Israel/OPT
03.03.05
Urgent Interventions
Israel: Arrest and ill-treatment of Mr. Rasmi Ismail Awada
Case ISR 030205
Arrest / Incommunicado detention / Ill-treatment / Torture
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Israel.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), a member of the OMCT network, of the arrest, incommunicado detention and ill-treatment of Mr. Rasmi Ismail Awada, resident of Albureij-Dura, Hebron, currently held at the Russian Compound Detention Centre in Jerusalem.
According to the information received, Mr. Awada was arrested at approximately 2:30am on 18th December 2004 at his home by Israeli soldiers. He was at brought to the Eshkolot settlement for several hours and then transferred to the GSS Interrogation Unit at the Russian Compound Detention Center.
An Order Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel valid through January 6, 2005 was imposed against Mr. Awada at the time of his arrest. Mr.Awada’s family appointed Attorney Enas Younis to represent Mr. Awada but, because of the above order, Attorney Younis was unable to meet with his client. On 3rd January 2005, Attorney Younis submitted a pre-petition letter to the State Attorney’s office asking that the Order Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel be immediately lifted and inquiring whether any physical or psychological pressure was being used against Mr. Awada. No answer was received. On 4th January 2005, Attorney Younis filed an urgent petition to the High Court of Justice on behalf of Mr. Awada demanding that the Order Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel be lifted and that Mr. Awada be allowed to meet with counsel. On 5th January 2005, the above petition was withdrawn after the respondents informed the Court that the above Order, due to expire the next day, would not be renewed.
According to the information received, in a sworn affidavit given by Mr. Awada to Attorney Husam Younis on 9th February 2005, Mr. Awada describes the ordeal he underwent during his arrest and interrogation. He stated that the soldiers who came to arrest him in the middle of the night sent his father to wake him up and that, when he awoke, he found that his family had been taken to one room. The soldiers then searched the home destroying all the furniture as well as the kitchen cupboards and toilets. All 20 members of the family were kept in one room for over an hour, the younger one cried and the soldiers yelled at the mothers to keep them quiet. Before he was removed from his home, Mr. Awada saw the soldiers taking documents, books and clothing from the house. Mr. Awada states that he was then blindfolded, handcuffed with his hands behind him and taken to a military jeep. The soldiers threw him on the floor of the jeep and placed their feet on him until he was transferred to a bus.
Mr. Awada claims that the soldiers forced him to run to the bus in spite of the fact that he told them that he suffers from serious abdominal pains due to a recent appendectomy. He was then taken to the Eshkolot settlement for several hours. There, according to Mr. Awada, he was kept waiting in the bus and all the soldiers who were on it with him slapped him, shouted and swore at him.
A short while later he was taken in a police van, manacled and blindfolded with dark glasses, to the Russian Compound Detention Centre. Mr. Awada alleges that at the Russian Compound he was strip searched, examined, and immediately taken for interrogation.
Mr. Awada states that his interrogation went on for 12-14 hours per day. There were many interrogators involved but one interrogator, called Itzik, was always present. He alleges that his interrogators threatened him telling him, among other things, that the only right he has is to choose to die. He alleges that an interrogator gave him a paper in Arabic stating his rights but also detailing the rights of interrogators which include the means of interrogation they are allowed to use such as sleep deprivation, and denial of food, water and the possibility of showering. Mr. Awada states that when he told his interrogators that he has nothing to confess, they threatened to bring his wife and daughter in.
Mr. Awada states that during his interrogation, he was placed on a chair with his hands bound from behind most of the time. He alleges that at times his interrogators demanded that he get down on his knees. He adds that after a week of interrogation, Itizik brought a female soldier into the interrogation room who humiliated him. She spat on him, slapped him on the face and the back of the head. She grabbed his face demanding that he show her that he is a man and said that he was garbage and ought to be killed. Later, a policeman took him to his cell where there was another man who did not stop talking and would not let him sleep all night. Afterwards he was placed in a solitary cell for 5 days. He was not interrogated during this period.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Awada and by the use of incommunicado detention by Israeli authorities, through the issuing of Orders Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel, a violation of the detainee’s rights under international law, as well as the ill-treatment and torture which the detainee has been subjected to during this period.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Israel urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Awada;
ii. order the immediate release of Mr. Awada in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, to ensure that he is given a prompt and fair trial, in which his procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
iii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events, notably the allegations of ill-treatment and torture of Mr. Awada, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country and the Occupied Territories in accordance with international human rights standards.
Addresses
Please also write to the embassies of Israel in your respective country.
Geneva, 3 March 2005
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
Arrest / Incommunicado detention / Ill-treatment / Torture
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Israel.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), a member of the OMCT network, of the arrest, incommunicado detention and ill-treatment of Mr. Rasmi Ismail Awada, resident of Albureij-Dura, Hebron, currently held at the Russian Compound Detention Centre in Jerusalem.
