Israel legalises torture of Palestinians

By Jennifer Thompson An Israeli law to legalise torture in the Occupied Territories and Israel came into effect in October. In addition, on October 20, the Israeli government commission charged with overseeing the interrogation of Palestinian political prisoners extended, for another three months, permission for interrogators to use "special measures" beyond "moderate physical pressure". Amnesty International reported that the new law, an amendment to the Israeli Penal Law, states that a public servant who tortures or authorises torture can be jailed for ten to 20 years. The law defines torture as "severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, except for pain or suffering inherent in interrogation procedures or punishment according to the law". The new law comes in the wake of a revived debate, by Israel's General Security Services (Shabak), on the use of torture. In October 1994, Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin and Shabak demanded government permission to introduce a "gloves off" policy for interrogating prisoners. They wanted to be go beyond the "moderate physical pressure" prescribed by the 1987 Landau Commission. A government commission was set up to review the need for this policy every three months. According to Amnesty International, Shabak interrogation methods include: "beatings all over the body, often ... on sensitive areas such as the genitals; hooding with dirty sacks; sleep and food deprivation ... in solitary confinement; prolonged shackling in painful positions; and confinement in small dark cells". The Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem reports that such techniques are "usually used in combination". Palestinian human rights organisations Al-Haq and the Palestinian Human Rights Information Centre (PHRIC) have reported the use of electric shock, sexual assaults and threats of rape of the victim and his or her mother or sister, as techniques used during interrogations. Most Palestinians arrested are victims of torture. Eyad Al-Sarraj, a medical psychiatrist working for Gaza Community Mental Health Program, interviewed 500 people arrested in the Gaza Strip in 1993. "A large majority ... were tortured by beating (96.5%), extreme cold (92%), extreme hotness (75.8%), standing for long periods (91.3%), suffocation (69.3%), deprivation of food (76.5%), solitary confinement (85.3%), sleep deprivation (71.5%), intense noise (81.5%), forced witnessing of others' torture (72.3%), and applying pressure on testicles (47.3%). Other methods include electric shocks (5.3%), irritant gas (15%), and pushing instruments inside the penis or rectum (7.8%)." Prisoner Abed Samed Harizat died in January from a "shaking" torture. Shabak's use of this torture method is not new but Harizat's death was not able to be passed off as a "work accident" and it was publicly acknowledged that he had been tortured to death. By August, there were another three "work accidents". The government commission, which included three Labor ministers (including Rabin) and the Meretz minister Yossi Sarid, looked into Harizat's death and found that such "accidents" could not be defended in court. The commission, which was divided over Shabak's methods, reached a compromise. According to Ha'Aretz newspaper, from August 15 "special permission" for "special treatment" of prisoners would be continued for two months. The "shaking" method would not be abolished, but would require case-by-case authorisation. The new law ensures Shabak's torture methods will now be legally defensible. The October 20 decision also allows for legal assistance for prisoners to be delayed for 18 days until investigators collect information deemed vital. In condemning the new law Amnesty International points to article II of the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Israel is a signatory, which states that: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether ... internal political stability or any other public emergency, may be involved as a justification of torture".