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One year and nine months ago...and I will NEVER forget Omars eyes, I hope that our love can heal...
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Showing posts with label TORTURE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TORTURE. Show all posts
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
CAPTAIN GEORGE / DORON ZAHAVI
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| DARKMOON TREATMENT !!! Witnesses and evidences by Israeli interrogators have revealed violations of human rights and the international law inside a secret prison. The Israeli news-paper HAARETZ disclosed, on December 18, 2011, a report about this secret prison, where violations of human and prisoner rights had been perpetrated. A commander, at the interrogation unit of the Zionist military intelligence system called ‘504’, confirmed that the savage torture, harassment and humiliation against prisoners are systematically adopted methods and not mere exception. He added that this is not surprising as called “Captain George”, a well-known interrogator for his dirty tactics in the investigation of the Lebanese prisoner Mustafa Dirani and of a group of Iraqis- their fates are disclosed- got a promotion, and is now a consultant for the Police Chief in Jerusalem. The ‘Haaretz’ newspaper reported testimony of the investigator "H", colleague of Captain George, who is disclosed to, "Zvi Rish", the attorney of Dirani, and the Iraqi detainees, additional details on the brutal methods of Captain George in investigations. The paper points out that "H" meeting with the lawyer was in 1999 and scored by the initiative of the officer, not to back down from his statement under pressure, and includes new information on the brutal methods of "Captain George". One of his relatives confirms that it was in coordination with the senior officers with no violation of the instructions. "H" said to Rish that he is infected with a serious illness, and wants to reveal the hideous methods of investigations, in the secret unity. He explained that he decided to talk because he suffers pain many years ago, from the scenes that have gone through, and because of remorse. Rich points out that "H" put the tape recorder on the table to record the conversation, in order to ensure not to back down from his statements, if subjected to pressure. "H" says in the interview: "I served in the secret prison, and has worked with nicknamed "George" in the same unit; we have interrogated several detainees together." "H" describes George saying: "he always has a prominent role; he intervenes in all investigations; he used to enter the interrogation room violently, explode in the face of the detainee, shake him violently, throws him to the ground, beats him severely with his fist, insults and threatens him. He was used to repeatedly enter with a stick in his hand and starts beating the detainee savagely while threatening him to put the stick in detainee’s ass; if he continues “lying” or continues to refrain from talking. Officer "H" said "that George was doing whatever he wanted. I saw his harassment practices of detainees. I remember an incident when he stripped the detainee naked and forced him to drink tea by a cigarette ashtray filled with cigarette butts; and then, he threw the lid of a tube of shaving cream or toothpaste and began to press on the container to empty it in the mouth of a detainee who was going to die while the captain was pressing on his mouth." He adds that in other investigations, George was the man of punching and kicking detainees, and he shows that George was in charge of most of the investigations with the infiltrators to Israel from Arab countries, including Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians, along with the investigation of detainees arrested during special operations of commando units such as Dirani and Sheikh Obeid. "H" recalled another incident; he says, "it was shocking and horrible!; he described it as "other uses of the stick" and adds that during the interrogation of a detainee, I saw him while putting a stick on the slot of the detainee’s ass and said to him, "Sit down on it! If you do not confess, I'm going push it inside." He adds that Captain George was always brutally practicing interrogation; he used to savagely enter the room of investigation, drag the detainee to the ground and kick him and threaten to rape him, or allow others to do so. He continues: "I know that the detainees were afraid of his brutality. I knew that through my activities in the north; when Lebanese prisoners hear that George will interrogate them, they become shivering." "H" says that Israel tend to hide such practices simply to avoid getting involved in formation of a commission of inquiry which may harm many. He adds that the institution does not want to publish the dirty actions out, because that may affect many people. He adds: “the occupation expected to get information by these methods; therefore, it turned a blind eye for the presence of a bad investigator, as long as the results are achieved, and despite the fact that many of the confessions are taken under torture, and may be irrelevant to the detainee who confess his involvement in case subject of the investigation. On the other hand, the paper quoted a source close to the “Captain George” that there are attempts to entrap George, considering it as "rejected attempts, stressing that the investigation with Dirani, or with Iraqi refugees was conducted while the senior officers being aware of what was going on and they agreed on such investigation. The source adds, “Captain George decided not to publish the dirty practices of the unit abroad. At the time, all the informers found themselves outside the security system, Captain George is still appreciated, and holds a senior post in the service of the state" (an consulter to the commander of Jerusalem police). The second Israel's Channel revealed - This week - in the ‘investigation program’ "ovdah", for the first time - sound and image - the torture that the Lebanese prisoner Mustafa Dirani was exposed to. The video refuses Israeli claims that the prisoner Dirani did not take off his clothes during the military investigation, where Captain George appeared forcing Dirani to undress while harassing and insulting him. As Dirani was silent and denied all the charges and not giving him information, the investigators are increased pressure on him, led by "Captain George". The person who joins them symbolized by the letter "S", a commander of the special military intelligence unit, known as Unit No. 504. TV Investigation shows investigators threatening Dirani and insulting him in an attempt to extract information from him. The TV investigation shows scenes of harsh interrogation in interrogation room where Dirani appears naked, threatened by investigators with publishing his pictures, and sending them to his wife. This prompted him to file a lawsuit against investigators by an Israeli lawyer; it has not been decided after this. |
KEPT IN THE DARK
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KEPT IN THE DARKInterrogation Facility of the israel Security Agency one year ago...shortened report published by Addameer. October 2010 The State of Israel attempts to justify the severe infringement of detainees' rights as necessary to thwart acts of terrorism. This claim is insufficient to justify a violation of the absolute prohibition of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and of torture. Furthermore, this report clearly demonstrates that Israel’s framing of the public debate on interrogation methods as the “ticking-bomb dilemma” is artificial: most of the detainees interviewed for this report were not suspected of serious offenses; some were only accused of what is essentially political or religious activity. Also, the fact that the ill-treatment of detainees continued even after the conclusion of their interrogation refutes the claim that it is only used to thwart acts of terrorism. The State of Israel must root out all abuse in interrogations. This requires taking action that will lead to three indispensable results: stopping human rights violation of detainees, bringing the offenders to justice, and providing compensation to the victims. In addition, it is important to conduct a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation of these ostensible breaches and to publish the findings in full. detained in the facility The Israel Prison Service submitted to HaMoked only partial information on the medical files of several detainees. Consequently, HaMoked filed a petition to Israel’s High Court of Justice on 16 June 2010 to receive the full medical documentation. HCJ 4677/10, HaMoked: Center for Defence of the Individual v. the Israel Prison Service. See http://www.hamoked.org/Document. aspx?dID=Updates1031. Routine treatment of detainees at the facility Analysis of the detainees’ testimonies reveals a recurring pattern in the authorities’ handling and treatment of them while they were detained. This does not mean that all the detainees were treated in absolute uniformity. Some features of the treatment recur in every case, while others appear in most, or in an appreciable number, of cases. Analysis of the patterns that emerge is presented in the second part of the report. Arrest Many of the detainees were arrested at home, in the early hours of the morning. Many reported that they were awoken from sleep by the sound of banging on the door or from the door being blown open. Others awoke to find themselves surrounded by soldiers. Many detainees said that the soldiers behaved violently and spoke to them rudely during the arrest, whether at the detainee’s house, at a checkpoint, or under other circumstances. Twenty-seven reported that the house had been damaged during the course of the arrest. Thirty-six detainees reported that they suffered physical violence at the time of the arrest, or in the vehicle into which they were put immediately after the arrest. ‘Ali Shtiyeh, a psychology student from the village of Salem near Nablus, was 23 at the time of his arrest. He described the event: At about 2:00 A.M., on 14 February 2009, I was sleeping at my parents’ house. It has two stories. I was in my room on the ground floor. I woke up to the sound of noises inside the house and suddenly saw soldiers in my room [...]. When I gave them my name, they began punching and kicking me. Some of them also hit me in the chest, shoulders, and back with their rifle butts. The soldiers broke the clothes closet, and ripped the mattress with a knife. They broke the computer, TV and stereo system in my room. In many cases, the soldiers did not allow the detainees to say goodbye to their families. When soldiers came to arrest Hindawi Kweirek, a sociology student from Nablus who was 19 at the time, his father asked them to enable him to say goodbye to his brother, who had cancer. The soldiers refused. The brother died while Kweirek was in detention. In some cases, the detainee was not allowed to dress and was taken in his pajamas, sometimes barefoot. In none of the cases was the detainee told to take clothes, a toothbrush, or other basic items that detainees would need and are allowed to keep in Israeli prisons. Yusef Tartir, a 16-year-old high-school pupil from Nablus, was arrested after stabbing a soldier at a checkpoint. He related that he was treated very violently: Lots of soldiers came into the bus and took me out, to the road. I was hit in the head and lost consciousness for a few moments. Then a lot of soldiers, more than ten, started hitting me with whatever came to hand. After that, they put me in a room at the checkpoint. They undressed me completely, cuffed my hands behind my back and tied my legs. They threw me to the ground. There were lots of soldiers around me, and they all began to hit me with their weapons and to kick me. I was half in a faint. Mostly, I remember the feet kicking me [... ]. One soldier dressed me because I was in so much pain that I couldn’t dress myself. Transport to the transit point After the arrest, the detainees were taken, handcuffed and blindfolded, to an army vehicle. Forty detainees stated that they were made to sit on the floor of the vehicle. In some cases, they were required to kneel on the floor, head facing down, throughout the entire journey. In some instances, the detainees were made to lie stretched out on the floor of the vehicle. Several detainees reported that a dog was held next to them in the vehicle during the journey. Many reported that the soldiers were extremely violent towards them. Twenty-seven detainees reported suffering incredible pain, loss of sensation, swelling, wounds, and scars because their hands were bound too tightly with plastic cuffs. In many cases, their request to loosen them was answered by a further tightening of the cuffs. The symptoms often continued long after the cuffs were removed. In April 2010, following a petition filed by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, the state informed the Supreme Court about a new procedure that was intended to prevent painful cuffing.6 The new procedure was instituted after the period reviewed in this report. However, information gathered by HaMoked and B’Tselem indicates that soldiers continue to cuff detainees painfully after their arrest. The fact remains that the authorities did nothing to stop the practice, which was known for years, until just prior to the court hearing. The testimony of Munir Mahrum, from Nablus, who was 23 when arrested, is indicative of the routine practice in this matter. Fifteen minutes later [after the arrest], they took me down to the jeep. They blindfolded me and threw me into the middle [of the jeep]. They told me to kneel on the floor. There were five or six soldiers surrounding me. I think that two of them, not all of them, hit me with their helmets during the whole trip. Each time I asked them to loosen the cuffs, which were very tight, one of them hit me. I told him to look at my hands, because I felt something was happening to them. To this day, my right thumb shakes as if it’s still numb. At Huwara, they took me to a sergeant. He took off the cuffs. My hands were swollen and blue. Transit stage Most of the detainees were taken to an interim location, or a number of interim locations one after the other, where the authorities carried out administrative procedures and passed the detainee from hand to hand. An interim location can be a settlement, an army base, a checkpoint, or even a road intersection. In most cases it is a temporary detention facility in the West Bank. The administrative procedures typically included a brief medical interview or superficial medical examination and depositing of the detainee’s personal items. Some of the detainees were treated violently and were degraded during this stage, too. Ahmad Abu Dra’, a high-school pupil from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus who was 17 at the time, related how soldiers humiliated him while he was blindfolded and his hands were bound behind him with plastic cuffs. One soldier grabbed my shirt near my left shoulder and started to run. I was wearing two pants – pajamas and jeans on top of them. The jeans fell a bit and I couldn’t run. I asked them to let me pick up my pants, but they refused. The soldier pulled me with force while my pants were down. I could barely run, but I had no choice. I barely kept from falling. After a while, we stopped. I heard a lot of soldiers around me. They were all laughing. One soldier grabbed me and told me to walk. I did as he said, and suddenly my head hit a wall and I fell on my back. They all laughed. Twenty-five detainees related that they were held for a long time outside, immediately after the arrest or during the transit stage. Many of the detainees were not given an opportunity to take warm clothes, even though they were held out in the cold and