After being being held by PA for 5 months in connection to death of Jenin governor, Zubeidi says PA illegally abducted him.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHFatah's ZAKARIA ZUBEIDI 370(photo credit: Reuters)
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.
