The union of lawyers in the West Bank announced June 13 that attorneys would suspend all their activities this weekend after anti-drug police in Bethlehem assaulted a lawyer. The union said in a statement that all its offices would be shut down in all West Bank districts, and called upon all members of the union's general assembly to join a sit-in in front of the district attorney's office. "We were shocked and couldn’t believe that a group of anti-drug police officers in Bethlehem assaulted a lawyer and strip searched him in a humiliating manner," the statement said. "What shocked us even more was that the district attorney was present and the attackers received instructions directly from the attorney general."

The statement added: "The assault brought back memories of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib jail and the unbelievable practices against them. One could believe such practices by the Israeli occupation, but not by our own people." The union urged the Palestinian attorney general to resign because "he is an accomplice in the crime." Furthermore, the lawyers' union urged the Palestinian government to dismiss the director general of Palestinian police.

From Ma'an News Agency, June 13.