sometimes in rain. Some of the detainees were kept for hours, and even days, at an interim location. Some were held for hours without being transferred to a proper cell, and were not even provided food. Then, another force took them to the ISA facility in Petah Tikva. In some cases, the soldiers did not reply to detainees’ questions as to where they were being taken, increasing feelings of loss of control and disorientation. During intake at the Petah Tikva facility, the detainees were subjected to a full body search in the nude, and another medical examination. Some were then taken to cells, and others to interrogation rooms. Detention at the Petah Tikva facility During the time they were held at the facility, which lasted in some cases some two months, the detainees were either held in their cell or in the interrogation room. When they were being taken from one to the other, their hands were bound and their eyes covered. None of them were taken, even once, to a yard for exercise. The detainees were taken out of their cells only for interrogation, in a rare meeting with an attorney or with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, during showers or visits to the medical clinic, or when they were taken to a military court to extend the detention. The latter did not occur frequently, as the extensions were generally given for eight days and more. A special directive enables extension of the detention also when the detainee is not present, as occurred in at least one case. Meetings with ICRC representatives took place in a designated room, usually relatively late in the detention period. Several detainees stated that they met such a representative only in the fourth week of their detention. Meetings with attorneys, if they took place, were no more than a brief exchange in the military court. Also, showers were usually taken outside the cell. Some detainees were taken to the facility’s medical clinic. The cell The testimonies indicate that there are several kinds of cells in the Petah Tikva facility, differing primarily in size. The smallest cells can contain only one person, with the thin mattress covering almost all the floor, apart from a squat toilet. Detainees estimated the size of such cells at about 1.5 X 2 meters. The larger cells hold groups of detainees whose interrogation has ended, and are also only big enough to accommodate the mattress given to each detainee. The official Feuchtwanger report corroborates that, “the detention cells are very small (the size differs depending on the number of detainees the cell is supposed to hold), and are only large enough to lay mattresses for the number of persons occupying the cell.”7 At least some of the cells had such a low ceiling that detainees reported they could touch it when standing. The walls of the cells are concrete-grey and rough, with pieces jutting out, so that a person cannot lean against them. Movement is highly limited, as the detainee cannot lean against the wall when either standing or sitting, and the small space restricts walking to a few steps back and forth. The cells are ventilated by what appears to be an air-conditioning system controlled from outside the cell. Thirty-one detainees stated that the air flowing into the cell was too cold or too hot, and that their complaints about the temperature were ignored. Maher Samaru, an economics student from Nablus who was 24 when arrested, suffers from asthma. He had an asthma attack due to the suffocating conditions in the cell. He was only provided with an inhaler after the attack, and another detainee was put in the cell to watch over him. Another detainee, a minor who is asthmatic, had an inhaler from the start. He reported that his asthma worsened in the cell and that he had to use the inhaler more often than before. The detainees stated that an electric bulb lights the cell 24 hours a day, and the detainee is unable to change its intensity or turn it off. This creates severe distress and causes eye pain, headaches, and vision problems. Apparently, at least one of the cells is completely soundproof. In the other cells, the detainees could hear disturbing sounds, such as monotonous dripping of water on tin or the banging of metal doors, and also sounds that eased the sense of isolation and disorientation in time, such as other detainees calling worshippers to prayer. Some of the detainees noted that the monotonous noise of the ventilation system disturbed their sleep. Ninety-four of the detainees were held in isolation during part of their time at the facility. This mostly occurred at the beginning of the detention period, but some were held in isolation again later on, at times even after their interrogation had been completed. A person held in isolation has no contact with other detainees, and not even with the jailer who bring his meals, as they are passed through an opening in the cell door. Muhammad Qut, an education student from the village of Madama, stated that he had been placed in isolation after denying the allegations against him during interrogation. [The interrogator] took me down to the cell. He said that there was no need to go back to him again, that he was sending me to Cell 9 and wouldn’t call for me. If I wanted to talk to him and confess, I should knock on the door of the cell and the jailer would bring me to him to confess. He took me to the cell. It’s like a small grave, about 2x3 meters in size. There’s a very small toilet in it and a disgusting smell, a damp smell that’s hard to describe. The light is red and strong, and it makes your head and eyes hurt. I felt dizzy inside the cell. It’s about two meters high. When you stand, if you’re a bit tall, you can touch the ceiling. There are a mattress and a blanket that must be dozens of years old. It’s a joke to call them a mattress and blanket. The walls are grey. If you hit the wall, your hand gets wounded, because the walls are rough. When you’re alone, you feel frustrated. You feel like hanging yourself. If you don’t have strong faith in God, you can easily kill yourself. [We] stayed alive in the cell only because death forgot us, and not for any other reason. I stayed there alone for about ten days. I had enough. I remembered that Doron [the interrogator] said that when I finished everything I had to say and confessed to the accusations, he would move me immediately to prison. I decided to go up to him and accept whatever happens. I thought to myself, I want to get out of here, because Doron said that if I don’t confess, I’ll sit alone in the cell for a hundred days. At the time, I had said to him, “so be it.” But I couldn’t stand this suffering. I barely survived ten days. I counted the days based on the prayer times and the call to prayers that the other prisoners made. I banged on the door for the jailer and asked him to take me to Doron. The effect of isolation varies from person to person. Marwan Ne’irat, a plasterer and father of six from the village Meithalun, who was 45 when arrested, related in his testimony: At first, I was alone [in the cell]. I told them that I’m a sick man, and that if something happens when I’m alone, nobody will know. So they put another person in the cell. It didn’t bother me that he was an informer who was supposed to get me to talk. When you’re alone, you need to talk to somebody, even the wall. So you’re happy that they bring in somebody, it doesn’t matter who. I’ll tell you something ironic: when the interrogator left me tied to the chair for hours [in the interrogation room], I hoped he’d come back, even if it meant more punishment for things he might force me to say – just so I wouldn’t be tied to the chair, alone, in a lonely and frightening place. Hygienic conditions Every cell has a squat toilet, with the mattress or mattresses taking up the rest of the space. Detainees who are not physically fit have trouble using it. For instance, Rabe’ah Sa’id, a widow and mother of six from Nablus who was 63 at the time, said that she was unable