Shallah: Egypt Tortures Wounded Palestinians Returning From Medical Trips

Secretary-general of Islamic Jihad Ramadan Shallah accused on Saturday the Egyptian regime of arresting the wounded from Gaza upon their return from medical treatment trips abroad and then torturing them in its jails, describing Egypt’s prisons as “Arab Guantanamo.”

Shallah told Al-Jazeera satellite channel that he received confirmed news from Gaza that many of those who left Gaza to seek medical treatment in Arab and Islamic countries and some of them lost limbs in the Israeli war on Gaza were detained for 50 days, tortured and humiliated in Egyptian jails after they returned from their trips.

As for the national reconciliation, the Islamic Jihad leader affirmed that his Movement would not sign the Egyptian paper, adding that many of the understandings previously agreed upon are absent from this paper.

He underlined that the Egyptian sponsor was supposed to be neutral and take into account the needs of all Palestinian parties.

“We signed a paper, for example, in Cairo in 2005 under Egyptian sponsorship, and the brothers in Cairo recall that I myself and the delegation of Islamic Jihad had a big role even in pressuring the brothers in Hamas Movement and we contributed to the signing of the agreement, where we signed for the rebuilding of the Palestine liberation organization and the formation of a committee of secretaries-general as well as the heads of the national and legislative councils, so where is all that?” the Islamic Jihad leader questioned.

In the same context, the Egyptian authorities on Thursday released six Palestinian citizens affiliated with Islamic Jihad after arresting them upon their return from their medical treatment trips abroad.

After their release, Islamic Jihad official Darwish Al-Gharabli narrated the hideous story of his torture along with five others in Egyptian jails to Quds Press.

“I have seen the reality of what I used to hear about the Arab Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib in Egyptian jails…” with these words Gharabli started to describe what he called the journey of death, which lasted 51 days.

He explained how he and his friends had been exposed to excruciating torture at the hands of Egyptian officers since they arrived at Cairo airport and until they were released, saying that they were physically abused, humiliated, electrocuted and attacked by trained dogs

The survivor added that the Egyptian interrogators, during electric sessions, asked them many questions especially those related to the secretary-general of Islamic Jihad Ramadan Shallah, the Palestinian resistance fighters and the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.