PALESTINE
Fri 10 Nov 2023 3:31 pm - Jerusalem Time
Amnesty International: Palestinian prisoners are subjected to torture and degrading treatment
Amnesty International said on Friday that Palestinian detainees in Israeli occupation detention centers are being subjected to torture and degrading treatment.
The organization added in a statement, today, Friday, that Israel has widely intensified the use of administrative detention, a form of arbitrary detention, against Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank.
It explained that Israel has extended emergency measures that allow Palestinian detainees to be treated inhumane and degrading treatment, and has failed to investigate incidents of torture and death in detention centers over the past four weeks.
It pointed out that the testimonies of the released detainees and human rights lawyers, as well as video clips and photos, show some of the forms of torture and other forms of ill-treatment to which the detainees were subjected during the past four weeks.
It stated that these violations include severe beatings and humiliation of detainees, including forcing them to keep their heads bowed and kneel on the ground during a prisoner count and forcing them to sing pro-Israel songs.
Director of the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef, said: “Over the past month, we have witnessed a significant increase in Israel’s use of administrative detention, that is, detention without charge or trial that can be renewed indefinitely, which was already at its highest level in 20 years even before.” 7 October.
She added that administrative detention constitutes one of the main tools through which Israel imposes the apartheid regime against the Palestinians, and testimonies and video evidence indicate numerous incidents of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, including severe beatings and deliberate humiliation by Israel of Palestinians detained in extreme conditions. Cruelty.
Amnesty International researchers conducted interviews with 12 citizens, including six recently released detainees, three relatives of detainees, and three lawyers handling cases of recent arrests.
Researchers also reviewed testimonies shared by other released detainees and analyzed video footage and images of torture and degrading treatment.
The organization said, "Over the decades, it has documented widespread torture practices at the hands of the Israeli authorities in places of detention throughout the West Bank. However, over the past four weeks, videos and photos have been widely published on the Internet showing horrific scenes of Israeli soldiers beating Palestinians and insult them while arresting them while they are blindfolded, handcuffed and stripped of their clothes, in a chilling public display of torture and humiliation of Palestinian detainees.”
The organization also spoke to two women who were arbitrarily detained for 14 hours in an occupation police station in occupied East Jerusalem, where they were subjected to humiliation and searches after being stripped of their clothes and ridiculed. They were later released without charges being brought against them.
The organization noted that under international law, torture and other ill-treatment committed against protected persons in the occupied territories is considered a war crime, and the detention of protected persons outside the occupied territories, as is the case with Palestinian prisoners from the occupied Palestinian territories detained in Israel, constitutes a violation. of international humanitarian law because it amounts to forcible transfer.
The organization confirmed that "Israel has subjected thousands of Palestinians from Gaza who hold entry permits, most of whom are workers, to a form of arbitrary detention, where they were held incommunicado for at least three weeks in two military detention bases in Israel and the West Bank, and despite the release of... For a large number of them, there is a lack of transparency on the part of Israel regarding the number of those still detained.”
Morayev concluded her speech by saying: “Israel must immediately reverse the inhumane emergency measures imposed on Palestinian detainees, grant them immediate access to their lawyers and families, and all arbitrarily detained Palestinians must be released.”
Morayef urged "Israel to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to conduct urgent visits to prisons and detention facilities and monitor the conditions of Palestinian detainees."
She stressed that "the Israeli judiciary must conduct impartial and independent investigations into complaints of torture and other conditions of ill-treatment, and prosecute those responsible for ordering and carrying out torture in fair trials."
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Amnesty International: Palestinian prisoners are subjected to torture and degrading treatment