Dozens of Palestinian detainees abused: Israel rights groups

Accounts by 116 Palestinian detainees on the conditions at the Shikma interrogation facility, run by the Israeli Shin Bet internal security agency, were presented in a report by rights groups B’Tselem and HaMoked

JERUSALEM // Dozens of Palestinian detainees at an Israeli detention facility are subjected to mistreatment, which in some cases amounts to torture, said Israeli rights groups on Wednesday.

B’Tselem and HaMoked presented accounts by 116 Palestinian detainees in a report detailing conditions at the Shikma interrogation facility, run by the Israeli Shin Bet internal security agency.

It said the detainees were incarcerated in small, rank cells, often in isolation.

Palestinian detainees said they were at times exposed to extreme heat or cold, bound to a chair and denied access to a shower for days or weeks. They were shouted at and spat on, deprived of sleep and were provided little, substandard food, the report said.

“Conditions at the Shikma facility are an inherent part of interrogations there: they serve to weaken both mind and body, complementing the actual interrogation of detainees in the interrogation room,” the report said.

“The combination of conditions both in and outside the interrogation room constitutes abuse and inhuman, degrading treatment, at times even amounting to torture.”

Israeli agencies are bound by a supreme court’s 1999 prohibition on torture and work under legal supervision. Far more serious abuses of detainees are rampant in other countries across the region.

The report comes as Israel struggles to cope with months of near-daily Palestinian attacks on civilians and security forces.

In another attempted attack on Wednesday, the Israeli military said a Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli in the occupied West Bank and Israeli forces opened fire, fatally wounding the stabber’s target and injuring the attacker.

Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tzedek hospital, where both men were taken, said that the Israeli arrived in “critical condition” and later died of his injuries. The attacker was moderately wounded.

“An assailant attempted to stab an Israeli at the Gush Etzion junction,” the army said.

“Forces at the scene fired toward the assailant in order to thwart the attack. As a result the Israeli was injured. The Israeli and the assailant were both evacuated to hospital.”

The rights groups’ report is based on affidavits and personal accounts from Palestinians held for security reasons at the facility between August 2013 and March 2014. The prisoners interviewed spent a maximum of 58 days in detention.

In their report, the groups also said that at least 14 of the Palestinian detainees endured torture in interrogations by Palestinian Authority security services before being arrested by Israeli security forces.

Daniel Shenhar, a HaMoked lawyer, said the report shows interrogators have violated the supreme court ruling with the use of intentional sleep deprivation and prolonged stress positions.

The Shin Bet said it would not comment on the report, which it dubbed “twisted”. * Associated Press, with additional reporting from Agence France-Presse