Region | Palestinian Territories
Rights lawyers barred from visiting Palestinians detained by Hamas - group
A Palestinian rights group says Hamas is barring human rights lawyers from visiting dozens of Palestinians arrested as part of the Islamist group's crackdown on rival factions in the Gaza Strip.
- Agencies
- Published: 15:14 August 7, 2008
Gaza: A Palestinian rights group says Hamas is barring human rights lawyers from visiting dozens of Palestinians arrested as part of the Islamist group's crackdown on rival factions in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas began the arrests a July 25 bombing that killed five of its members and a girl, which the group blames on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.
The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) on Wednesday described the detentions as illegal and said some of the arrests had been carried out by Hamas's armed wing without warrants.
The director of the PCHR said his lawyers were not allowed to visit any of the detainess.
Hamas responded on Thursday saying the report was "unfair and unbalanced" as it did not consider campaign led by Abbas's forces in the West Bank at the same time.
The PCHR said Hamas was abusing and torturing some detainees.
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