Sep. 23, 2002
Tirawi victim tells of torture

A Palestinian accused of collaboration who managed to flee from Hebron last week has accused Palestinian Authority General Intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi's men of torturing him and many others suspected of working as "informers" for the Shin Bet.

The man, 32, is now hiding in an apartment in Jerusalem that was provided by the Defense Ministry. He is sharing the apartment together with two others who also managed to escape from Tirawi's prisons.

Tirawi is one of 20 wanted Palestinians who are reportedly hiding in PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Mukata headquarters compound in Ramallah.

The man said Tirawi's men had brutally tortured him since his arrest about 18 months ago. He said he was released only after a relative paid a top General Intelligence official $10,000.

"I was summoned to the General Intelligence offices near Hebron for a routine interview," he said. "I had a big appliance shop in one of the towns in the Hebron area. "One day there was a big explosion that destroyed the shop. I lost all my money.

"I thought they were going to tell me that they had discovered who was behind the gutting of my shop. When I arrived, I was surprised to hear that I was being accused of being a spy for Israel."

He said that for the first month, he was tortured almost daily inside his small cell. "They beat me with telephone cables all over my body. For many days my head was covered with a stinking bag. They would also tie me to the ceiling by my arms. On other occasions, they made me stand for several hours on a small cup."

He said his interrogators threatened several times to shoot him if he did not confess. Last April, he added, his interrogators informed him that a decision had been taken "on the highest levels" to kill him.

He was blindfolded, handcuffed, and asked for his final words. He was then taken into the back yard. There, the cover was removed from his eyes, and he saw a firing squad of five masked, uniformed policemen.

"They tied me to an electricity poll and pretended that I was about to be executed," he said. "I shouted out that I'm innocent and that Islam does not permit killing innocent people, but they only looked at me with smiles. Then the policemen aimed their rifles at me and waited for the order.

Seconds later one of the officers shouted: 'Fire.' I could hear them pulling the triggers, but I didn't feel the pain.

"For a moment, I didn't know if I was alive or dead. I heard shots, but there was no pain or blood. I quickly realized that it was a mock execution. It was the worst experience in my life.

For a while, I thought I was dead. Only when I heard them laughing did I understand that they were just trying to intimidate me.

"They agreed to release me for health reasons; that's what they wrote in the papers they gave me. If it wasn't for the bribe, I would have been dead by now."

He said that while in prison he met many detainees who were also suspected of helping Israel. "Tirawi's people specialize in arresting Palestinians who are accused of being collaborators. The prisons are full of people like me. Many were released when the IDF entered the Palestinian cities. But others are still being held in secret locations. In the prison where I was, there were more than 25 people, all accused of collaboration with Israel."

He said some were very sick and required immediate medical attention. Those whose families could afford to pay the bribes were released after a short while.

"I have no sympathy for Tirawi or any of his men, and I hope Israel will put him in prison," he said, while refusing to confirm or deny any connection to Israel. "When I see what's happening to Tirawi today, I say to myself, thank God he's finally paying the price for what his men did to me."