Torture of Palestinian Child Political Detainees

DCI/PS
P. O. Box 55201, Jerusalem
Main Office: Ramallah, Palestine
Tel: +(972 2) 240 7530
Fax: +(972 2) 240 7018
Email: dcipal@palnet.com
Website: www.dci-pal.org

Factsheets in the series:

Palestinian Child Prisoners
Military Courts and Orders
Arrest and Interrogation
Conditions of Detention
Israeli Prisons
Education in Israeli Prisons
Torture of Palestinian Children
Case Studies

In the name of "Security"

It has been known for fifteen years that Israel legalized what most human-rights groups and United Nations expert bodies (including the Committee Against Torture and the Human Rights Committee) consider to be torture. Countless affidavits from victims and reports by monitoring groups, as well as admissions of state officials, confirm the systematic and routine torture of Palestinian interogees by Israeli state functionaries, including police and General Security Services agents. During these fifteen years, Israel gained international attention as being the only state which explicitly legalized torture. There has also been some public debate of the issue within Israel, and the work of human rights organizations helped force the issue into the courts on several occasions. Until September 1999, however, every ruling re-established the legality of General Security Services (GSS) agents' use of torture. The 1999 Israeli Supreme Court decision to outlaw four methods that use Òphysical pressureÒ-Israel's euphemism for tortureÑ during GSS interrogation of ÒsecurityÒ detainees was hailed by human rights organizations and other observers as a huge success. The ruling declared that Òthe GSS does not have the authority to ÔshakeÔ a man, hold him in the ÔShabachÔ [shabeh] position...force him into a Ôfrog crouchÔ position and deprive him of sleep in a manner other than that which is inherently required by the interrogation.Ó

Despite the local and international praise for what many mistook to be a ruling which actually abolished torture in Israel, there were those who noted just how inadequate the judgment actually was. Among them was Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, who pointed out that the ruling does not definitively outlaw torture or ill-treatment in all circumstances. The Attorney General can decide not to prosecute, the court can rule the torture Ònecessary,Ó or the Knesset can pass legislation to make torture and ill-treatment legal. The ruling also leaves open the possibility that a GSS interrogator who tortured a prisoner could escape punishment by invoking the ÒnecessityÒ defense outlined in article 34(11) of the Penal Law (1977).

Despite international condemnation for the use of torture and the 1999 Israeli High Court ruling, Israeli interrogators continue to employ methods of torture in their interrogation of Palestinian detainees. With specific reference to Palestinian children, most children detained in Israeli jails have been subjected to at least one form of torture during or following their arrest. The most predominant kinds of torture experienced by Palestinian children are: beating, sleep deprivation, isolation, position abuse, verbal abuse, and tying of hands and blindfolding. Children detainees are frequently subjected to more than one of the above forms of torture during the period of their interrogation.

A breakdown of a sample of 90 of the 252 cases which the DCI/PS Legal Program handled in the year 2000 indicated that children detainees had been subject to the following forms of torture:
A Sample of DCI/PS Cases Involving Torture in the Year 2000
Form of Torture Number
Tying hands and blindfolding 90
Beating 44
Sleep Deprivation 24
Isolation 24
Position Abuse (Shabeh) 20
The latter method, shabeh, or position abuse, is a form of torture in which extremes of bodilypainandpsychological abusearecombinedwith physicalisolationandimmobilization of prisoners. Briefly put, shabeh is a form of torture that uses time and the prisonerÔs own body, shackled and bound, as the primary elements for inflicting pain. In position abuse, prisoners are tied up in painful positions, fettered to walls or small chairs that force them to contort and cramp their bodies for extended periods of timeÑeach passing moment heightens the pain of stillness. In addition to the psychological effects of the entire torture process on its victims, long-term damage to internal organs, joints and limbs can result from this form of abuse. Most adult Palestinians who are tortured, including those who are physicallybrutalizedinany otherway,arealso subjecttopositionabuse. Ingeneral,however, the torture of children mostly occurs through beatings at the time of arrest, and then, during the interrogation, through psychological pressure by means of isolation or placing them in rooms with collaborators.

A Sample of DCI/PS Cases Involving Torture in the Year 2000
Form of Torture	Number
Tying hands and blindfolding	90
Beating	44
Sleep Deprivation	24
Isolation	24
Position Abuse (Shabeh)	20

Note 1: Israeli occupation authorities regularly pressure Palestinians to collaborate with Israeli security. In many cases these collaborators are used to attempt to extract confessions from Palestinian children.

