NICOSIA - The Palestinian Minister of Justice, Mr Freih Abu Middein, has taken an unprecedented hard line against officials and intelligence agents responsible for the death by torture on February 1st of Mr Yousef al Baba, the 11th Palestinian to die in police custody since the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994, writes Michael Jansen.
Speaking on Palestinian television, Mr Abu Middein said that the dead man had been arrested without a warrant for questioning on criminal, not security, matters and confirmed that he had been the victim of "brutal violence
He pledged to draft new regulations which would prohibit arrests without warrants from the prosecutor general. Such regulations could curb the excesses of the 10 competing and out of control security services established by and answerable to the Palestine Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, who has been under increasing pressure from the Legislative Council and human rights organisations to regulate their activities.
At least 1,600 Palestinians have been imprisoned by the Authority, 700 of them held without charge. Two leading figures in Nablus, the chief of military intelligence and the deputy governor, were among six people detained this week for questioning in the case, which, according to a Palestinian source, is being taken more seriously than earlier deaths in detention.