Date: 24 / 06 / 2009 Time: 11:00 | |
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| Palestinians in Gaza act out Israeli treatment of detainees [Ma'anImages] |
The report recorded testimony of some 600 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Hebrew newspaper Ma’ariv. Many of the testimonies were of prisoners recounting interrogations meant to produce confessions.
The report shows that Israeli soldiers systematically shackle and blindfold prisoners then beat them while they are transported to prisons and detention centers. Detainees are frequently left handcuffed to chairs for hours on end.
Other reports detailed soldiers handcuffing prisoners in painful positions that sometimes caused extreme back pain, with no medical treatment available during interrogation or minimal treatment long after permanent damage had been done.
"Painful shackling is done for invalid and irrelevant reasons, which include causing pain and suffering, for punishment, or intimidation, and illegally eliciting information and confessions," the report says. In addition to producing confessions, these tactics are “intended to humiliate Palestinians.”
According to PCATI, the hundreds of accounts of torture gathered during the research for the report “surely” only reflect the “tip of the iceberg." The central victims of torture are the Palestinian prisoners, the report said, “yet the culture of contempt for the dignity of detainees gravitates inward in Israeli society itself, at times harming detainees who belong to other groups."
About the policy of shacking-as-torture, PCATI said, "This practice cannot be justified by the concerns for the safety of the interrogators or prevention of escape attempts offered by officials. The unacceptability of this claim is further demonstrated in light of the fact that these detainees – restrained in interrogation chambers – are brought before police interrogators so that they can take their confession while the detainee is left unrestrained,” the report continues.
“These facts leave no room for doubt: Painful shackling is designed to break the interrogee's spirit and to illegally extract a confession or information from him,” it said.
"In addition, there are occasions when the Shin Bet interrogators will shackle the interrogee in an additional pair of manacles that are fastened on the forearm or on the upper arm and which the interrogators then pull on in a manner that is clearly designed to cause intolerable pain," the report said.
In response the Israeli military said that it works in accordance with international and Israeli law while pursuing “terrorists” who threaten the security of their state. They also claimed to investigate each complaint of abuse.
