הוועד הציבורי נגד עינויים בישראל

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel Petitions the High Court of Justice: Order the Attorney General to Investigate Allegations of Torture in GSS Interrogations.

•    The Public Committee Against Torture petitioned the High Court of Justice requesting an order to compel  the Attorney General to order an criminal investigation of complaints of torture during GSS (General Security Services – Shabak) interrogations
•    The petition relates specifically to the case of a security prisoner who in 2008 was transported to Laniado Hospital in Netanya after being forcefully struck during an interrogation at a secret GSS interrogation facility. Despite the filing of two complaints with the Attorney General about previous torture during the prisoner’s interrogation, he did not reply and did not order a criminal investigation. The Attorney General similarly failed to reply to 21 such complaints filed in the last several years.
•    A report recently published by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel found that since 2001 hundreds of complaints about torture and/or abuse have been filed with the Attorney General – yet not a single investigation has been opened.

Jerusalem, March 15, 2010

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel filed a petition to the High Court of Justice Tuesday March 9, 2010, requesting that an order be issued that would force the Attorney General to exercise his authority and order an investigation of the GSS by the Police Investigations Unit of the Ministry of Justice. The investigation would inolve GSS interrogators suspected of torture and brutally violent and inhumane behavior during the interrogation of a security prisoner in 2008; a violation of the 1977 Criminal Code. The petitioners also request that the order obligate the Attorney General to explain why he has not ordered investigations by the Police Investigations Unit against GSS interrogators in a series of other cases in which he received complaints and accounts of the use of torture and/or cruel and inhum treatment on behalf of GSS interrogators. The petition (High Court of Justice 1910/10 Mughrabi v. Attorney General) was filed by Atty. Nabeel Dakwar of the Public Committee Against Torture.

The specific case described in the petition relates to criminal acts of GSS interrogators against security prisoner Jihad Mughrabi, who was held in Kishon Detention Facility in 2008. The criminal acts which are the basis of the petition occurred between April and August of that year, and two complaints were sent to the Attorney General during this time, in July and in August 2008. Yet until the filing of the petition last week, no answer has been received from the Attorney General, despite repeated reminders from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, which is representing Mughrabi. The possibility of carrying out a comprehensive and in-depth investigation is seriously diminished by the failure of the Attorney General to respond in any way to repeated complaints for such an extended period of time.

On April 26, 2008 Jihad Mughrabi was arrested on suspicion of indirect involvement in the murder of two Israeli citizens. He was transferred to Kishon Detention Center, where he was interrogated by two GSS interrogators. They beat him all over his body, deprived him of sleep, and threatened to arrest his family and demolish his home. In light of this treatment Mughrabi filed a first complaint to the Attorney General through the Public Committee Against Torture. Eight days after the filing of this complaint against his interrogators, he was removed from the prison, handcuffed and blindfolded, and transported to an unknown secret facility. There his interrogators offered him food and drink, gave him an opportunity to shower. They 'offered' him alcohol and a female escort, but he refused. He was left alone in the apartment for several hours, after which two unidentified men entered the apartment and attacked him brutally. They struck him all over his body, kicked him, punched him and beat him on the head with the handles of their pistols until he passed out. As a result, Mughrabi was transferred by ambulance to Laniado Hospital for medical care. It is unclear whether there is a connection between the first complaint filed with the Attorney General requesting him to open an investigation against his interrogators, on the one hand, and the subsequent brutal attack against him, about which Mughrabi to file a second complaint. Despite testimony and evidence that supported Mughrabi’s complaint, to this day the Attorney General has chosen not to order an investigation of the allegations. This although the passing of time seriously impedes a proper investigation and allows the physical signs of the attack to disappear.

The case of Mughrabi and the complete lack of response by the Attorney General is not an isolated or unique case, but rather represents a much wider trend of disregarding complaints about torture and violence in GSS interrogations. Since 2004, there have been 21 cases similar to Mughrabi’s in which the Public Committee Against Torture has filed complaints with the Attorney General regarding torture and abuse by GSS interrogators yet has received no reply whatsoever. Tens of other complaints have drawn different responses, none of which however led to a single criminal investigation. Furthermore, according to the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel’s most recent report, some 600 complaints have been filed against GSS interrogators alleging torture of interrogees, but every single one was dispensed with without opening a criminal investigation. The report also found that the complaints are transferred to the Officer in Charge of GSS Interrogee Complaints – himself a GSS agent – who invariably recommends rejecting the complaint.