Amnesty International calls for a commission of inquiry into mass arbitrary detention of palestinians

Amnesty International deplores in a report released Friday a consist pattern of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment used by Israeli soldiers in its arrest of more than 8,500 Palestinians between February 27 and May 20, many of them arbitrarily detained.

The report titled "Mass detention in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions" documents how detainees were humiliated and detained for days without charge and without access to a court, their lawyer or families. AI calls "on the Israeli authorities to set up a commission of inquiry and to bring those responsible for ill-treatment of detainees to justice."

The London-based human rights-advocacy association also reports that many of the more than 6,000 detainees arrested during Operation Defensive Shield after March 29 were held in prolonged incommunicado detention. It also criticized a new military order issued on 5 April 2002 that allows an initial period of 18 days of detention without access to a lawyer, a judge or relatives and the possibility to extend this period by up to 90 days upon an order from a military judge. "This Military Order violates international standards and must be immediately repealed," the organization insists.

During the arrest operation, most detainees were blindfolded and handcuffed with tight plastic handcuffs, often held squatting, sitting or kneeling, not allowed to go to the toilet, and deprived of food or blankets during at least the first 24 hours, says the association.

It also deplored the anguish caused to families by the indiscriminate and arbitrary arrests, the curfew and other practices used during the "Operation Defensive Shield" as scores of detainees were reportedly stripped to their underclothes on arrest and forced to remain in their underclothes for hours or even days.

The report, compiled on the basis of testimonies of released detainees who gave consistent accounts of their treatment at the hands of Israeli soldiers, further reports on an increase in the use of administrative detention, a procedure under which detainees can be held without charge or trial and that can be renewed indefinitely.

"Amnesty International calls on the Israeli government to set up an independent commission of inquiry under the Law on Commissions of Inquiry of 1968. The commission should investigate the arbitrary arrests and the cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment immediately after detention of Palestinians arrested after February 27, 2002. Such a Commission of Inquiry should adhere to international standards for thorough, effective and independent investigations," the report concludes.