Arab Organization for Human Rights in UK on Friday revealed that the Palestinian prisoner Asaad al-Tawil detained by the Palestinian intelligence in Jericho was lately transferred to the Jericho government hospital after being severely tortured.
The Organization said that Tawil was admitted to the hospital under a false name noting that Asaad who is currently on hunger strike is going through a critical health condition.
In a statement on Friday the Organization condemned the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) policies of arbitrary arrest and torture targeting Palestinian youths.
The Organization held the PA president Mahmoud Abbas responsible for the worsening health condition of Tawil and demanded his immediate release. It also called for dismissing the head of the PA intelligence apparatus who issues the torture orders.
It asked the International Criminal Court to expedite the investigation in the complaint filed by the Organization on the torture cases documented in the PA detention centers starting from 14th June 2014.
The 22-year-old Tawil who is a student at al-Najah National University had received a phone call from the general intelligence service in Qalqilya ordering him to appear at its headquarters on 8th September.
Tawil was detained without a prior notice. On the next day he was transferred to the general intelligence detention center in Jericho without a charge or a trial and there he started an open hunger strike.
Tawil’s family said that neither they nor his lawyer has been able to see him adding that they are not even allowed to bring him clothes and other personal items.
The Organization’s statement mentioned that Tawil was previously detained in March 2016 by the general intelligence service in Nablus for 17 days of humiliating torture on the basis of his student union activism at the university.
