Occupied Jerusalem- An Israeli human rights group accused the Internal Security Service (Shin Bet) of torturing a Palestinian detainee for more than a month. Lawyer Andrie Rosenthal of the Individual's Defense Center said in a petition he submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court that the Shin Bet interrogators used all kinds of torture against his client, Essam Nahal of Beach Camp in Gaza.

Nahal, a fisherman, was arrested by Shin Bet in the beginning of February 1997 at Rafah border cross-point and sent to Ashkelon prison. The detainee, a father of eight, complained to his lawyer that his interrogators used violent and inhuman methods including "violent shaking" in the hope of extracting information and confessions from him. He added that the Shin Bet men tied his arms behind his back, ordered him to sit in an uncomfortable manner with his head forced into a sack, and played loud music in his cell to prevent him from sleeping. The lawyer called upon the court to order Shin Bet to stop torturing Nahal saying his client did not pose a direct threat to Israeli security. Nahal had been previously arrested in 1988. He was sentenced at that time by an Israeli court to three years and three months imprisonment on charges of assisting Palestinians wanted by the Shin Bet in crossing the borders into Egypt. After his release, he went to work as a fisherman in Morocco. He returned last February to spend Eid Al Fitr with his family but was detained at Rafah cross-point.