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PRESS RELEASE

Tuesday, 26 June 2001

PCHR calls upon international community to do more than remember victims of torture

In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to High Commissioner of Human Rights Mary Robinson, to the International Committee Against Torture and to others, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights urged the international community to pressure Israel to abandon its use of torture against Palestinian detainees and to adhere to its legal obligations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.

On 6 September 1999, the Israeli High Court of Justice (IHCJ) ruled that the use of physical means against Palestinian detainees by Israeli General Security Service (GSS) interrogators was unlawful. The GSS had admitted to using physical means against Palestinian suspects, such as violent shaking, the Shabah position, hooding, the playing of very loud music and sleep deprivation. After ruling that physical pressure was forbidden, the IHCJ stated that if Israel wished to enable GSS investigators to use physical means in their interrogations, the Knesset would have to enact legislation for this purpose.

Since the IHCJ’s landmark decision, the legalization of physical methods of interrogation has been the subject of a number of Knesset bills. However, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak froze discussion about the use of torture for a year or two. Still, PCHR and other human rights organizations have documented dozens of cases concerning the use of physical means of interrogation by the GSS, suggesting that torture is still being used against Palestinian detainees in spite of the IHCJ’s decision.

In its letter, PCHR condemned Israel’s failure to satisfy its legal obligation under the Convention Against Torture to “take effective … measures to prevent acts of torture.” It also remarked upon Israel’s failure to compensate and to rehabilitate the thousands of Palestinian detainees against whom physical means were used prior to the IHCJ’s decision. Further, PCHR maintains that Israel must re-try those Palestinians whose convictions involved evidence obtained by physical means