to use the toilet at all. The detainees consistently described the cells as reeking and moldy, with a stench of sewage filling the cell, especially after a detainee relieves himself. In some cases, the sewage pipe was blocked and the toilet emptied very slowly. In others, wastewater from the toilet or water from the faucet flooded the cell. Many detainees stated that the cells were filthy, and were either not cleaned at all by the facility staff or were not cleaned often enough to ensure basic hygiene. The staff did not give detainees materials to clean the cells themselves. Several detainees managed to obtain such materials after repeated insistence. All the detainees were provided with a thin mattress and a few blankets, which they also described as moldy and smelly. Not one testimony mentioned that the dirty blankets were replaced by clean ones; all requests for a change of blankets were refused. Most of the detainees were not provided with basic hygienic items, such as toilet paper, soap, towel, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Some received them only after a long time in detention, or following repeated demands, or after they complained to the ICRC. Forty-two detainees volunteered the information that they were not provided a change of clothes when necessary, including undergarments. Thirty-two of them were given a change of clothes only after they had been at the facility for more than a week, or were not given a change of clothes at all during their detention.8 As mentioned above, the detainees were arrested in the clothes they were wearing, and were not allowed to take a change of clothes with them. In many cases, the first time the detainee was given a change of clothes was after he or she met with a representative of the ICRC. For example, Qaysar Diq, a resident of a-Diq village who was 24 when arrested, related that he remained in the same shirt and pants for 65 days, and that two weeks passed before he was given a change of undergarments, after repeated pleading. Marwan Ne’irat was arrested at Allenby Bridge, which connects the West Bank with Jordan, on his return from Jordan.9 He related: They let me take a shower three days after I asked for one. They didn’t give me a change of underwear. Johnson, the interrogator, shouted that I was disgusting, that I smelled stinky and disgusting, and told them: “Take him away from me, he stinks.” He insulted me that way a few times. He pretended that he couldn’t stand being next to me because I stink, and left the room. I really did smell, but it wasn’t my fault. I was very offended. I told him, “I’m a person who keeps clean, I shower every day. You don’t give a change of underwear. What do you want from me? If you don’t have underwear to give me, open my suitcase. You know I was on a trip and came back with a suitcase, so take out underwear from there.” They refused. It took them twenty more days to give me a change of underwear. A document presented to detainees at intake details the conditions to which they are entitled and their “duties” toward the facility authorities. Showering is listed as a condition to which they are entitled. However, 35 detainees reported that they were not given the opportunity to shower for part of the time. Even when they were given access to a shower, some were not given soap and a towel. In some cases, detainees were provided a small, hard piece of soap and a towel that disgusted them. Some detainees reported that they were given a very short time to shower. One was convinced that there were no showers at the facility. Many of the detainees reported that they developed skin problems during, and after, their detention at the facility. Treatment of minors Eighteen of the detainees were minors (under the age of 18) at the time they were arrested. Their testimonies indicate that their legal status as minors had no effect at all on their treatment by the soldiers or the facility authorities. Like the adults, they were arrested at home, in the dead of night, and soldiers treated them violently on the way to the Petah Tikva facility. Their descriptions of the conditions at the facility, including the physical state of the cells and the denial of basic hygiene, match the adult testimonies. During interrogation, they, too, were held for many hours on a chair, with their hands cuffed behind the backrest and their legs sometimes bound. Like the adults, the minors did not receive legal advice while they were held at the facility. Only in one matter did the authorities take care to comply with a directive regarding minors: separating them from the adult detainees. As the minors were not spared the manipulation of transferring them to “informer wings,” the special care given to separating them from adults is somewhat absurd: in these wings, the informer was placed in a cell adjacent to that of the minor, and solicited him to confess to the allegations against him through a small opening between the cells. Food Some of the detainees were not fed in an orderly manner, or at all, on the first day of their detention. Most of the arrests were carried out in the early hours of the morning, and the first interrogation at the Petah Tikva facility sometimes lasted until the early hours of the following morning, without a break for food. Some detainees were given their first meal on the way to the cell at the end of that interrogation. The denial of food can only in some cases be explained by missing set mealtimes at the facility; even then, it stands to reason that the interrogators are capable of arranging for food if they wish. In other cases, detainees reached the facility in time for a meal, yet were denied it. After the initial interrogation, three meals were served each day, the last in the afternoon. After detainees complained during the visit of officials from the Ministry of Justice, some detainees reported that they were given bread with something to spread on it in the evenings. A clear majority of the detainees (80 of the 121) stated that food was of poor quality and quantity. One after another described food that was unidentifiable: rice that was undercooked or that was cooked but had grown stale; hardboiled eggs that had grown stale and had a blackish or bluish hue; chicken with feathers still in it; etc. Many detainees said that the cooked food was served cold. A great many detainees found the food so revolting that they did not touch it or ate only parts of it. Some said that, throughout their detention at the facility, they were constantly hungry, and many reported significant weight loss. These detainees cannot be accused of fastidiousness. They reported that when they were transferred to “informer wings” in other detention facilities, they were given “real food” of good quality. It is clear, therefore, that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) is capable of providing decent food, and that the food at the Petah Tikva facility is poor in comparison to the standard at some, at least, of the other prisons in Israel. Since many detainees reported that they returned dishes without touching them, or having eaten only part of them, it can be assumed that the authorities are well aware that detainees at the facility do not consume enough to meet the nutritional standard set by the IPS. The authorities are certainly also aware of the detainees’ weight loss during their detention at the Petah Tikva facility. The detainees were weighed at intake, both at the facility and later, at the prison to which they were transferred. HaMoked obtained copies of parts of several detainees’ medical files, in which the weight loss is evident. Treatment of women Four women were in the sample of detainees. Their testimonies indicate that they were held in conditions similar to those described by the men: narrow, filthy cells, reeking squat toilets, and constant lighting that induced suffering. They, too, described poor food. Three of the women were held in total isolation, except when female