December 7, 1996
ISRAELI HIGH COURT LEGALIZES PROLONGED INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION OF PALESTINIAN DETAINEE AS THREAT OF TORTURE CONTINUES;
DECISION BASED ON SECRET EVIDENCE WITHHELD FROM DEFENSE ATTORNEY
On Thursday, December 5, the President of the Israeli High Court, Aaron Barak approved the prolonged incommunicado detention and interrogation of Muhanned Abu Rumi, 21, an engineering student from Essawiye, West Bank. The decision was issued in response to a petition submitted by the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment ("LAW").
Abu Rumi was arrested in Hebron eighteen days ago, moments after he finished talking to his mother from a public pay-phone outside his college. Since then, he has been under continuous interrogation by the Israeli secret police in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. From the start of his interrogation, the Israeli secret police issued five consecutive orders prohibiting LAW's attorneys from meeting with Abu Rumi.
On December 4, LAW submitted a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice demanding that the Israeli Secret Police allow the lawyers to visit Abu Rumi. On December 5, the High Court heard oral argument after notifying LAW's attorneys only an hour and a half before the hearing.
LAW argued that the prohibition on the lawyer's visit was being used by the Israeli secret police to conceal from the public that the Israeli secret police were torturing Abu Rumi and that the prolonged incommunicado detention heightened their suspicions. The state attorney contended that the secret police was not torturing Abu Rumi except that his head was covered with a sack and that he was handcuffed to a chair. The court accepted the state's contention without any proof, despite the fact that it is well known that the secret police uses torture routinely during interrogations. The court failed to demand from the secret police to refrain from using torture for the rest of the interrogation.
LAW also argued that Israeli law prohibits incommunicado detention for more than 15 days. However, the court accepted the state attorney's argument that since Abu Rumi was from the West Bank, the Israeli law didn't apply and thus a different, more lax legal standard could be applied against him.
In the middle of the hearing, the court asked LAW's attorney to leave the courtroom so that the secret police could present its secret evidence to the three High Court Justices. After twenty minutes, LAW's attorney was summoned back and the Justices issued their decision rejecting LAW's petition. Justice Aaron Barak stated that the secret evidence "comforted his mind" to reject the petition even though the state admitted that it is likely that the incommunicado detention will continue next week. The court failed to put any limitations on the length of the prohibition of the lawyer's visit.
LAW protests strongly the High Court's decision supporting the Israeli secret police's human rights violations. Prolonged incommunicado detention is prohibited under international human rights law and even under Israel's own legal standards. Under the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Israel is a signatory, states must take all steps possible to prohibit and prevent torture. The High Court's decision contradicts its own obligations under international and Israeli law and undermines the integrity and legitimacy of the High Court of Justice as a fair impartial court of law. LAW also expresses its concern over the High Court's last minute notice to LAW's attorneys of the hearing and its refusal to reschedule the hearing later in the day to allow LAW's attorney to prepare for oral argument for such a serious human rights issue.
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LAW-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. LAW is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.