Abu Shmala calls for release of Fatah followers

 MP Majid Shmala, the leader of the Fatah movement in Gaza, and a member of the Legislative Council, considers that the arrest of people from the Gaza Strip in Ramallah by officers and security agents is a “serious violation of the law”. In a statement received by ArabsToday, Abu Shmala called for detainees to file complaints with human rights centres and the Legislative Council. He addressed the Fatah followers in the West Bank, asking why there was a continued silence on what he called “serial violations of the freedom of Fatah followers from Gaza who are in the West Bank.” Abu Shmala called on the President to stop “all these abuses and attacks on the law and on personal freedoms and human rights committed against the people from Gaza in the West Bank by people affiliated with the institutions of the Palestinian National Authority.” Talking about the legal aspect of the arrests, Abu Shmala added in his statement that basic Palestinian Law contains a number of constitutional provisions that guarantee rights and public freedoms. He stated “Article 11 of Palestinian Law provides for the inadmissibility of the arrest of anyone, their detention, restriction of their freedom, or their prevention from free movement, except by judicial order in accordance with the law which defines the extended pre-trial detention and the organization of prisons.” He pointed out that the phenomenon of arbitrary detention is one of the most serious violations of the freedom of the individual, whether civilian or military, which constitutes a violation of the provisions of the basic service law of the security forces, which defines the penalties imposed on members of the security forces when they commit offenses or crimes. Abu Shmala’s statement comes after a previous statement by a member of the Revolutionary Council of Fatah, Sufian Abu Zaida, calling on President Abbas to issue orders to military intelligence for the immediate release of the Fatah followers who were arrested yesterday and the day before yesterday “without any justification”. Abu Zaida said in a press statement on Saturday, “It is both unfortunate and shameful that Fatah followers have been detained in the prisons of the Authority, and that the security services only arrested them because they are from Gaza, and did so without justification, lacking law and ethics.” He added: “It is unreasonable to search for dignity and rights in the corridors of the United Nations  at a time when the dignity of our followers is trampled upon, and their rights are attacked in Ramallah, and in Palestinian and Fatah hands.” A website close to Mohammad Dahlan, the leader of the faction of Fatah, has accused the Palestinian security forces in the West bank of arresting dozens of Fatah followers there over the past two days before the Dahlan’s arrival in Ramallah.