Israel's internal security service violated the human rights of Palestinian detainees, two leading Israeli rights groups said in a report issued Tuesday.
The report said the Palestinians are held in cramped, filthy cells, some with no windows and lighting that disrupts sleep. It said security agents bind detainees to chairs during lengthy interrogations and sometimes insult, threaten or hit them — procedures it said violate Israeli law.
The report is based on the testimonies of 121 Palestinians held in a detention center in the city of Petah Tikva in 2009. Its authors, the Israeli groups B'Tselem and Hamoked, said conditions at the facility constitute "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and in some instances, torture."
The detainees were arrested in the West Bank on security-related allegations and held in the facility for one week to two months, the report said. They said they were being kept in small cells, some with filthy squat toilets and dirty bedding. Some said hot or cold air was pumped into their cells. Many reported trouble sleeping.
The report said interrogators bound detainees to chairs for long periods of time during questioning with brief breaks so they could eat or go to the bathroom. About one-third said interrogators insulted, threatened or tried to pressure them through threats to family members. Nine percent said interrogators hit, shoved or jerked their bodies violently.
The report also noted that Palestinians have filed 645 complaints to the Justice Ministry about interrogation techniques since 2001. None has led to criminal investigations.
PHOTO CAPTION
A Palestinian man detained and blindfolded by Israeli soldiers near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
Source: Agencies