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Report reveals that 121 Palestinian detainees have been "tortured"

February 20, 2014 at 3:30 pm

A report issued by the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, has revealed that more than 100 Palestinian detainees in Shin Bet’s Petach Tikva detention centre have been subjected to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and torture”. According to B’Tselem, 121 detainees are kept in “appalling” conditions in unhygienic cells, lacking adequate light and fresh air, and are subject to sleep deprivation for hours on end. The report also claims that Israeli interrogators often keep Palestinian detainees bound to chairs for long period during interrogation; the prisoners also face physical and mental violence.

Such treatment is, claims B’Tselem, condoned by the Israeli authorities, because no criminal investigations have been held even though 645 official complaints about Israeli security interrogators have been made to the Ministry of Justice since 2001.