Palestinian Justice

"His legs and face were bruised, his hands and arms had rope marks, and his chest had burn marks.  He was in very bad shape".  He would have been, having been tortured by Hamas.  This was his mother's description of the state her son was in when he appeared in police custody in Gaza, on trial for collaborating with Israel.

At least there was a trial, even if a show trial.  Usually there is just an assassination, a summary execution.  Anyone suspected of having plotted against the Palestinian Authority or the Hamas-led government in Gaza is ripe for murder.  In this case, the young man, Abdel Karim Shreir, was abducted, tortured, ostensibly confessed, and was placed on trial.

This is justice, Palestinian-style.  His mother explained that he was executed by firing squad three years after his disappearance and torture, followed by the trial that found him guilty as charged.  Of course, under torture, in an attempt to put a halt to the agony, people are known to confess to remorselessly plotting to murder God.

Hamas buried him before she could see her son.  She still awaits the death certificate, she says.  And when she complained to Hamas authorities, she was beaten for her troubles.  Her son, she insists, confessed because he was being tortured.  He did not collaborate with Israel, but attempted to bring the torture to an end.  In that he succeeded.

"He was killed because he was a member of Fatah", she said further.  "I want justice for my son."  Justice?  She doesn't recognize Hamas's version of justice?  This is a political Islamist group that celebrates its democratic election to power.  Which it shared with Fatah until it decided to take over Gaza, and in the process butchered any Fatah members who were unable to escape their notice.

This woman's son simply represented another one, that they had obviously missed, first time around.  Anyone Hamas wants to expunge from their view simply has to be accused of spying for the Zionist entity and their death warrant is sealed.  But then, as a democratic society, justice must be seen to be done.  Consider it done.

This is one story among many.  Described, along with others in a new report just issued by Human rights Watch looking into the justice system as practised by Hamas.  "Human Rights Watch found that the authorities in Gaza have a broken justice system.  They are putting people in prison without warrants, denying people access to their lawyers while in detention.

"Cases of abuse in detention are not being investigated and some people have been executed on the basis of confession that were extracted under torture", read the report.  The report's author, Bill Van Esveld speaks of over one hundred Palestinians claiming to have been tortured in 2011; the dead, however, remain silent as is their wont.

Human Rights Watch is now demanding that Hamas, the fearless terrorist group whose mandate is the destruction of Israel - to drive the Jews to the sea and free the Middle East of their presence - make widespread reforms. 

One can imagine just how anxious Hamas must be to please Human Rights Watch.