Report: Abbas' Palestinian Forces Torturing Suspected Militants

Report: Abbas' Palestinian Forces Torturing Suspected Militants

HEBRON, West Bank -- Forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Western-backed Palestinian president, are rounding up suspected Islamist activists and allegations of torture and abuse of legal procedure are mounting sharply.

"They shouted 'You're Hamas! Tell us what you're up to!' as they were hitting me," one man recounted to Reuters of an ordeal last month in a Palestinian prison in Hebron. He spoke, too, of being forced to hang or stand for hours in "stress positions."

The 25-year-old factory worker, among many to have spent time in Israeli jails on suspicion of militancy for the Islamist movement, was too afraid of the security forces to be named.

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