According to the information received, Mr. Awada was arrested at approximately 2:30am on 18th December 2004 at his home by Israeli soldiers. He was at brought to the Eshkolot settlement for several hours and then transferred to the GSS Interrogation Unit at the Russian Compound Detention Center.
An Order Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel valid through January 6, 2005 was imposed against Mr. Awada at the time of his arrest. Mr.Awada’s family appointed Attorney Enas Younis to represent Mr. Awada but, because of the above order, Attorney Younis was unable to meet with his client. On 3rd January 2005, Attorney Younis submitted a pre-petition letter to the State Attorney’s office asking that the Order Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel be immediately lifted and inquiring whether any physical or psychological pressure was being used against Mr. Awada. No answer was received. On 4th January 2005, Attorney Younis filed an urgent petition to the High Court of Justice on behalf of Mr. Awada demanding that the Order Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel be lifted and that Mr. Awada be allowed to meet with counsel. On 5th January 2005, the above petition was withdrawn after the respondents informed the Court that the above Order, due to expire the next day, would not be renewed.
According to the information received, in a sworn affidavit given by Mr. Awada to Attorney Husam Younis on 9th February 2005, Mr. Awada describes the ordeal he underwent during his arrest and interrogation. He stated that the soldiers who came to arrest him in the middle of the night sent his father to wake him up and that, when he awoke, he found that his family had been taken to one room. The soldiers then searched the home destroying all the furniture as well as the kitchen cupboards and toilets. All 20 members of the family were kept in one room for over an hour, the younger one cried and the soldiers yelled at the mothers to keep them quiet. Before he was removed from his home, Mr. Awada saw the soldiers taking documents, books and clothing from the house. Mr. Awada states that he was then blindfolded, handcuffed with his hands behind him and taken to a military jeep. The soldiers threw him on the floor of the jeep and placed their feet on him until he was transferred to a bus.
Mr. Awada claims that the soldiers forced him to run to the bus in spite of the fact that he told them that he suffers from serious abdominal pains due to a recent appendectomy. He was then taken to the Eshkolot settlement for several hours. There, according to Mr. Awada, he was kept waiting in the bus and all the soldiers who were on it with him slapped him, shouted and swore at him.
A short while later he was taken in a police van, manacled and blindfolded with dark glasses, to the Russian Compound Detention Centre. Mr. Awada alleges that at the Russian Compound he was strip searched, examined, and immediately taken for interrogation.
Mr. Awada states that his interrogation went on for 12-14 hours per day. There were many interrogators involved but one interrogator, called Itzik, was always present. He alleges that his interrogators threatened him telling him, among other things, that the only right he has is to choose to die. He alleges that an interrogator gave him a paper in Arabic stating his rights but also detailing the rights of interrogators which include the means of interrogation they are allowed to use such as sleep deprivation, and denial of food, water and the possibility of showering. Mr. Awada states that when he told his interrogators that he has nothing to confess, they threatened to bring his wife and daughter in.
Mr. Awada states that during his interrogation, he was placed on a chair with his hands bound from behind most of the time. He alleges that at times his interrogators demanded that he get down on his knees. He adds that after a week of interrogation, Itizik brought a female soldier into the interrogation room who humiliated him. She spat on him, slapped him on the face and the back of the head. She grabbed his face demanding that he show her that he is a man and said that he was garbage and ought to be killed. Later, a policeman took him to his cell where there was another man who did not stop talking and would not let him sleep all night. Afterwards he was placed in a solitary cell for 5 days. He was not interrogated during this period.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Awada and by the use of incommunicado detention by Israeli authorities, through the issuing of Orders Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel, a violation of the detainee’s rights under international law, as well as the ill-treatment and torture which the detainee has been subjected to during this period.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Israel urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Awada;
ii. order the immediate release of Mr. Awada in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, to ensure that he is given a prompt and fair trial, in which his procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
iii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events, notably the allegations of ill-treatment and torture of Mr. Awada, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country and the Occupied Territories in accordance with international human rights standards.
Addresses
- Mr. Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, 3 Kaplan Street, PO Box 187, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91919, Israel. Fax: + 972 2 651 2631, E-mail: rohm@pmo.gov.il, pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
- Mr. Yosef Lapid, Minister of Justice, 29 Salah Eddin Street, Jerusalem 1010, Israel. Fax : + 972 2 628 8618, E-mail: sar@justice.gov.il
- Ambassador Yaakov Levy, Av. de la Paix 1-3, CH-1202, Genève, Suisse, e-mail: mission-israel@geneva.mfa.gov.il, mission.israel@gva.mfa.gov.il, fax: +4122 716 05 55
Please also write to the embassies of Israel in your respective country.
Geneva, 3 March 2005
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.