Israel tortures Palestinians despite court ban: Rights group
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) has accused the Israeli regime of using torture against detained Palestinians despite a court ban on the practice.
The rights group said on Monday that Israel never stopped using torture despite a High Court ruling that declared torture “illegal” back in 1999.
The PCATI said Tel Aviv and its security agency Shin Bet have misrepresented the ruling to carry out their torture programs.
Citing examples of torture and human rights violations, the group said the court has also turned a blind eye on such practices.
The organization also said that Shin Bet was never held accountable despite some 800 complaints filed against it since 2001.
Last week, the rights body announced that the Israeli prison service had placed Palestinian minors in outdoor cages during the height of the winter storm.
The organization said the children have to endure freezing temperatures outside transit facilities, stressing that this kind of torture is a long-running practice meant to terrify the detained children.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court last Monday extended the sentence of Ahmad Dawuod Obeid, the mentally-ill Palestinian teenager arrested by Israeli forces back in August 2013 in Issawiya, near East al-Quds (Jerusalem). Obeid was put under house arrest on charges of throwing stones at Israeli forces.
According to a recent repot by the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), the Israeli regime is holding captive over 5000 Palestinians, including 200 children and women.
The PPS said Israel holds the Palestinian prisoners without charges or trial under terrible conditions, including solitary confinement.