Protests Against New Israeli Ambassador to Denmark
COPENHAGEN, July 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Five international anti-torture organizations have called on the Danish government to refuse to recognize the future Israeli ambassador to the country, news agencies reported.
Carmi Gillon, a former head of Israel's General Security Services, Shabak, is due to take up office in Copenhagen in September.
But representatives from the International Council for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, the Association for the Prevention of Torture, the International Federation of Christian Action Against Torture, the World Organization Against Torture and the REDRESS Trust are "seriously worried" about the appointment, the French news agency AFP reported.
In a statement issued under the umbrella coalition of International Non-Governmental Organizations Against Torture, the groups urged the government to ensure that police and prosecutors investigate whether it is appropriate to formally charge Gillon with violations of the U.N.'s anti-torture legislation.
They said that under articles 5, 6 and 7 of the Anti-Torture Convention, Denmark is obliged to investigate, stop and follow anyone believed to have "committed acts of torture", AFP reported.
They also said they would be forwarding to authorities evidence of Gillon's involvement in acts of torture, including his biography in which he admitted giving an order for secret service agents to use torture during interrogations of Palestinians.
In a recent statement to the Danish media, Gillon said he was in favor of using "physical pressure" against Palestinian suspects, methods allegedly declared illegal by Israel's Supreme Court in 1999.
