A/HRC/22/53/Add.4 Israel (a) JUA 23/01/2012 Case No. ISR 1/2012 State reply: None to date Alleged failure to provide adequate medical care to a detainee 71. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Israel has not responded to this communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council. The communication referred to the alleged failure to provide access to an ophthalmologist to a detainee with an eye inflammation, to examine his ailment. The Special Rapporteur would like to draw the attention of the government to Rule 25(1) of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which provides that, “[t]he medical officer shall have the care of the physical and mental health of the prisoners and should daily see all sick prisoners, all who complain of illness, and any prisoner to whom his attention is specially directed.” Without any evidence to the contrary, the Special Rapporteur determines that the rights of the detainee mentioned above have been violated, and calls on the Government to ensure accountability of those responsible and to provide full redress to the victims, including fair and adequate compensation, and as full rehabilitation as possible. (b) JUA 28/03/2012 Case No. ISR 4/2012 State reply: None to date Alleged arbitrary arrest and detention with sexual assault and torture by the Israeli military forces. 72. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Israel has not responded to this communication dated 28 March 2012, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council. The communication referred to the alleged sexual assault and torture of a 30-year-old Palestinian woman held in administrative detention and subsequent use of solitary confinement as a reprisal to her hunger strike in response to the use of administrative detention. The victim was the subject of an earlier urgent appeal to the Government of Israel regarding the administrative detention, however, regrettably no reply has been received. In response to the alleged abuse and sexual assault perpetrated by a solider in the Salem detention center and the subsequent use of solitary confinement, the Special Rapporteur urges the Government to protect the right to physical and mental integrity of all persons, as set forth inter alia in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). He would like to refer to paragraph 1 of Human Rights Council Resolution 16/23 which “Condemns all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including through intimidation, which are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever and can thus never be justified, and calls upon all States to implement fully the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” With regard to the use of solitary confinement as a reprisal for the hunger strike, the Special Rapporteur stresses that solitary confinement should be used only in very exceptional circumstances, as a last resort, for as short a time as possible, as detailed in the Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement (paragraph 89, A/66/268). Circumstances or purposes for which solitary confinement may be legitimate do not include reprisals. The use of solitary confinement may cause serious psychological and physiological adverse effects on individuals deprived of liberty, negating a primary aim of the penitentiary system, rehabilitation and reintegration. Further, the Special Rapporteur draws attention to paragraph 6 of General Comment 20 of the Human Rights Committee, stating that prolonged solitary confinement of detained or imprisoned persons may amount to acts prohibited by article 7 [on the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment] of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. (Adopted at the 44th session of the Human Rights Committee, 1992). In this context, the Special Rapporteur would also like to refer to article 7 of the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, 40