UN, EU condemn Palestinian Authority over activist arrests

Demonstrators in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have demanded justice since the June death of Nizar Banat -- a leading critic of the Palestinian Authority and its 86-year old president Mahmud Abbas -- who died in custody after security forces stormed his home in the flashpoint city of Hebron and dragged him away.

The United Nations human rights office said it was "deeply concerned at continuing pressure on those seeking to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and assembly in Palestine."

It said the security forces had arrested 23 people in Ramallah on Saturday on the grounds that "they were holding a public protest," but noted that 21 of them "were detained before any protest had even started."

It said "more arrests appear to be taking place" targeting "well-known human rights defenders and political activists," and called for "the immediate release without charge of these individuals."

A statement from the European Union representative in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) also condemned the weekend arrests, which it said had come "against the backdrop of reports of an increase in apparently politically motivated arrests by the Palestinian Authority over the past few months."

"Violence against peaceful human rights defenders, activists and protesters is unacceptable," the EU said.

Nearly two dozen Palestinian civil society groups issued a statement on Monday warning of "a dangerous decline in rights and public freedoms" and holding prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh responsible "his failure to protect the rights of citizens".