HRW, Amnesty Slam Attack on Gaza Rights Activist, Call for Probe

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned an attack on a Gaza-based activist and called for an impartial investigation into the incident.

In statements released late on Wednesday, the two rights watchdogs expressed shock at the attack on Mahmoud Abu Rahma, international relations director at the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

"These attempts to silence a human rights defender are another attack on freedom of expression in Gaza, and send a chilling message to activists," said Amnesty's interim Middle East director Ann Harrison.

"The authorities in Gaza must ensure the safety of Mahmoud Abu Rahma and that an independent and impartial investigation into this assault is completed as soon as possible. The perpetrators must be brought to justice," she added.

Human Rights Watch's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson urged Gaza's Hamas government to take the incident seriously.

"Hamas's failure to protect Abu Rahma, who has been a leading voice for human rights in Gaza, sends a chilling message to other human rights defenders," she said.

"Hamas needs to investigate the attacks against him promptly and thoroughly and to appropriately punish those found responsible."

Abu Rahma was stabbed multiple times by several attackers on Friday evening, though Al Mezan did not make public details of the attack until Sunday.

He sustained injuries to his thigh and left hand that required stitches and only managed to prevent the attackers from stabbing him in the chest by using his laptop to protect himself.

The attack was the second time Abu Rahma had been targeted since the publication of an article he wrote criticizing the Palestinian government and "resistance."

He accused authorities in the West Bank and Gaza of arresting citizens "mostly for who they are and what they think, or for their mere political affiliation."

And he said militant groups were endangering the lives of civilians by carrying out activities in crowded residential neighborhoods.

A day after the article was published, Abu Rahma was accosted by several masked men who beat him up.

Hamas said after the stabbing attack that it had opened an investigation but urged "everyone to wait until the end of the investigation and not to link this claim of assault to anything."