informers were put in their cells. Nili Sa’id described the consequences: “The interrogator said he would make me miss sitting on the interrogation chair. And that‘s what happened. When I was alone and nobody talked to me, I wanted them to take me to the chair, because there, at least someone would talk to me.” Her mother-in-law, Rabe’ah Sa’id, was held for only one night, in a cell with another woman.10 They were treated relatively better, as they were held in the “VIP cell” and interrogated with only one hand cuffed to the chair, or with their hands completely free. The other three women were held in the worst of the regular cells, and were denied showers. Their hands were bound behind the backrest of the chair during interrogation. Interrogation of a woman by a man, in an environment that is predominantly masculine, is threatening even when another woman is present in the room. One of the detainees reported that interrogators swore at her using sexually evocative language. Another, whose husband had been imprisoned for eight years at the time, related that an interrogator asked her rudely if she was pregnant, and threatened to start a rumor that she was engaged in an extramarital affair that had led to pregnancy. Such a threat is not only humiliating and sexually invasive, but also endangers the detainee’s reputation and, indeed, her physical safety after returning home. In this way, the interrogator not only exploited the menacing experience of the interrogation itself, but also exploited the witness’ underprivileged status and the dangers she faces as a woman in a conservative society. The interrogation room When the detainees were not in cells, they were usually in interrogation rooms. The time in the interrogation room was sometimes short, and at other times, lasted most of the day, day after day. Many were held in an interrogation room for long periods of time without being questioned, and even with no interrogator present. In certain ways, being held in the interrogation room continued the deprivation of stimuli and enhanced the deterioration in the detainee’s physical condition. On the other hand, detainees were relieved by the transfer out of the cell. Most of the cells are underground, or were perceived thus by the detainees. The interrogation rooms, by contrast, are aboveground and have windows, enabling the detainee to know if it is day or night. Detainees were also able to regain a measure of orientation by noting the time on the telephone on the interrogator’s desk or on his watch. However, the restriction on movement is even greater in the interrogation room. The entire time in the room, detainees sat on a chair with a metal frame, a backrest, and a hard plastic seat, which was anchored to the floor. They sat with their back to the backrest, their hands cuffed behind it. The cuffs were attached to a chain running through a ring in the backrest. Sometimes, the detainee’s legs were cuffed to each other, and sometimes also to the legs of the chair. Detainees rarely had one, or both, hands free. In several cases, detainees were required to hold their legs stretched back, behind the front legs of the chair. Often, detainees were bound to the chair, unable to move, from morning until their return to the cell at night, with only short breaks. This occurred day after day, and sometimes even for a whole day and longer. The only breaks from the rigid sitting position occurred when walking to the bathroom and during the short meal breaks, which were provided in a very small cell adjacent to the interrogation room. Several detainees stated that the interrogators prevented them from going to the bathroom, or delayed their going. In some cases, the detainees were not given a break to eat, although they were in the interrogation room at mealtimes. Consequently, the whole time in the interrogation room, which could last from fifteen minutes or less to a full day and longer (with short breaks), the detainees had almost no chance to move. This constitutes sensory deprivation and weakens the body. Prolonged sitting in the same position prevented the detainees from sleeping and caused intense physical pain. Detainees reported that the prolonged binding to the chair made their hands and legs numb and caused pain in their arms, back, neck, hip, and waist. Several detainees developed hemorrhoids. Detainees who arrived in the facility with hemorrhoids reported that their condition deteriorated and that they suffered anal bleeding. Documentation on hemorrhoids and back pain appears also in the medical files of some of the detainees that HaMoked obtained. Nine detainees reported that they felt cold while in the interrogation room and that the interrogator lowered the temperature on the air-conditioner when he left the room, leaving the detainee helplessly exposed to the increased cold. Cursing and threats Forty-three of the detainees reported that interrogators addressed them with swear words and degrading language. Some of the cursing related to relatives of the detainees and to Islam. Most detainees preferred not to repeat the precise words, but described cursing of a sexual or humiliating nature. Sixty-eight detainees reported that interrogators threatened them. The most severe examples included threats to hold the detainee in isolation for many months, sexual threats, threats of beating, and the threat of a “military interrogation,” which the detainees understood to mean intense physical torture. Two detainees were threatened with receiving electric shocks. Another recurring threat was to be held in administrative detention, including threats to extend such a detention indefinitely. Use of relatives as a means of pressure Forty-three detainees related that interrogators exploited their relationships with their families to pressure them. Interrogators used swear words relating to family members, especially profanities of a sexual nature regarding women in the family. Interrogators also threatened to detain relatives or harm them. Several detainees were shown family members who had been arrested; in a few other cases, interrogators tried to pressure the detainee by exploiting his concern for his relatives and the fact that he missed them.12 ‘Abd a-Rahim Ratrut, a father of four from Nablus, worked in Israel as a car mechanic prior to his detention, at the age of 40. He stated: The thing that hurt me most was the interrogator’s threat to bring my son ‘Adel, who is seventeen, to the facility. It tore my heart. He also said from time to time that he would bring my wife, and that he was prepared to bring all my friends from Nablus to get me to confess. According to Ratrut, interrogators also threatened to arrange for his mother, brothers, and sisters to be killed, and for the family house to be demolished. Baker Sa’id, a father of four from Nablus and an owner of a shoe-production business, was 43 in 2009. He was under administrative detention and was brought to the Petah Tikva facility from Ketziot Prison. He was questioned for only two hours during the entire three weeks that he was held at the facility. During the short interrogation, he encountered his brother, ‘Ali Sai’d, who was also being interrogated there. It is highly likely that the objective was to pressure ‘Ali. Their mother, Rabe’ah Sa’id, 63, and Ali’s wife, Nili Sa’id, 33, were also held there at the time.13 Rabe’ah Sa’id suffers from low blood pressure. She related: The female soldier [probably a police officer or jailer] and another policeman put me in a small cell, with rough walls and ceiling and yellow lighting that bothered my eyes [... ]. I couldn’t squat to use the toilet because I suffer from pain in my legs, because of my age [... ]. I sat down on the mattress and fell asleep from sheer exhaustion, I don’t know for how long. When I woke up, I started knocking on the cell door to get them to bring a doctor because I felt my blood pressure was dropping, and I was nauseous and exhausted [... ]. The policeman and