Monday, April 14, 2008

Shin Bet Arrests Innocent Relatives To Coerce Prisoner Confessions

Shin Bet Admits Using Relatives To Pressure Jailed Palestinians

By Haaretz Service
Last update - 10:05 14/04/2008
Courtesy Of
Haaretz

The Shin Bet security services on Sunday admitted to arresting relatives of individuals under interrogation to extract confessions from the prisoners.

The head of the Shin Bet's interrogration department told the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee: "Certainly we used this method, but only on one occasion.

The admission was in a response to a report submitted to the committee on Sunday by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. The group alleged in its report that the Shin Bet makes unjustified arrests of family members, or creates the pretense of such arrests to pressure suspects.

The report further states that such methods are used against individuals who are already subjected to severe physical torture. In at least one case, the report states that the pressure led to suicide attempts by the individual under interrogation.
The committee centered its debate Sunday on how frequently the Shin Bet resorted to this method, and in what way it was carried out.

The Shin Bet official said that regarding the incident in question, the security services had not needed to use the arrest method, adding: "We said we erred, learned a lesson... I've said this, we've written this, and we've also fixed it."

Shin Bet representatives added that following the incident, the body decided to stop the practice of arresting innocents to exert pressure on the suspect.


The representatives said, however, that they would not hesistate to arrest a relative suspected of involvement in the terror crime.
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Report accuses Shin Bet, police of severely torturing Palestinian suspects

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