PA collaborates with Israel’s torture agency
Palestinian prisoners are being held in painful positions for up to 35 hours, according to a new report.
The Israel Security Agency, known as Shin Bet, is confining detainees to filthy cells smaller than the size of an adult body stretched out, the report also reveals.
Compiled by the Israeli human rights organizations HaMoked and B’Tselem, the report focuses on the Shikmainterrogation center in Ashkelon, a city in present-day Israel.
It is based on 116 affidavits from Palestinian “security prisoners,” most of whom were still under detention when they testified.
The detainees – the majority men under 25 from the Hebron area of the occupied West Bank – recalled their arrest, transfer, interrogation and holding conditions to attorneys while sitting behind a glass partition, with their legs tied to the chair and under the supervision of a prison guard.
The report is a product of a three-year investigation. More than half of those interviewed reported they were forbidden to meet a lawyer or denied access to the International Committee of the Red Cross for all or part of their time at Shikma.
That is despite how Israel’s own prison rules stipulate that a prisoner must be allowed access to the Red Cross within two weeks of detention.
Collaboration
The report also highlights the collaboration between the Palestinian Authority Preventive Security force and Shin Bet.
Thirty nine of the detainees interviewed were arrested and interrogated by the Palestinian Authority before being arrested by Israel.
Most of those were arrested by Israel less than a month after being released by the PA, and usually interrogated about the same matters.
Adi Awawdeh, 21, was detained by the PA for 70 days, during which he was physically and mentally tortured. Just a week after he was released Awawdeh was arrested by Israel. When he arrived at Shikma, his interrogator showed him his file from the PA and said, “Here’s your file. It’s all ready. Do you want to add anything and save us some time?”
