Mosab Zaloom, a member of the Islamic Bloc, in Ramallah but did not arrest him.

The Islamic bloc at Birzeit University called on local human rights organisations and the university administration to interfere and put an end to the arrest of its representatives in the elections committee.

The bloc added in a press statement: “The arrest of Salim was an immediate response by the PA security forces to the bloc’s call on all the university’s student blocs to join the proportional representation council that the Islamic bloc would be forming given the fact that it won the majority vote to form an individual student council.”

They also stressed that “all of the persecution and arrests will only make the bloc stronger and will drive the students to rally with it. No force will be able to eliminate the Islamic bloc by means of repression, arrest and persecution.”

Hamas spokesperson Dr Sami Abu Zuhri condemned the “kidnapping” of the Birzeit student Jihad Salim and called for his immediate release. The movement considered his kidnapping proof of Fatah’s violations of student rights and their lack of respect for the election results.

The Islamic bloc at Birzeit University won the 2015-2016 student union elections on Wednesday against the Fatah-affiliated Martyr Yasser Arafat Bloc with a difference of 905 votes, which is equivalent to seven seats.