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Samir Kassir Foundation, Aref Saghieh Bldg.( Ground Floor), 63,
Zahrani St., Sioufi, Achrafieh, Beirut, LebanonTel /Fax: 00961 1
397334, Mobile: 00961 3 372717, E-Mail Address:
[email protected]
Beirut, July 23, 2010
Press ReleaseHamass Security summons the novelist Atef Abu Seif,
detains him and
severely assaults him
Gaza - A SKeyes Special Report
On Wednesday, July 21, 2010, the writer and novelist Atef Abu
Seif was severely beaten
on his back, chest and neck, by a member of the Internal
Security service affiliated with
the dismissed government of Hamas in Gaza, who used his fists.
As a result, Abu Seif
suffered sharp pains and bruises and contusions, and was
detained for several hours in a
cell (which was a small dirty toilet).
The security service had sent a summons to his familys house in
the Jabalya camp onTuesday, July 20. Abu Seif hence came on
Wednesday morning to the servicesheadquarters, as he has become
accustomed to do in recent years.However, upon arriving,
he was suddenly blindfolded at the headquarters gates. He was
then taken inside, and
placed temporarily in a cell for half an hour. He was then taken
to the backyard, and was
ordered to stand in line with other detainees, while each of
them was ordered to place his
hands on the shoulders of the one in front. They were each
assigned a number to be called
with instead of their names. A security officer assaulted the
detainee standing behind Abu
Seif, and ordered the latter to deliberately laugh at him. At
that point, Abu seif refused
this and said, That is not what my ethics tell me, or the ethics
of any Muslim. He was
then attacked by the officer and severely beaten all over his
body, especially his back,
chest and neck, causing him sharp pains and bruises and
contusions. The writer, who was
interviewed by SKeyess correspondent, continues to suffer sharp
pain, and cannot
properly sit even at present.
After he was assaulted, he was subsequently placed in a holding
cell (a small 3x1 meter
dirty toilet with a sanitary hole in the ground covered with a
piece of cloth). He was given
two loafs of bread and a piece of yellow cheese at four oclock.
He was kept alone until
nine oclock at night, when they opened the cell and handed him a
new notice to present
himself on the morning of Thursday and to bring four passport
pictures, and then released
him without interrogating him.
On Thursday morning, Abu Seif returned to the headquarters. Upon
entering, he was not
blindfolded, but was instead taken directly to the toilet cell
where they blindfolded him
before detaining him there. An hour later, two more detainees
were placed in his cell. He
remained there from eight oclock in the morning until eleven. He
was then released and
given a new notice to come on Monday at eleven oclock.
It should be mentioned here that this is not the first time that
Dr. Atef Abu Seif has been
summoned, the novelist and political commentator who publishes a
column each Monday
in Al-Ayyam. He was previously detained several times in the
course of four years in
which he was badly treated. Nevertheless, this was the first
time that he was physically
8/9/2019 Hamas's Security Summons the Novelist Atef Abu Seif
23-7-2010 1
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Samir Kassir Foundation, Aref Saghieh Bldg.( Ground Floor), 63,
Zahrani St., Sioufi, Achrafieh, Beirut, LebanonTel /Fax: 00961 1
397334, Mobile: 00961 3 372717, E-Mail Address:
[email protected]
assaulted. He was also previously banned from travelling after
his name was placed on
the list of individuals prohibited from travelling. On the first
of July, the Internal Security
Service delivered a summons to his familys home, ordering him to
go to the services
headquarters, and to bring his passport with him. Abu Seif
complied and handed theservice his passport, along with others who
were summoned and did the same. This took
place on the pretext that there is a political decision ordering
this. To date, his passport
remains in the Internal Security services possession.
The SKeyes Centre for Media and Cultural Freedom strongly
denounces the detention of
writers and journalists in this way, deplores any physical
assault against them, their
repeated summonses without any legal prerogative, and their
detention in inhumane
conditions. SKeyes also condemns withholding their passports,
and calls on the political
officials in the Gaza Strip to investigate these violations,
reveal their circumstances and
order the security officials to put an end to these practices
and abuses immediately. What
has happened and what continues to happen in this context is
unacceptable under any
circumstances, and it first and foremost damages Hamass
reputation and image to thepublic, both locally and
internationally.
