Report: IDF ignores abuse cases involving Palestinian detainees

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Public Committee Against Torture published semi-annual report, slams IDF for failing to address reports of soldiers abusing prisoners; neglecting to formulate clear arrest-transport orders which would ensure prisoners' safety

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) released its semi-annual report Sunday, detailing evidence of abuse inflicted on Palestinian detainees while being taken into custody by Israeli soldiers.

The report, dubbed "Unlawful in reality – soldiers' abuse of Palestinian detainees," unveils a series of cases in which Palestinians who were arrested and handcuffed were abused by IDF soldiers while being detained or transported to a holding facility, to the extent that some of them needed medical attention.

The PCATI report noted 90 testimonies of abuse between 2006 and 2007, but said the actual number of cases is higher. The IDF, said the report, is doing little to nothing to stop this abuse

"I was arrested by soldiers at the Dir al-Sharaf cemetery. They threw me to the ground on my stomach and started kicking me," Ahmed Yassin, from the West Bank city of Nablus, told the committee. "When the jeep (to transport him to the detention facility) was late, they took me to a deserted spot off the road and began competing who can throw the most rocks at my head," he added.

An IDF combatant of the Paratroopers Brigade told the committee that "We heard a noise, it sounded like someone was hit, so we stepped out of the car. We saw two guys and the prisoner outside the car, and the prisoner had a serious gash on his forehead. Everyone told us that he fell off the truck's step, but it seemed absolutely bogus… afterwards we learned that two of the guys wanted to have their picture taken with the prisoner, so they had him stand near the truck, and they stood on its step, which is about four feet off the ground. They basically kicked him in the head."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3558566,00.html