Outspoken Activist Dies After Violent Arrest by Palestinian Security Forces

"They can't take me to court because they don’t have anything on me, but I know they want to kill me," Nizar Banat told The Media Line hours before he died in PA custody

An outspoken Palestinian rights activist and critic of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas died early Thursday, shortly after being arrested by PA security forces in the West Bank.

Nizar Banat, a parliamentary candidate in last month’s postponed elections told The Media Line hours before he died in a West Bank hospital that he believed the PA wanted him dead.

“They can’t take me to court because they don’t have anything on me, but I know they want to kill me,” he said Wednesday night.

Banat said pressure on him by the PA security services had intensified after Abbas delayed the elections.

“They want to shut me up, but they can’t. I’m not interested in a position; I’m doing this for Palestine and future generations,” he said.

Hussein Banat, 21, a cousin, told The Media Line that the family had been woken up at dawn by the sound of security forces breaking in through the door and windows. He said at least three officers wearing Palestinian Preventive Security vests walked toward Nizar Banat and then severely beat him on the head with iron crowbars, sticks and pistols. “They hit him with iron crowbars, with which they broke windows. They did not come to arrest him, they came with an assassination order,” he said.

Hussein Banat, who was staying in the same house, said the PA security officers sprayed Nizar Banat in the face with pepper spray.

“They beat him for at least eight minutes, they threatened us that if we moved, they would shoot us,” he also said.

The family says Nizar Banat was alert and screaming as the security forces took him away.

They beat him for at least eight minutes, they threatened us that if we moved, they would shoot us

Banat, from Hebron in the south of the West Bank, told the Media Line hours before he died that rampant corruption and nepotism in the Palestinian Authority must be stopped, after criticizing a deal between the PA and Israel to swap more than a million COVID-19 vaccines that had an expiration date of the end of June.

He criticized the agreement on social media where he called PA officials “mercenaries” who were profiting from the Palestinian cause.

The PA governor of Hebron confirmed Banat’s arrest and subsequent death in a hospital in Hebron.

“Following… a summons from the Public Prosecution to arrest the citizen Nizar Khalil Muhammad Banat, a force from the security services arrested him at dawn,” Hebron governor Jibrin al-Bakri said in a statement carried by the official Palestinian WAFA news agency.

No reason was given for his arrest.

Banat’s family blames the PA for his death, accusing its security forces of “deliberately assassinating” him.

They demanded an autopsy be performed to find out exactly how he died, in front of a doctor approved by the family.

Later on Thursday, an autopsy was performed at the Palestinian Institute of Forensic Medicine in the West Bank town of Abu Dis. The doctor who conducted the autopsy said in his report that “The cause of death is not normal, and there are bruises due to severe beatings all over his body and bleeding in the lungs due to beating and suffocation.”

The head of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, Ammar Dweik, said: “There are injuries and bruises on the head, neck, and shoulders of Nizar Banat, and his lower and upper limbs, and the charges they wanted to bring him on are related to freedom of opinion and expression.”

Banat, 43, was known for his videos posted on Facebook, in which he castigated the PA for its corruption.

He was a candidate in elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) which were scheduled to be held in May, but which were postponed by Abbas.

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh ordered an immediate, independent and neutral investigation into Banat’s death.

The Media Line reached out for comment to the Palestinian security forces, which declined to respond.

The European Union delegation to the Palestinians said in a statement that it was “shocked and saddened” by Banat’s death, and that a “full, independent and transparent investigation should be conducted immediately.”

Hundreds of furious Palestinians marched in several cities in the West Bank. In Ramallah, protesters carried signs reading: “No to police state” and “We hold the president of the Palestinian Authority responsible for Banat’s assassination.”

The angry crowd also chanted: “The people want to topple the regime.”

The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has pursued activists and opposition figures since Abbas postponed the elections in May.

One of those arrested is Wesam Ghuneim, who was a candidate for the PLC elections on the Future List.

His wife, Batool, told The Media Line that her husband was arrested after dropping two of his children at their soccer practice.

“We were not informed of the reasons for his arrest, as a civilian car and two plainclothes security personnel arrested him in front of his apartment building [in Ramallah] after he had taken his children to the football training club,” she said.

Ghuneim, a father of four whose oldest is a 9-year-old son and youngest is a 9-month-old daughter, was arrested for 22 days and kept in solitary confinement at the notorious Jericho prison.

His detention was extended for another week on Tuesday by a court in Ramallah,

Ghuneim’s wife says his arrest is politically motivated since the parliamentary list he was running on is close to Abbas’ rival, Mohammed Dahlan.

Majed al-Arouri, a Ramallah-based legal and human-rights expert, told The Media Line that there is a state of frustration and dissatisfaction among the people after the postponement of the elections, and these arrests come with the “aim of intimidating the people and for the PA to maintain its presence and prove its strength in the eyes of the people.”

He says Abbas, who has been the head of the PA since 2005, came to power through elections and wants to stay in power “forever.” Arouri says his presidency has morphed into a “dictatorship.”

Abbas, he said, is “ruling with an iron fist and ruling in the absence of a parliament, serving only a layer of common political and economic interests connected with each other.”

In addition to angering Palestinians, the corruption accusations have attracted unwanted international attention.

I feel that the West Bank has become an unsafe place for political activists and opponents, and the PA wants to silence them

Issa Amro, another Hebron-based Palestinian human rights activist, told The Media Line that he was briefly detained earlier in the week after a Facebook post criticizing political detention.

He said that he does not feel safe anymore in his position as a political opponent, in the wake of Banat’s death.

“I feel that the West Bank has become an unsafe place for political activists and opponents, and the PA wants to silence them,” he said.

Amro, who was one of the Palestinians who met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he visited the region last month, called on the US administration to exert pressure on Abbas.

“I told him two important points: that the United States should support the Palestinian Authority and that there must be a vibrant life of true democracy and respect for freedoms. And also, the existence of an independent institution that fights corruption and the corrupt,” he said.

Amro added that the brutal way in which Banat was handled came from the top.

“What happened is not an individual act, but rather a systematic way of dealing with the opposition, and senior officials are behind it,” he said. “We are persecuted socially, politically and even in our livelihood and feel constantly threatened and without any protection and the PA does not respect the international treaties it has signed.”

The increase in the arrest of activists and opposition is directly related to the US dealing with the PA

Arouri argues that the US re-establishment of communication and contact with the PA, and the reinjecting of funds and aid, have helped Abbas tremendously and “restored part or some kind of legitimacy to the PA despite postponing the elections.”

“The PA interpreted that as the US administration is satisfied with the PA’s policy and that Abbas has the support of the White House, so he can do anything he wants,” Arouri said.

Arouri says he was perplexed by the reaction of the US administration toward the delay of the elections.

“The increase in the arrest of activists and opposition is directly related to the US dealing with the PA. The strange thing is that the person who came to power in a democratic manner is obstructing the holding of democratic elections,” he said.

Related story: Activists Slam PA for Suppressing Dissent Over Corruption (VIDEO REPORT)