Human Rights Watch on Thursday criticized the Palestinian Authority for obstructing civil rights after refusing to register a lawyers’ union.
Lawyers for Justice – which represents Palestinians detained by the PA – said it had been refused renewal of its registration after accusing it of accepting foreign money in breach of its legal status.
HRW said the legal group was accused of “non-profit activities” by a PA official when its renewal was blocked in March.
Justice’s lawyers said that accepting foreign money was not a violation of Palestinian law.
HRW’s Omar Shakir said, “As long as the PA prevents groups from doing work that focuses on their abuses, their calls to defend Palestinian civil society and defend Palestinian rights will ring hollow.”
The head of the group, Mohannad Karaje, told Human Rights Watch that without official registration, it could lose access to bank accounts, its offices could be closed, and its employees could face arrest.
Maryam Banat, 67, mother of Palestinian Authority critic Nizar Banat, holds a poster with her picture at a rally to protest against his death at the hands of PA security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah on July 3, 2021. (AP Photo) / Nasser Nasser)
A Palestinian economy ministry official told AFP the organization was denied registration after refusing to submit its budget and tax files to the ministry.
“The information we have says that this company receives funding, even though it is a non-profit,” he said.
In a statement to AFP, Karaje said the ministry’s claims were “contrary to the truth” and that the organization was subject to a “campaign of harassment and prosecution”.
Karaje said the move to suppress lawyers for justice reflected a larger tendency of the PA to “reduce space for civil society organizations and further empower its security services”.
The PA did not respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Nizar Banat – a prominent critic of the Palestinian Authority – died in June 2021 after being dragged from his home in the West Bank by Palestinian security forces.
In December, Banat’s family filed a case against the PA in the International Criminal Court.
Last year, hundreds of Palestinian lawyers staged a rare street protest against what they described as “rule by decree” of the Palestinian Authority, accusing it of curtailing Palestinian “rights and freedoms”.
