CAIRO – The CIA is cooperating with Palestinian security agents to torture Hamas activists and sympathizers in the West Bank prisons, the Guardian reported.
"There is a connection, but there is no supervision by the Americans," Palestinian Authority’s interior minister Sa'id Abu-Ali said.
"It is solely a Palestinian affair. But the Americans help us."
CIA agents were reportedly working closely with Palestinian security forces to torture Hamas sympathizers in the West Bank prisons.
The Guardian named the Preventive Security Organization (PSO) and General Intelligence Service (GI) as the two Palestinian agencies working closely with the CIA.
"The [Central Intelligence] Agency consider them as their property, those two Palestinian services," a senior Western diplomat said.
The CIA links to the two Palestinian agencies are so close to be seen as supervising their work.
A diplomatic source said the US influence over the two agencies was so great they could be considered "an advanced arm of the war on terror".
Between 400 and 500 Hamas sympathisers are held by the PSO and GI, according to Palestinian officials.
International human rights groups have accused Palestinian security forces of abusing and torturing Hamas detainees in the West Bank.
They say the detainees were severely beaten and tortured in the Palestinian Authority prisons, citing a torture technique known as shabeh, during which detainees are shackled and forced to assume painful positions for long periods.
Among the techniques are also sleep deprivation and cramming the detainees into small cells to prevent rest.
Hamas detainees are also being tried before military justice, under which they are held without charges for six months before being brought to court.
Three Hamas sympathizers have died in the custody of the Palestinian Authority.
Haitham Amr, a 33-year-old nurse and Hamas supporter, died in the Palestinian Authority custody, four days after his detention.
Extensive bruising around his kidneys suggested he had been beaten to death.
US Hand
Human rights groups blame the US administration for the mistreatment of Hamas detainees in the West Bank prisons.
"The Americans could stop it any time,” Shawan Jabarin, general director of Palestinian rights watchdog al-Haq, told the Guardian.
“All they would have to do is go to [prime minister] Salam Fayyad and tell him they were making it an issue.. Then they could deal with the specifics.
“They could tell him that detainees needed to be brought promptly before the courts."
The CIA does not deny working with Palestinian security forces, but denies turning a blind eye to abuses of Hamas detainees.
But a diplomat in the region insists that CIA agents were “at the very least” aware of the torture of Hamas detainees and did not do enough to stop it.
"There are a number of questions for the US administration: what is their objective, what are their rules of engagement?
“Do they train the GI and PSO according to the manual which was established by the previous administration, including water-boarding? Are they in control, or are they just witnessing?"
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