wojo!!!!
23.09.02, 07:39
Torturowany Palestynczyk opowiada o koszmarze u Arafata :
Sep. 23, 2002
Tirawi victim tells of torture
By THE JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Palestinian accused of collaboration who managed to flee from Hebron last
week has accused Palestinian Authority General Intelligence chief Tawfik
Tirawi's men of torturing him and many others suspected of working
as "informers" for the Shin Bet.
The man, 32, is now hiding in an apartment in Jerusalem that was provided by
the Defense Ministry. He is sharing the apartment together with two others
who also managed to escape from Tirawi's prisons.
Tirawi is one of 20 wanted Palestinians who are reportedly hiding in PA
Chairman Yasser Arafat's Mukata headquarters compound in Ramallah.
The man said Tirawi's men had brutally tortured him since his arrest about
18 months ago. He said he was released only after a relative paid a top
General Intelligence official $10,000.
"I was summoned to the General Intelligence offices near Hebron for a
routine interview," he said. "I had a big appliance shop in one of the towns
in the Hebron area. "One day there was a big explosion that destroyed the
shop. I lost all my money.
"I thought they were going to tell me that they had discovered who was
behind the gutting of my shop. When I arrived, I was surprised to hear that
I was being accused of being a spy for Israel."
He said that for the first month, he was tortured almost daily inside his
small cell. "They beat me with telephone cables all over my body. For many
days my head was covered with a stinking bag. They would also tie me to the
ceiling by my arms. On other occasions, they made me stand for several hours
on a small cup."
He said his interrogators threatened several times to shoot him if he did
not confess. Last April, he added, his interrogators informed him that a
decision had been taken "on the highest levels" to kill him.
He was blindfolded, handcuffed, and asked for his final words. He was then
taken into the back yard. There, the cover was removed from his eyes, and he
saw a firing squad of five masked, uniformed policemen.
"They tied me to an electricity poll and pretended that I was about to be
executed," he said. "I shouted out that I'm innocent and that Islam does not
permit killing innocent people, but they only looked at me with smiles. Then
the policemen aimed their rifles at me and waited for the order.
Seconds later one of the officers shouted: 'Fire.' I could hear them pulling
the triggers, but I didn't feel the pain.
"For a moment, I didn't know if I was alive or dead. I heard shots, but
there was no pain or blood. I quickly realized that it was a mock execution.
It was the worst experience in my life.
For a while, I thought I was dead. Only when I heard them laughing did I
understand that they were just trying to intimidate me.
"They agreed to release me for health reasons; that's what they wrote in the
papers they gave me. If it wasn't for the bribe, I would have been dead by
now."
He said that while in prison he met many detainees who were also suspected
of helping Israel. "Tirawi's people specialize in arresting Palestinians who
are accused of being collaborators. The prisons are full of people like me.
Many were released when the IDF entered the Palestinian cities. But others
are still being held in secret locations. In the prison where I was, there
were more than 25 people, all accused of collaboration with Israel."
He said some were very sick and required immediate medical attention. Those
whose families could afford to pay the bribes were released after a short
while.
"I have no sympathy for Tirawi or any of his men, and I hope Israel will put
him in prison," he said, while refusing to confirm or deny any connection to
Israel. "When I see what's happening to Tirawi today, I say to myself, thank
God he's finally paying the price for what his men did to me."
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