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| 12 January 1998 | Monday | 13 Ramazan 1418 |
Israeli court refuses to halt torture of Arab detainee
AL QUDS, Jan 11: Israel's supreme court narrowly rejected on Sunday an appeal from a Palestinian detainee seeking a halt to the use of physical pressure by his police interrogators.
The court, in a five-to-four ruling, authorized the Shin Beth security agency to continue using physical force in its questioning of Abdel Ghanimat, a militant who has confessed to involvement in a string of deadly anti-Israeli attacks.
But the justices said the authorization was only temporary pending a further ruling on the legality of the interrogation methods used against Ghanimat and other people suspected of involvement in terrorist actions.
Chief justice Aharon Barak was among the minority of judges voting in favour of Ghanimat's appeal.
Ghanimat was arrested in April and confessed to being part of a radical Islamic group responsible for killing 11 Israelis over the previous 16 months.
He complained to the supreme court that despite his confessions, interrogators continue to torture him for information about Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
His case coincided with a high security alert across Israel due to intelligence reports that Hamas or the Islamic Jihad were planning a major attack against an Israeli city.
Israeli law permits the use of "moderate physical pressure" against detainees and allows even more severe interrogation in cases where suspects are believed to have information about an imminent militant attack. Israel denies the methods amount to torture.
Moderate pressure comprises binding detainees in uncomfortable positions for days on and sleep deprivation. More severe interrogation methods involve violently shaking prisoners.
Allegra Pacheco, an attorney for the Israeli Public Council Against Torture, claimed the treatment of Ghanimat clearly amounts to torture.
Amnesty International issued an appeal last week for a halt to the use of physical pressure by Israeli security forces.
"Israel is the only country in the world which has legalized the use of torture by authorizing certain interrogation techniques," it said.-AFP
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