the female soldier came and took me from the cell. I thought they were going to take me to the doctor’s room, but they took me to an interrogation room. The female soldier sat me on a chair that was fixed to the floor and tied one of my hands to it. I told the interrogator that I wouldn’t cooperate and answer his questions unless he called a doctor to come and examine me. I shouted and spoke loudly. I noticed that the interrogator didn’t speak a lot. Later, I was told that he did that so I would continue shouting and asking for treatment, while they held my sons, Baker and ‘Ali, in the next room. My sons heard me shouting in pain and asking to see a doctor, and I didn’t even know. Her grandson, Sa’id Sa’id, an 18-year-old economics student who worked in the family shoe business, was also being held at the facility and heard her voice. Later, she was also shown to her detained daughter-in-law, Nili Sa’id. Rabe’ah Sa’id was held for less than two days and then released – but not before she was taken to meet one of her sons. When I got to the interrogation room, I was surprised to see my son, ‘Ali. He was in a state of collapse and was crying because he was worried about me. He told me that he was ready to bear anything at all for the sake of my wellbeing. Several detainees reported that the interrogators extorted a confession from them in exchange for a telephone conversation with their family. One of these was ‘Abd al-Hai Hamad, an economics student from Nablus who was 18 at the time. He gave a confession to the interrogator after he was told that another person had incriminated him. He was brought before a policeman to sign a written confession and was given the standard warning that he was entitled to consult with an attorney. Consequently, he refused to sign before meeting with an attorney. He was put in isolation for several days, and, at some point, an informer was put in the cell with him to persuade him to sign the statement. He maintained his refusal to sign. After four days, they took me back up to the interrogator. I still insisted that I wouldn’t sign anything without talking to an attorney. He said that I must be dangerous, otherwise why would I need an attorney. I was scared. I said, “No, I want to see an attorney so he can give my regards to my family, and not in order to talk about my case, because I don’t have anything to hide.” He said, “There’s a solution. If I let you call your family, will you sign a statement?” I said, “Yes.” He let me talk to my family for two minutes. Then he said my matter was simple, nothing to it, so there was no reason to delay it. In exchange for the conversation with my family, he wanted me to sign a statement. I agreed because I had promised. I signed the confession [... ]. He put me back in the cell [... ]. I stayed alone for about three days [...]. Binding of hands and legs to a metal sheet Thaer Abu ‘Abda, from the ‘Askar refugee camp in Nablus, left school in the ninth grade and began working in a bakery. Later, he opened a family bakery. At 22, he was arrested. In his affidavit, he related: I didn’t know what day it was, and whether it was day or night [... ]. The interrogation went on and on. My back started to hurt in the area by my kidneys and hip, and I also felt pain in the back of my neck and in my shoulders. My head hurt terribly. My legs, from the knee down, hurt too. They were quite numb, and I could hardly feel anything. My whole body hurt [...]. When I was in the cell, I had an unbearable headache. I banged on the door and called for the jailer. I asked him to take me to the clinic. He refused and said, “There’s no clinic now. Go to sleep”[... ]. A few minutes later, he brought me supper. I took the plastic spoon and told him that if he didn’t take me to a doctor, I would kill myself. I started cutting my left hand and it bled a bit. That scared him. He called some other jailers. They came in, cuffed my hands, and took me to the clinic. A doctor treated the wounds and put a sort of black plastic bag on my head for a few seconds and then took it off. I don’t know why. I told him I’d done it because I was sick and they hadn’t brought me to the clinic, and that anyway, my interrogation was over, so why shouldn’t they transfer me to prison. I had already signed the last statement by then. The doctor didn’t say anything. He just gave me a small, brown tranquilizer pill. He handed me over to the jailers, who took me back to the same cell, but now there was a kind of metal sheet, about the size of a door, inside it. There were rings along the edges of the metal sheet, and a mattress laid on it. They laid me down on the mattress and tied my hands and legs to the rings, so I was in a crucified position. They left me like that until morning. I yelled all night long. I didn’t get a wink of sleep. I felt like my hands and legs were being ripped off me, and that my back was about to break. I yelled all night, and they pretended they didn’t hear me. The next day, they took me to Megiddo [Prison]. Abu ‘Abda’s testimony is supported by his medical file. According to the file, on 22 March 2009, he was brought to the clinic complaining of a headache, dizziness, and lower-back pain, and was given one tablet of Optalgin (a pain-killer). The next day, he was brought to the clinic and the physician reported a complaint of “general pressure”, and gave him Calmanervin (a sedative). A day later, he arrived at the clinic with wounds that the physician noted he had inflicted on himself. The file also includes a directive given by the head of the facility to bind Abu ‘Abda’s hands and legs to a bed for twenty-four hours – an unusual action, which appeared in only one other testimony. Sleep deprivation Many detainees reported severe sleep deprivation, due to the means described above or to being held for long periods in an interrogation room, with very short breaks back in the cell. Thirteen detainees stated they had been denied sleep for more than 24 hours. Detainees reported that the sleep deprivation resulted in trembling, eye pains, headaches, and a drugged feeling, and increased their disorientation and distress. As previously described, a great many detainees were arrested at home, in the early hours of the morning. The period of detention therefore began with a sleep deficit, as they could not complete the night’s sleep. Until late morning, they were handcuffed, often in a way that caused excruciating pain; abused by soldiers; and all were transferred between vehicles and temporary holding places, and underwent searches, medical checks, and so forth. Most were interrogated shortly after they finally arrived at the Petah Tikva facility, some until late at night, without a moment’s sleep. For example, a student from Nablus, who was 24 when arrested and wishes to remain anonymous, reported that he was arrested at his home at 3:00 A.M. and taken to the Petah Tikva facility. When he was taken into the interrogation room, he caught a glimpse of the jailer’s watch and saw that it was 6:30 a.m. He was interrogated the whole day, with no breaks, while bound to the chair, and could not sleep. When he was finally taken to a cell, he asked the time, and the jailer said it was 1:30 a.m. In the cell, he ate for the first time since he was arrested. The interrogation started again at 7:30 A.M. Fawzi Q’aqurah, an education student from Tul Karm who was 22 when arrested, stated that he was arrested at 2 A.M. and taken to the facility. On arrival, a staff member told him that authorization had been given to deprive him of sleep for 80 hours. He estimates that he slept a total of some three hours during the two and a half days following his arrest. Nabil ‘Antar, a father of three from Nablus and an aluminum shop owner, was 34 when arrested. At the beginning of his detention at the Petah Tikva facility, he underwent an especially long interrogation, during which he was bound to the chair from beginning to end, unable to sleep or move. Sometimes, I couldn’t