The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah has arrested 21 Palestinians in the first ten days of Ramadan due to their political views and charitable activities, Arab48.com has reported.
The families of those and others arrested by the PA have revealed that dozens more were summoned for investigations over their political views, social media posts or involvement in charitable activities outside the scope of Fatah’s umbrella.
One of the Palestinians arrested is Fadel Jabarin, the manager of an orphanage run by the Islamic Society. He has been on hunger strike for five days, protesting against his “illegal” detention. He says that he was arrested by the PA security services for distributing food parcels to orphans without the involvement of, or coordination with, Fatah.
Euro-Mediterranean Monitor for Human Rights condemned the PA’s use of the state of emergency imposed in the light of the coronavirus outbreak to justify arbitrary detentions. “Such detentions are flagrant violations of the international human rights conventions signed by the PA, as well as violations of the local PA laws,” it insisted.