Backed by the system
This report contains standard features of interrogation at the interrogation facility run by the Israel Security Agency (ISA) at Shikma Prison in Ashkelon. This report details the conditions in which inmates are held and interrogated, based on affidavits and witness accounts provided by 116 Palestinians held for security reasons and interrogated at the Shikma facility from August 2013 to March 2014. People interrogated there by the Israel Security Agency (ISA) are subject to sleep deprivation; prolonged binding; verbal and sometimes physical abuse; exposure to heat and cold; poor, meager food; small, foul-smelling cells; solitary confinement; unhygienic conditions. The first part of this report describes the process of arrest, including detainees’ transportation to a transit facility, the conditions there, and the subsequent transfer to the Shikma facility. The second part of the report centers on the period of detention at Shikma, providing a detailed description of the conditions in which detainees are held (cells, sleep, food, and hygiene), the way overt interrogation is carried out, and the use of informants. The third part tells of 6 detainees interrogated by the PA, sometimes under extreme torture, prior to their arrest by Israel, and the link between the PA and ISA interrogations. The fourth and final part shows how detention and interrogation conditions at the Shikma facility are a product of an inherently abusive system that involves many authorities, and analyzes the findings in conjunction with the requirements of international law, Israeli law, and the High Court of Justice ruling.
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 Backed by the system | 765 kB |