E/CN.4/1990/17
page 28
Indonesia
89. On 14 November 1989 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the
Government of Indonesia transmitting information alleging that some of the
people detained in various military detention centres in East Timor, at the
end of 1988 and the beginning of 1989, were held incommunicado and had
allegedly been subjected to ill-treatment and torture. The Apostolic
Administrator of Dili, Monsignor Belo, claimed in a Pastoral Note
dated 5 December 1988 that the ill-treatment of detainees in East Timor,
including "blows, kickings and beatings", was commonplace. In a letter he
sent on 16 February 1989 to the Apostolic Nuncio in Jakarta, Monsignor Belo
mentioned the names of seven Timorese from the village of Ahio-Dilor who had
been badly beaten by security personnel in late October 1988. They were:
Araujo Fernandes, Agostinho Lo'o, Francisco Farada Martins, Luis Ximenes,
Loi'Ouela, who reportedly had his head split open, Alarico Martins and Moises
Ximenes. In addition, it was reported that three men suspected of compiling
information about human rights and distributing it to people outside the
territory were among those who had allegedly been tortured. They were
Filomeno Gomes, aged 40, arrested in November 1988, Lazaro Ribeiro, aged 26,
arrested on 24 October 1938, and Jaime Dos Santos, aged 41, arrested
on 5 November 1988. The forms of torture alleged to have taken place in
detention centres included: beating and kicking, burning with lighted
cigarettes, electric shocks, placing heavy weights on prisoners' feet,
submersion in a tank of water for several hours, forcing a prisoner to drink
salt water or to stand in boiling water, threats and sexual abuse.
Israel
90. On 17 April 1989 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the
Government of Israel transmitting information concerning the case of
Mr. Mohammed Jadallah, born in 1941 in Jerusalem. Mr. Jadallah was reportedly
detained and interrogated on two occasions: in October 1985 he was detained
and interrogated for 34 days at the Moscobiya police station (Russian
Compound) in Jerusalem, following which he was put on trial on unspecified
charges and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, which he served in Ramla,
Beersheba and Damun prisons. The second period occurred between 21 October
and 3 November 1988, upon his return from the United States of America, where
he visited medical institutions and attended conferences in relation to his
work. He was again detained and interrogated at the Moscobiya police
station. Mr. Jadallah was allegedly accused of being an activist and inciter
in the struggle against the occupation and of political activism. He
acknowledged being a member of the Association of Palestinian Physicians and a
member of its Board since 1983.
91. On both occasions Mr. Jadallah was allegedly subjected to extremely harsh
methods of interrogation, involving physical and psychological pressure, which
were allegedly used to extract a confession from him. These included the
following: being left outside and tied in an uncovered yard, day and night,
irrespective of weather conditions; being handcuffed, with hands behind the
back, tied to the wall, for up to 26-28 hours; being deprived of food, water
and sanitary facilities, for up to three days at a time; being beaten by
interrogators, while held in various positions, to the point of losing
consciousness; being kicked and stamped upon after falls from beatings;
being beaten on the front of the neck, resulting in breathing difficulties,
hoarse voice and numbness or paralysis of the left side of the face and
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