stay awake and nodded off in the chair. The interrogator wouldn’t let me. He shouted and woke me up. He yelled, “Look me in the eye, don’t take your eyes off me.” He didn’t let me stretch my legs. He shouted every time I changed position. Every new interrogator used the same method, and made sure I didn’t sleep. […]. The interrogator shook me to wake me up, and shouted. It was like I was hearing his voice from far away. I didn’t really get what he was saying because I was exhausted, wiped out. I had a headache and my eyes and neck hurt. The back of my neck really hurt, and so did my knees and lower back. My arms hurt from my elbows to my wrists. The palms of my hands really hurt. They felt numb and almost paralyzed most of the time. After the first interrogation, the detainees were still not allowed to sleep enough. The constant artificial lighting in the cell made it hard for them to fall asleep, and made the sleep itself poor. This was exacerbated by the cold, by the extremely thin mattress, by the stench, by noise made by other detainees, and by jailers’ random banging on the door, according to several detainees. Those whom soldiers beat especially severely during the arrest, or who suffered intense back pain because of the long hours of sitting during interrogation, said they had difficulty sleeping also because of the pain. A number of detainees described several days in a row of especially intense interrogation, in which they were kept in the interrogation room almost all the time. They were taken for interrogation in the morning and returned to their cells in the early hours of the next morning, only to be awakened for breakfast and more interrogation. Time in the interrogation room was devoted mostly to interrogation, including shouts and threats, by one or more interrogators. However, some detainees recall situations in which the interrogators left the room, leaving the detainee bound to the chair, with a jailer remaining to prevent him from falling asleep. Physical violence In the 1990s, the use of direct physical violence against detainees was common ISA interrogation practice. One method formally allowed was “shaking,” which even caused the death of a detainee.15 This practice, among others, was prohibited by Israel’s High Court of Justice in 1999. B'Tselem’s and HaMoked’s 2007 report Absolute Prohibition documented six methods of direct physical violence used in ISA interrogations: dry beatings (including kicking); maximum tightening of handcuffs; sudden pulling forward of the body; sharp twisting of the head to the side or backward; forced crouching in the “frog” position; and forced bending backwards (the “banana” position).16 The present research reveals that at least three of these methods are still in use: dry beatings, sharp twisting of the head sideways or backwards, and sudden pulling of the body. Some of the testimonies on violent treatment do not precisely match one of these methods, but are similar in style. According to the 2007 report, the three other methods were used only against “senior detainees,” i.e., persons who were detained in circumstances indicating that the authorities deemed their interrogation especially important or urgent. These methods were not reported in the present research. Eleven detainees reported that interrogators used direct physical violence against them. For example, ‘Adel Dweikat, a student of Islam from Nablus who was 25 when arrested, related: On the evening of Monday, 19 January 2009, I was bound to a chair in the interrogation room with an interrogator who identified himself as “Doron.” He got up and walked over to me, and with one hand, pushed my chin so my head turned backward. With his other hand, he punched me in the chest. Muhammad Nazal, a computer-software student from Qalqilya who was 20 when arrested, described another way of head pushing: [The interrogator who called himself] Akiva grabbed my face with his hand and pressed hard, turning my head. ‘Ali Shtiyeh related another kind of physical violence.17 The interrogation lasted from ten in the morning, on 14 February 2009, to four in the morning the next day. There were four interrogators in the room. They slapped me and spit in my face. One of them sat on the table opposite me, put his foot on my chest, and pushed me with his leg, while I was cuffed. The effect of these violent acts is twofold: not only are they harmful in themselves, but they also lend credence to threats of other forms of violence, including threats of a “military interrogation,” increasing the detainee’s anxiety. Use of informers and other interrogation methods In several cases, interrogators confronted two detainees suspected of the same act. The confrontation was carried out in an interrogation room, or, in a more sophisticated way, by using two adjacent cells designated for this purpose, enabling the detainees to talk with each other through a pipe between them. Another method, which was repeatedly mentioned in testimonies, was polygraph testing (as it was presented to the detainees). Planting informers in the cell to get detainees to talk was an integral part of the authorities’ treatment of most detainees. Unlike the methods described in previous chapters, this measure is not forbidden, though it may be illegitimate in certain circumstances, such as when the informer pretends to be an attorney. In some cases, informers were used inside the Petah Tikva facility. Many detainees reported that, part of the time, they were held in a cell with another person, who asked them questions relating to the subject on which they were being interrogated, bothered them in a way that prevented them from sleeping, or acted in an obscene manner (for example, when using the toilet), which increased their distress. A few of the detainees mentioned that they were held with a person resembling Marwan Barghouti, who professed to be his brother and offered to help them. The same informer, apparently, told different detainees that he was an attorney, or that he represented the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, an organization that provides legal aid to detainees. Many detainees said that persons who appeared to be fellow detainees “prepared” them for being transferred to prison, based on their alleged experience. They told the detainees that once in prison, they would be contacted by a prisoner appointed by Palestinian organizations as a “security coordinator,” and that they must tell him everything about their actions. Many detainees were indeed transferred, temporarily, to other facilities, being told that their interrogation had ended and they were being transferred to a regular prison. They were placed in “informer wings,” in cells with informers who tried to get them to provide information. This mostly occurred after the interrogation had reached a dead-end – the detainee had admitted certain things (or nothing) and provided no further information. A considerable number of detainees were transferred to Wing 12 in Megiddo Prison, and the description that follows is based principally on their testimonies. The few detainees who were transferred to “informer wings” at Kishon Prison, the Russian Compound, Ashkelon Prison, and a prison in Beersheva described slightly different, but essentially similar proceedings. According to the testimonies, upon arrival at the new prison the detainee was taken to a wing holding a large number of persons, whom he assumed were prisoners. Conditions in the wing were described as completely different from the deprivation at Petah Tikva: excellent food, a yard that the detainees are allowed to use, TVs, free access to showers, and so forth. The “prisoners” knew how to impress the detainees and gain their trust: according to detainees, they came across as strictly observant Muslims, making sure, for instance, to hold all required prayers (and sometimes more). Other detainees related that they played intellectual games and sports. They spoke of their impressive