Oct. 28, 2002
PA sentences human rights worker to death
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH


Another person was added to the Palestinian Authority's death row on Monday when a court in Gaza City sentenced Haidar Ghanem, a human rights worker and journalist, to death by firing squad after finding him guilty of collaboration with Israel. 

The PA's state security court sentenced Ghanem, a field researcher for B'tselem and a resident of Rafah, after holding only two sessions. He was convicted of helping Israel kill four Fatah activists in Rafah. 

Ghanem pleaded guilty to collaborating, but denied involvement in the killings. He is the fourth Palestinian to receive the death sentence in recent weeks. The sentences can not be carried out unless they are authorized by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. 

Prosecutor Wael Zakut told the court Ghanem was recruited as an informer in 1996. He said he had been entrusted with following the movements of Fatah members Jamal Abdel Razek, Awni Dahir, Sami Abu Laban, and Nael Liddawi in return for an unspecified amount of money. 

The prosecutor claimed the IDF killed them 15 minutes after Ghanem tipped off the Shin Bet about the location of their car. An undercover IDF unit intercepted the car, killing all four, he added. 

Ghanem was arrested last July by the Preventive Security Service on charges of collaboration with Israel. 

The 39-year-old father of two has been working as a field researcher for B'tselem since September 2001. 

A PSS officer involved in Ghanem's interrogation told the three judges the accused had opened a press office in Rafah that was supplying the Shin Bet with different information. He had also interviewed Hamas leader and founder Shiekh Ahmed Yassin and former PSS head Muhammed Dahlan for the Shin Bet, the witness charged. Ghanem was paid a monthly sum for his "press services." 

The PSS officer also claimed that Ghanem had supplied Israel with detailed reports on the movements of PA security personnel and names of Palestinians involved in terror attacks. Among other things, Ghanem prepared reports on the general mood in the Gaza Strip, the status of the PA, and details on the salaries of its employees. 

The officer told the court that Ghanem's Shin Bet operators had given him permission to work as a field researcher with B'tselem to facilitate his mission and provide a cover for his espionage activities. 

Ghanem told the court that he had confessed of his own free will because he had hoped to work as a double agent. He admitted that he had served as an informer, but said he did not watch the movements of the Fatah fugitives with the purpose of killing them. 

There was a thunderous applause in the courtroom when the president of the court read out the verdict. 

A B'tselem representative who met him shortly after his arrest reported that Ghanem said he had been arrested because of his work at B'tselem. He collected testimony from Palestinians in the Rafah area. 

Sources in B'tselem told The Jerusalem Post Monday night that the PA was not happy with Ghanem's work because he had "started asking too many questions that embarrassed PA officials." 

A statement issued by the organization a few days after the arrest said: "B'tselem is deeply concerned that Ghanem was arrested because of his work with the organization. B'tselem also fears that the purpose of his arrest is to deter human rights workers from carrying out their work honestly and with the intention of uncovering the truth. B'tselem is concerned that torture is being used in Ghanem's interrogation." 

B'tselem strongly rejected any accusation that Ghanem was a collaborator and demanded that the PA proved these claims by presenting evidence that meets internationally accepted legal standards. 

The organization noted that Palestinians suspected of collaborating are often sentenced to death by the state security court in "kangaroo" trials, which violate the fundamental principles of due process.