Ex-PA security chief files complaint against security forces, phone companies

Former Palestinian Authority intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi has filed a complaint with the authority’s Attorney-General Ahmad Barak against PA security forces and two Palestinian telecommunications companies for allegedly wiretapping his cellphones.

“I submitted a complaint against them on January 29, 2018 for spying on and listening into my phone calls,” Tirawi told The Jerusalem Post on Monday in a phone call.

According to Farid Atrash, a Palestinian lawyer who works on human rights issues, PA law states that authorities can wiretap Palestinians only after a court has granted them such power.

Tirawi said the security services have no reason to wiretap his phone and have not received legal permission to undertake such a measure.

“What they are doing is a violation of the law,” he said.

A senior official in the Attorney-General’s Office said he presently could not comment on Tirawi’s allegation that he was illegally wiretapped.

“We have a complaint from him and it will be investigated in accordance with the law,” the official said in a phone call.

Security forces spokesman Adnan Damiri did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition, spokespersons for the two telecommunications companies, Jawal and Wataniyya, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tirawi served as intelligence chief between 2007 and 2008. He is a member of the Fatah Central Committee and the chairman of Al Istiqlal University’s board of directors.

Tirawi is known to sometimes take positions in opposition to President Mahmoud Abbas. For example, Tirawi is a vocal supporter of the one-state solution, whereas Abbas backs the two-state solution.