At dawn on 23 June, more than 15 security officers and soldiers affiliated with the Palestinian Authority stormed the house of Nizar Banat, an activist and an outspoken and stern critic of Palestine’s President Abbas, in the West Bank. He was beaten with iron sticks, tortured, and taken naked into custody. A few hours later, he was pronounced dead.
Banat’s death came as a surprise to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Talking to Amnesty International, Banat’s lawyer claimed Banat had received “death threats related to his activism”.
His death ignited a storm on social media, as much as on the streets of Ramallah. Protests called for the ousting of Abbas and for accountability for his murder. The demonstrations were reportedly faced with the iron fist of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security apparatus and plain clothes intelligence officers, who dragged protesters in the streets, arrested and violated the rights of people to protest. Security forces also allegedly harassed women, stealing their phones and threatening to publish intimate pictures on them.
