E/CN.4/2001/66
page 129
Israel. He was charged with 23 serious offences and the court considered that he had the
authority to order others to carry out such attacks and ordered that he be held in custody until the
completion of his trial. He had used his rights to judicial review and three petitions on the
question of legal representation have been heard by the Israeli High Court of Justice. On 10 and
18 July 2000, the High Court held that barring access to legal representation at various times
during the investigation was, considering all the circumstances of the case, necessary for the
continuation of the investigation and the security of the region. He was granted access to legal
representation on 26 July 2000. He received close and continuous medical attention throughout
his detention. On 10 July, the High Court was satisfied that all the necessary medical treatment
had been provided.
663. On 5 September 2000, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the
Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Nidal Daghlas,
from Aseera Ashimalieh in the district of Nablus, who had reportedly been arrested
on 27 August 2000 by Israeli security forces. He was allegedly shot three times at the time of
arrest, sustaining injuries to his feet and left arm. He was subsequently interrogated for a period
of four hours, during the course of which he was allegedly beaten. His whereabouts were not
known.
664. By letter dated 24 October 2000, the Government responded that Nidal Daghlas was
arrested on 27 August 2000 during an operation aimed at arresting Abu Hanud, a member of
Hamas, in whose house he had been hiding. He was interrogated for a short time to ascertain
Abu Hanud’s whereabouts. He was later transferred to the detention facility at Petah Tikvah,
and his arrest was extended several times by a military judge. The Israeli security officers
claimed that he had not been injured during the shooting, and medical examinations revealed that
he was in good health. His lawyer, who had appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to express
concern about physical pressure put upon him and about his medical condition, withdrew her
appeal once she learned that her complaints were baseless.
Observations
665. The Special Rapporteur’s hope that the 1999 decision of the High Court of Justice would
result in an end to the use of interrogation techniques involving torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment (see E/CN.4/2000/9, para. 675) have proved to be ill-founded. The use of
“moderate physical pressure” and other torturous techniques appears still in evidence, although
some of the most brutal techniques used in southern Lebanon will, of course, no longer be
possible. The Special Rapporteur accepts that not all allegations will be well founded.
Nevertheless, as long as the Government continues to detain persons incommunicado for
exorbitant periods, itself a practice constituting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (as
repeatedly confirmed by the Commission), the burden will be on the Government to prove that
the allegations are untrue. This is a burden that it will not generally be able to discharge
convincingly.
Ivory Coast
666. By letter dated 8 November 2000, the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a
number of cases transmitted in 1997 regarding which no reply had been received.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents