PCDP: 98% of Palestinian prisoners in IOA jails subjected to torture

[ 27/06/2009 - 08:51 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners (PCDP) has charged that Israel was among the few countries in the world to exercise excruciating torture in its prisons in a bid to extract confessions from detainees. The PCDP report said that the Israeli occupation authority's (IOA) practices were in blatant violation of heavenly and earthly laws that incriminate torturing human beings. The report, issued on the occasion of the international day against torture on Thursday 26/6/2009, said that torture is practiced in IOA jails with official approval. It noted that the vast majority of Palestinians detained in IOA jails were tortured without any interference of the human rights groups that champion protection of prisoners. Revealing a number of torture methods being used in IOA jails, the report pointed out that 98% of Palestinian detainees were tortured in around 30 prisons and detention centers, adding that 88% of prisoners were hanged from their hands naked for long periods of time. It said that 196 Palestinian prisoners died in IOA jails mostly under torture or in extra judicial execution after detention, and charged that 1,600 sick prisoners in Israeli jails are deprived of adequate treatment. It recalled that many of those sick prisoners contracted their diseases while in custody due to the severe torture rounds. The report beseeched human rights groups and institutions catering for the prisoners to exert utmost efforts and to pressure Israel into ending the "horrific humiliation practices against prisoners".