Jerusalem - An Israeli report published Wednesday strongly
criticized interrogation methods used by the Shin Bet internal
security organization against suspected Palestinian militants, saying
they constituted 'torture.'
The report said such methods were used on a routine basis against
any detainee deemed a 'ticking bomb.'
A 1999 Israeli Supreme Court ruling allowed the Shin Bet to use
methods of pressure against suspects if believed necessary to obtain
crucial information about pending suicide bombings, based on the
legal argument of 'the necessity of self-defence,' said the report by
the non-governmental Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
(PCATI).
But nine testimonies of Palestinians interrogated by the Shin Bet
and published in the report illustrate a 'widespread practice' in
which 'any Palestinian detainee might find himself tortured during
interrogation under the pretext that he is a 'ticking bomb',' said a
statement issued by the group.
The methods used by the Shin Bet include lengthy solitary
confinement, slapping, shaking, hooding, shackling, sleep
deprivation, exposure to cold and head, cursing, threatening,
psychological humiliation and denial of clean clothing, says the
PCATI.
One of the testimonies in the report, by Hamas suspect Bahjat
Yamen, 30, describes how, after being arrested in the West Bank city
of Qalqilya two years ago, he was interrogated uninterruptedly for
more than two days and nights, with the exception of two breaks of
under three hours.
His interrogators, he said, beat him in the stomach while he was
shackled to a chair, pressed a handcuff just below his elbow until
his arm swelled up and bled, and had him squat down while pushed him
backwards, causing tension and 'excruciating pain' in his back. He
also charged that they taped his own screams and played the tape as a
means of psychological pressure.
The interrogators also used what appeared to be the 'good cop, bad
cop' method, by letting the director of the facility in with tea-
biscuits and cola during a break.
Yamen said he was innocent, but after four or five days of
interrogation he broke down and confessed, after which he led Israeli
soldiers to an alleged weapons cache in Qalqiliya, which to the
troops' anger was found empty.
The Shin Bet said in a reaction that its methods used were 'legal'
in accordance with the supreme court ruling.
'The information obtained in these interrogations allows the
foiling and prevention of terrorist attacks,' it said in a statement
faxed to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
'Many Israeli civilians owe their lives to these actions,' it
said.
Israel says that, acing on information from arrested militants, in
the past six months alone it managed to tracked down 11 explosive
belts in the West Bank, of the kind used in deadly suicide bombings
in Israeli cities.
Article 2 of the 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture
allows 'no exceptional circumstances whatsoever,' including a state
of war or any emergency, as a justification of torture.
The convention, to which Israel is a signatory, defines torture as
any act that inflicts 'severe' pain or suffering on a person for the
purpose of obtaining information or a confession from him.
It excludes, however, pain or suffering arising from 'lawful
sanctions.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
Your Talkback on this Story