16.04.2008, Israel
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI)
B’Tselem-the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
Hamoked – the Center for the Defence of the Individual
Physicians for Human Rights
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
The petition follows the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
(PCATI) report that was published and discussed in the Knesset earlier
this week
Today, 16 April 2008, The Public Committee against Torture in Israel
(PCATI), Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, B'Tselem-The Israeli
Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories,
Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual and Adalah-The Legal
Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel filed a petition to the High
court of Justice against the General Security Service (GSS), the Israel
Police and the Attorney General demanding that the use of family
members as means of exhorting pressure on suspects during
interrogations by state authorities be absolutely prohibited (case #
3533/08) . The petition was submitted by Attorney Smadar Ben-Natan and
PCATI Attorney Eliahu Abram on behalf of six family members of
interrogees and the five above mentioned human rights organizations.
The organizations demand that the Court order the cessation of the use
of methods amounting to psychological torture which present a
“charade” before suspects that implies that their
confession during interrogation will lead to the release or the
improvement of the conditions of detention of members of their
families, or that an innocent family member has been or is about to be
arrested if they do not confess.
The use of family members in police and GSS interrogations, as
demonstrated by the cases described in the petition, causes severe
emotional pressure, tantamount to psychological torture, not only to
the detainee himself but also to members of his family who, without
their knowledge or free consent, have been turned into an instrument in
the interrogation of their loved one.
The petition is based on a series of events detailed in the Public
Committee Against Torture in Israel report, “Family Matters,
Using Family Members to Pressure Detainees Under GSS
Interrogation” that was published and discussed in the Knesset
earlier this week as well as on additional cases including that of an
East Jerusalem minor who was arrested on suspicion of participating in
disturbances in the city. As a form of pressure on the minor, the
police threatened to arrest his father and, later on, brought his
mother into the interrogation room and presented her, handcuffed,
before the detainee, in a pretense that she was arrested.
In the discussion held on Sunday at the Knesset Constitution, Law and
Justice Committee, the Head of the GSS Interrogations Unit admitted
that, at least in one case, family members were exploited in the above
manner. This case, involving the Sweiti family and detailed in
PCATI’s report and in the petition, the father and wife of a
detainee were brought to an interrogation facility and presented to
their loved one as if they also had been arrested. A short time
afterwards, the interrogee, Mahmud Sweiti, attempted to commit suicide.
The GSS agent stated at the in the Knesset that, following the
complaint filed by PCATI on this matter, the directives have been
changed so that “in general”, this form of pretense will
not be allowed.
The organizations emphasize that the new directives are not sufficient
means to end the phenomenon and that the exploitation of family members
of detainees must be forbidden in all circumstances. The choice a
detainee is forced to make between confession to an offence, that he
may or may not have committed, and the well being of family members is
cruel, difficult and impossible and must be prohibited.
For additional information please call:
Yoav Loeff, PCATI’s Public Outreach Coordinator
Tel: +972-2-6429825 ext. 117, Mobile: +972-54-3368434
yoav@stoptorture.org.il
Attorney Eliahu Abram, PCATI’s Legal Director
Tel: +972-2-6429825, ext. 115, Mobile: +972=50-5641324
Cooperator
World Coalition Against Torturers (WCAT)
Project Management
Bianca Schmolze
Bianca Schmolze
has a Master of Business Administration and works for the Medical Care
Service for Refugees since 2002. After serving as a fundraiser, she
became responsible coordinator of the "Justice heals" campaign in 2004.
Furthermore, she has a mandate in the city council of Bochum.
Tel.: +49-(0)234-9041380
Fax: +49-(0)234-9041381
(Thursday and Friday, 10.00–18.00 Uhr)
Supported by
Manfred
Nowak,
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture