Zakariya Zubeidi, the former commander of Fatah’s armed wing in Jenin, al-Aksa
Martyrs Brigades, said Wednesday he had been tortured while being held in a
Palestinian Authority prison in Jericho.
Zubeidi, who was released
earlier this week after being held for five months, said Palestinian
interrogators accused him of “collaboration” with Israel and killing Israeli
Arab filmmaker Juliano Mar-Khamis, who was shot to death in Jenin last
year.
Zubeidi made the allegations during a press conference he held in
Jenin refugee camp hours after his release from prison.
He said that he
was held in a cell “that is not good for human use, where I was tortured in
violation of international laws.”
Zubeidi accused the Palestinian
security forces of “illegal abduction,” adding that he was held in prison
although he had denied all the charges against him.
The interrogators
also accused him of shooting at the home of former Jenin governor Kadoura Musa
two months ago. Musa, who was not hurt, later died of a fatal heart
attack.
The death of the former governor prompted the PA leadership to
order a massive crackdown on unruly Fatah gunmen and security officers in
Jenin.
Zubeidi was among more than 100 Palestinians who were arrested by
PA security forces during the clampdown.
He said that his interrogation
focused mainly on his activities during the second intifada.
According to
Zubeidi, he was also suspected of involvement in last month’s assassination of
Hisham al-Rukh, deputy head of the PA’s Preventive Security Service in Jenin,
although he was in prison during the killing.
The PA interrogators also
questioned Zubeidi about the assassination in Syria a few years ago of Imad
Mughniyeh, a top Hizbullah operative, who was killed in a mysterious car blast.