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Rights Groups Say Israeli Torture of Palestinians Routine
JERUSALEM, Nov. 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel has resumed systematic torture of Palestinian detainees, even though the Israeli Supreme Court banned the practice two years ago.
In a joint report, three human rights groups cited affidavits from detainees, including a 16-year-old, who alleged he was soaked in freezing water, made to carry a heavy wooden beam while manacled and then beaten, the British daily
The Independent reported Monday.
An Israeli government report on the issue said the ban on torture was still in effect and an official added that violations were allegedly being investigated.
The Israeli government said that sometimes security forces needed to extract information quickly from suspects who might have knowledge of an impending attack.
The Israeli report and the response by the human rights groups will be submitted to a meeting of the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
The human rights report was written by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), the Palestinian rights group LAW and the Swiss-based World Organization Against Torture, which contends that a September 1999 High Court ruling has been regularly flouted, particularly since the Intifada, or uprising, began 14 months ago.
"Torture and other forms of ill-treatment are still widely used against Palestinian detainees, both in GSS [General Security Service, or Shin Bet] interrogation facilities and by members of the Israeli army and police," says the document.
The report cites nine affidavits by Arab detainees, who said they were interrogated using methods expressly forbidden under the 1999 ruling or by existing Israeli or international law. The groups say they have received about 20 reports of violations since the ruling was passed.
According to The Independent, these methods include sleep deprivation, shackling a prisoner to a chair in painful positions for prolonged periods, use of smelly hoods, the playing of deafening sounds and beating, slapping and kicking.
Rami Zaul, 16, who was interrogated in October and November 2000, described how freezing water was poured on to him. He said he was then forced, while handcuffed, to drag a wooden beam with one of his interrogators standing on it. "When I got tired and dropped it, I was beaten hard," he said.
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