Torture in Palestinian Prisons Continue

Four Hospitalized from Torture under Interrogation

10 August 1996

On 9 August four detainees held in the Palestinian run al Juneid Prison were hospitalized after severe and repeated beatings during interrogation. A field-worker for LAWE visited the hospital and reported on the condition of Ayman Sliman Mohammed el Sabah, Mahmoud Mustafa Abu Jamoos, Tha'er Abdel Karim Sherat, and Mohammed Wasfi Diab. These four, all held without charge, were transferred to the hospital after wounds inflicted from batons and water hoses. Several were beaten by a chair, and all were marked and wounded on their bodies.

These four have become typical examples of maltreatment in prisons under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Particularly in al Juneid, witnesses report of extensive beatings with sticks, hoses and chairs. In one instance, one of the above four prisoners was beaten to the point of total collapse. His interrogator believed him dead, and ordered his body to be taken to the hospital. Doctors at the hospital discovered his condition to be critical, and sent him to the intensive care section of the hospital. The following day prison officials came to the hospital to bring the prisoner back to the prison, but were prevented from doing so by the hospital staff.

Most notorious among the interrogators, according to the prisoners at Al Juneid, is the interrogator Mr. Abu Sakher. Considered the most violent and dangerous, he has been heard to say that he promised to "make you [the prisoners] forget your mother's milk if you don't tell the truth". The results have become clear, as a pattern of abuse and torture surfaces.

LAWE - the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment warns against the escalating violence used against Palestinian prisoners in Palestinian run jails. Seven prisoners have died as a result of maltreatment at the hands of Palestinian police interrogators, and LAWE holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for their deaths, as well as for the maltreatment of the prisoners currently in Palestinian jails.

LAWE therefore asks that the prison interrogators stop immediately extracting confessions through torture; to remove the interrogators responsible for the abuse and to bring charges against them; to release or charge all political prisoners held without charge; to allow visits by family and attorneys; and for the Council to respond to these clear human rights abuses and pass appropriate legislation.

LAWE - the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAWE is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.