past in the Palestinian resistance movement. After a period of adjustment to the prison, the detainee was approached by a person who identified himself as a “security coordinator” on behalf of Palestinian organizations, and demanded information about the detainee’s activity in the framework of resistance to Israel. The pretext given was that the information was needed so that the Palestinian leadership within the prison could determine which wing the detainee would be moved to, send messages to the detainee’s associates who were not in prison, and remove suspicion that the detainee was a collaborator. Many detainees said that they were also promised to be moved to a wing with relatives, to make contact with their families, and to receive a good lawyer. In some cases, a letter addressed to the detainee was “smuggled” into the wing, seemingly from one of the Palestinian organizations, ordering him to cooperate with the security coordinator. While many of the detainees said they suspected that persons held in the cell with them in Petah Tikva were collaborators, most fell for the trap once they were in the “informer wings.” After he had finished relaying his incriminating information to the informers, or when he made it clear that he suspected them, the detainee was taken from the cell under various pretexts and returned to the Petah Tikva facility. Naturally, the ISA does not use this maneuver on experienced detainees, who have been interrogated and imprisoned in the past. End of detention in the Petah Tikva facility After their transfer back to the Petah Tikva facility, the detainees returned to the previous conditions of alternating between the cell and the interrogation room. Generally, as time passed, they were taken less frequently to the interrogation room, and the interrogations were shorter. At some point, the interrogations stopped altogether, and detainees were held only in their cell for quite a prolonged period, with rare exits to go to court and a daily visit to the shower room (if the cell did not have one). A small number of detainees were kept in isolation at this stage, without the relative relief of being taken to the interrogation room. Mahmud Za’ul, a construction worker in Israel from the village of Husan, who was 22 when arrested, relates that he was held in isolation for 20 days after his last interrogation. Many detainees were held in this way even after an indictment had been filed against them and their detention extended until the end of the criminal proceedings. For example, Ibrahim Shalaldeh, a father of four and a construction worker from the village of Sa’ir, who was 31 when arrested, stated: The policeman wrote down my confession [... ]. The next day, my detention was extended for another twelve days in Petah Tikva. From that day on, I wasn’t interrogated at all, and sat alone in the cell. Then, my detention was extended for another eight days there. I was in Petah Tikva for about sixty five days, and in forty to forty-five of them I wasn’t interrogated. The last five days were the only time that I was with other people. I requested a meeting to ask why they were still holding me, but the interrogator refused. The practice of holding detainees in cells for lengthy periods after their interrogation ends was also criticized in the Feuchtwanger report of the visit to the facility: The principal problem that arose in conversations with the detainees related to the length of their detention in the facility, and to uncertainty whether they would continue to be held there or would be transferred to IPS facilities [... ]. The case of one detainee Court proceedings and prevention of meetings with attorneys and representatives of organizations As a rule, every detainee in Israel has the right to meet immediately with an attorney. However, in security-related offenses, the authorities have the power to prevent such meetings. The ISA uses this exceptional power routinely. Some of the detainees related that the interrogator told them explicitly that they were denied a meeting with an attorney, but they were not told for how long. At any rate, orders preventing meetings with attorneys are repeatedly extended. Our research shows that, in the typical case, the detainee does not receive legal advice – whether due to an order preventing meeting with a lawyer, to the detainee’s family not retaining a lawyer, or because none of the volunteer organizations engaged in defending detainees sent a lawyer. During extensions of the detention period, held at court, the detainee is usually represented by counsel, most often an attorney from one of the Palestinians organizations that provides legal aid to detainees. It is also possible that detainees are represented without being aware of it, in those cases where they are prevented from meeting the attorney and the situation is not explained to them. In the cases in which detainees stated that they had been represented, the representation mostly focused on the extension of detention, and did not include a meaningful meeting with the lawyer on the detainee's rights in interrogation and detention. Many detainees did not understand the detention proceedings or their legal status. Several detainees stated that the interrogator told them in advance for how many days their detention would be extended, and that this was always correct. [The interrogator who went by the name of] Doron said I was prevented from meeting a lawyer, but didn’t say for how long [... ]. I didn’t understand anything in court. They only explained to me at the end that my detention had been extended. I never spoke with the judge, and I didn’t complain about the isolation, or that they were holding me without interrogating me, because I didn’t know I was allowed to speak in court at all. I knew to enter, stand and sit, and that they extended my detention. The only thing I said was my name. Exploitation of the detainee’s medical condition “A”, from Nablus, was 19 when he was arrested. He suffers from a mental disorder, for which he regularly takes psychiatric medication. When soldiers came to arrest him, he was not at home. He later turned himself in to the army, accompanied by his father. His father gave his son’s medication and a medical document indicating his condition to a person introduced to him as a “captain” (apparently, an ISA agent). The father was told that his son would be released within ten minutes or so. In fact, “A” was held for almost six months, and, at first, the authorities did not inform his family of his whereabouts. In the Petah Tikva facility, he was not given his medication and was held in a standard cell. In the interrogation room, in addition to his hands being tied to the backrest of the chair, his legs were bound to each other and to the legs of the chair. After about one day in the facility, he had an attack. He described it: I started to shout. I thought there were monsters in the cell. During an attack, I turn into a different person. I become violent and go wild. On the outside, when I had an attack, I would hit and break things. I usually didn’t remember what I’d done. In the cell, I really went wild and banged on the door and the walls. I screamed that I wanted cigarettes. Rather than taking “A” to a clinic and having him treated by medical staff, he was taken to an interrogator, who gave him coffee and cake, and also medication. During the rest of his detention, the medication was given by the interrogator, and not by the medical staff. The interrogator also gave him cigarettes, to which the detainee was addicted. This unusual treatment, in comparison with other detainees, raises the suspicion that his condition was exploited to make him dependent on the interrogator. Later in his detention, he was transferred to the detention facility at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. He was held in a cell with informers who harassed him, and he had another attack. |
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