Of the 52 cases of ex-prisoners that the DCI/PS Social Program dealt with in 2000, the following forms of abuse were noted:
Method Details No. of Cases
Beating From the moment of arrest until entering prison, children are subjected to beating all over the body, in particular the head and genitals. 22
Shaking Vigorous body shaking by carrying the child and shaking him repeatedly. Children who undergo this experience usually lose consciousness. 11
Position Abuse (shabeh) Tying of the hands and legs or both, placing the child on a chair or against the wall and forcing him to stand on his toes for extended periods of time. 22
Exposure to Humiliating and Degrading Situations Demanding that the child curse God or his relatives; spitting on child prisoners, forcing the child to exert himself physically. 22
Cold and Hot Water Depending on the whims of the interrogators, children are often doused with extremely hot and/or cold water during interrogation. The choice of hot or cold water is dependent on the season (i.e. in winter, cold water is used; in summer, hot water). 15
Shame Rooms In order to extract more information or a confession, children are sent to the Òshame room,Ó typically a room which holds Palestinian collaborators. 7
Sleep Deprivation During interrogation, in order to exert pressure on children and to break them psychologically, children are not allowed to sleep. 14
Threatening Language Children are faced with threats of long prison terms, imprisonment of family members, demolition of family home, and/or the rape of female members of the family. 19
Deprivation from Food and Drink In order to exhaust the prisoner and to exert psychological pressure on the detainee, children re deprived of food and drink. 5
Prevented from Using the Bathroom Prisoners are not allowed to use the toilet and are forced to relieve themselves while fully clothed in the presence of others. 3
Deprivation of Family and Attorney Visits Employed in order to exert psychological pressure on the child and to increase the detainees feeling of aloneness. 24
Isolation Children are often placed for long periods of time (from 1-3 days), in isolation cells approximately 2m×2m in size, with no windows, and a toilet. Given the open toilet, the room is permeated with an overwhelming stench and, once inside, the child is unable to communicate with anyone else. 7
Pressuring Child Detainees to Collaborate with the Israeli Security Services Often attempted through threatening the child with other punitive measures. 13
Forced Signing of Confessions Numerous children are arrested on the basis of confessions signed by other children, in which case, the child is not taken to interrogation, especially if they are arrested with a large group of children. Frequently, children are forced to sign confessions printed in Hebrew, which the children do not understand, by placing their fingerprints on the paper. 17
Collective Interrogation Process by which more than one interrogator participates in interrogating the child. 3

Method	Details	No. of Cases
Beating	From the moment of arrest until entering prison, children are subjected to beating all over the body, in particular the head and genitals.	22
Shaking	Vigorous body shaking by carrying the child and shaking him repeatedly. Children who undergo this experience usually lose consciousness.	11
Position Abuse (shabeh)	Tying of the hands and legs or both, placing the child on a chair or against the wall and forcing him to stand on his toes for extended periods of time.	22
Exposure to Humiliating and Degrading Situations	Demanding that the child curse God or his relatives; spitting on child prisoners, forcing the child to exert himself physically.	22
Cold and Hot Water	Depending on the whims of the interrogators, children are often doused with extremely hot and/or cold water during interrogation. The choice of hot or cold water is dependent on the season (i.e. in winter, cold water is used; in summer, hot water).	15
Shame Rooms	In order to extract more information or a confession, children are sent to the Òshame room,Ó typically a room which holds Palestinian collaborators.	7
Sleep Deprivation	During interrogation, in order to exert pressure on children and to break them psychologically, children are not allowed to sleep.	14
Threatening Language	Children are faced with threats of long prison terms, imprisonment of family members, demolition of family home, and/or the rape of female members of the family.	19
Deprivation from Food and Drink	In order to exhaust the prisoner and to exert psychological pressure on the detainee, children re deprived of food and drink.	5
Prevented from Using the Bathroom	Prisoners are not allowed to use the toilet and are forced to relieve themselves while fully clothed in the presence of others.	3
Deprivation of Family and Attorney Visits	Employed in order to exert psychological pressure on the child and to increase the detainees feeling of aloneness.	24
Isolation	Children are often placed for long periods of time (from 1-3 days), in isolation cells approximately 2m×2m in size, with no windows, and a toilet. Given the open toilet, the room is permeated with an overwhelming stench and, once inside, the child is unable to communicate with anyone else.	7
Pressuring Child Detainees to Collaborate with the Israeli Security Services	Often attempted through threatening the child with other punitive measures.	13
Forced Signing of Confessions	Numerous children are arrested on the basis of confessions signed by other children, in which case, the child is not taken to interrogation, especially if they are arrested with a large group of children. Frequently, children are forced to sign confessions printed in Hebrew, which the children do not understand, by placing their fingerprints on the paper.	17
Collective Interrogation	Process by which more than one interrogator participates in interrogating the child.	3