The Palestinian Human Rights Organisations Council
(PHROC), along with Adalah, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, express their outrage at the
death of Arafat Jaradat, 30, which, according to the autopsy report of Dr Saber al-'Aloul, Director of the
Palestinian Medico-legal Institute, was caused by torture and
ill-treatment inflicted while in Israeli custody. The preliminary
autopsy, to which there are links below, found that Arafat displayed
severe bruising on his upper back, deep bruising along the spine, and
significant bruising on both sides of the chest. The postmortem also
discovered bruising on both arms and inside the mouth, blood around the
nose and three fractured ribs. In addition, the examination discounted
the claim by the Israeli authorities that Arafat died of a heart
attack. His heart was completely healthy and there was no evidence of
damage or weakness of any kind. The report concludes that all injuries
were the result of very recent, severe and direct torture. The
undersigned organisations reiterate the demands made by UN representatives for an immediate international
investigation into the death of Arafat Jaradat with a view to holding
those responsible for his death accountable.
Arafat Jaradat was arrested on 18 February on suspicion of throwing
rocks and Molotov cocktails at settlers and was transferred to
al-Jalameh prison where he confessed to throwing stones but denied any
involvement with firebombs. On 21 February, his lawyer, Mr. Kamil
Sabbagh, reported that Arafat was suffering from severe pain in his
back and appeared to be psychologically and physically weak after three
days under interrogation. According to Mr. Sabbagh, Arafat also
expressed strong fear at the prospect of returning to interrogation
when his detention order was extended by 12 days. After a request from
Mr. Sabbagh, the Israeli military judge ordered that a full physical
and psychological examination of Arafat be carried out, the results of
which were to be presented to the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) and the
court. It is unclear if this medical examination ever took place. If it
did, the results of the exam should be disclosed. If it did not, the
Israeli authorities must explain why this order was not complied with.
The absolute prohibition against torture is a peremptory norm of
international law and “has now become one of the most fundamental
standards of the international community”[1]. Since 2001, there have been
more than 750 complaints of torture and ill-treatment against
the ISA. Not one complaint has resulted in a criminal investigation.
Indeed, given that all complaints are reviewed by the Inspector of
Interrogee Complaints, who is himself an ISA agent, it is a process
that guarantees the absence of credible and impartial investigations.
The fact that the Israeli Attorney General has ratified each
recommendation not to investigate is further evidence of the
institutional impunity which shields the ISA and those who commit
torture in Israeli prisons.
Article 12 of UN Convention Against Torture, of which Israel is a
State Party, obliges States to perform prompt and impartial
investigations in all alleged incidents of torture. Torture is also
considered a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and is
further listed as both a crime against humanity and a war crime under
the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In addition,
torture has permissive universal jurisdiction according to customary
international law, which allows any State to prosecute those accused of
torture, regardless of their nationality.
However, in 1999, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruling in the Public
Committee Against Torture in Israel v The State of Israel
contributed significantly to the current climate of impunity, shielding
those who commit torture. While the Court affirmed that the practice of
torture was prohibited, it also held that such prohibition would not
apply in cases of “necessity”, leaving room for the use of extreme
measures in arbitrarily-defined situations, in blatant contradiction to
the jus cogens status of the absolute prohibition of torture.
The ruling effectively allowed for the continuing use of torture by
affirming that an Israeli official charged with torture would not be
criminally liable by virtue of the “necessity defence”, which can
legitimise the use of “physical pressure” in certain circumstances.
In 2009, the UN Committee Against Torture reiterated its call on Israel to remove
'necessity’ as a justification for the crime of torture as well as
calling for all interrogations to be recorded on film. These demands
have been ignored. In short, while torture is a crime that the
international community maintains cannot be allowed to go unpunished,
in Israel both the High Court of Justice and the Attorney General
contribute to the lack of accountability that pervades the Israeli
judicial system. Unless this culture of impunity is challenged,
Palestinians in Israeli prisons will continue to be victims of torture
and ill-treatment with regularity.
Arafat’s death is symptomatic of the utter disregard with which
Israel holds the lives of Palestinian prisoners. Since the beginning of
the occupation in 1967, 203 Palestinians have died in Israeli detention
centres. At least 71 of these died as a direct result of torture.[2] One hundred and seventy eight
Palestinians are being held in administrative detention without charge
or trial or any access to the information upon which their detention is
based. Presently, ten
Palestinians are engaged in hunger strikes in protest against their
detention. Tarek Qa’adan and Jafar Azzidine, who spent more than 90
days on hunger strike and are in critical condition, have suspended
their strikes for a week ahead of a court hearing on 6 March in the
hope that their detention orders will be dismissed. Both men had their
administrative detention orders renewed for another three months on
Friday 22 February.
In light of the above, the undersigned organisations call for the
following steps to be taken:
- An international investigation into all complaints of torture by Israeli forces must be carried out, followed by effective accountability for those responsible and redress for victims;
- All ISA interrogations of Palestinians must be subject to video recording, in line with the recommendations of the Turkel Commission;
- Given that Israel does not offer due process or a fair trial to Palestinian prisoners, all administrative detainees should be promptly released;
- The UN Committee Against Torture and Third States should pressure Israel to adopt adequate criminal legislation to define and penalise torture under domestic Israeli law;
- The European Parliament must promptly activate the parliamentary fact-finding mission that includes members of its Subcommittee on Human Rights to investigate the conditions of detention and interrogation of Palestinians detained by Israel;
- The EU parliamentary fact-finding mission must include an investigation into Israel’s illegal practice of administrative detention and the use of the “Unlawful Combatant Law”;
- All hunger strikers in advanced stages must be moved immediately to civilian hospitals where they can receive the appropriate standard of care without being shackled;
- Immediate intervention from the Israeli Prison Service to provide all hunger strikers with unrestricted access to independent doctors;
- All hunger strikers should be allowed family visits;
- UN Member States should urgently put pressure on Israel to end its policy of arbitrary detention and to abide by the standard rules for the treatment of prisoners adopted in 1955, which set out what is generally accepted as being decent principle and practice in the treatment of prisoners.
Preliminary Autopsy Report
Original Arabic report
Unofficial English translation of report
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