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Addameer: ​​Israel covering up torture in prison

December 20, 2019 at 5:13 am

Megiddo prison in Israel [Twitter]

Addameer (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association condemned the statement issued by the Israeli Public Security Agency (Shabak) on Wednesday, regarding “the files of several prisoners who were subjected to brutal investigation and torture in the Israeli investigation centres.”

It also condemned the inclusion of the name of MP Khalida Jarrar in the case that the Shabak revealed on Wednesday, which held her responsible for an operation the occupation claims that members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine carried out and led to the killing of a settler. The Association considered that this inclusion has political purposes, “as the included information about Khalida in the statement conflicts with the indictment issued against her in the military court,” according to Addameer.

The Addameer indicated that this statement was published by the occupation forces to cover up the torture of many detainees in the investigation centres, silence human rights institutions and cover up the criticism against the occupation state. This came after an HRW report which concluded that there are no fair trial guarantees in the Israeli military courts and that the occupation authorities’ courts and military orders are used to suppress and violate the political rights and protection provided for the Palestinian prisoners.

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Addameer explained that the Shabak’s statement on Wednesday “is considered a misuse of powers by them, despite the order prohibiting the publication issued by the intelligence and police from the Magistrates Court to all concerned parties in the Palestinian public,” which is supposed to end on 31 December, in addition to the mentioning of several figures in the statement and the publication of details about their activities, against which no indictment has so far been issued.

Addameer pointed out that the ban on publishing was renewed by the Magistrates Court in Jerusalem to prevent lawyers from publishing details of the torture the prisoners have been subjected to, and the court also used this order to prevent the prisoners’ families from attending their trials. On 17 December, one day before the issuance of the Shabak’s statement, the Military Prosecution prevented the prisoners’ families from attending the courts, like its attempt to prevent the family of the prisoner, Karmal Barghouti, from attending his trial.

Addameer stated that “the Israeli intelligence agency issued a similar statement in which it claimed that Samer Arbid and others were involved in carrying out an operation in the Ramallah area after he was transferred to the hospital, while he was in a serious health condition as a result of the torture he was subjected to at the Al-Maskubiya Investigation Centre. It is reported that this statement was issued before the submission of an indictment against Samer in an attempt by the intelligence service to cover up the torture he was subjected to with the aim of killing him.”

Addameer said that it “will publish all the details of the torture of the prisoners in the investigation centres, in addition to the complicity of the Israeli military court and Supreme Court in the crime of torture.”