UN Committee Against Torture seeks access to Israeli torture chamber

 

UN demands access to secret Israeli ‘torture’ jail

Tue, 05 May 2009 15:10:06 GMT

The United Nations anti-torture committee has demanded access to an Israeli secret prison where torture is allegedly being practiced.

The UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva prepared a document on Israel’s record on torture on Tuesday and called on Tel Aviv to release information on the alleged “Facility 1391″ which is situated in an “undetermined location within Israel and which is not accessible to the International Committee of the Red Cross or detainees’ lawyers or relatives.”

“Allegations of torture, ill-treatment and poor detention conditions in this facility have been reported to the committee,” read the document.

The committee said it had received reports according to which “Palestinian detainees are subjected by Israeli security officials to acts in violation” of the anti-torture convention, including beatings, sleep deprivations and sharp twisting of the head.

The committee is scheduled to publish a report on Tuesday’s hearing on May 15.

According to reports, Palestinian detainees were kept in solitary confinement in cells that ranged from 3 to 6 square meters with no windows or access to daylight or fresh air.

Several reports from at least eight NGOs, including B’Tselem, Hamoked Center for the Defense of the Individual, Physicians for Human Rights and Amnesty International, have been received this year by the committee over Israeli violations of the UN Convention Against Torture.

SB/DT

CIA to cooperate with Senate Intelligence Committee probe into interrogation program

Missoula, March 6 (Al-Masakin)–CIA Director Leon Panetta told employees of the agency today that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will conduct a thorough review of CIA’s interrogation program.

“I have discussed this with the Chairman of the committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and the Vice Chairman, Senator Kit Bond. They assure me that this review is a way for the committee to assess lessons learned from the program while our government devises a new interrogation policy,” Mr Panetta said in a statement released on the agency’s website March 6.

Mr. Panetta has directed CIA employees to gather together the historical information demanded by the Senate committee, but said that he would not cooperate with the Department of Justice.

“As I have said publicly, what I will not support is an inquiry designed to punish those who acted in accord with guidance from the Department of Justice. Senators Feinstein and Bond have made it clear to me that this is not the goal of this review,” he said.

He  also reiterated President Obama’s Executive Orders to the CIA obligating the agency to end the practice of torture and concluded that under those guidelines he is confident the CIA will be able to fulfill its mission.

“Under this Administration, the guidelines for detention and interrogation have been made clear by the President’s Executive Order: we will adhere to the Army Field Manual for interrogation, close the detention facilities, and abide by the law as it stands,” CIA Director Leon E. Panetta said today.

EHC / EHC

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Vice President Biden acknowleged torture of detainees was a powerful recruiting tool for al-Qaeda at swearing-in of new CIA Director Leon Panetta

Missoula, Feb. 23 (Al-Masakin)–Vice President Joseph Biden at swearing in ceremony for new CIA director Leon E. Panetta Feb. 19 acknowleged torture and detainment of suspects at Guantanamo Bay prison was a powerful recruiting tool for al-Qaeda. 

Refering to Executive Order Ensuring Lawful Interrogations, which revoked Executive Order 13440 of July 20, 2007, the Executive Order to Close Guantanamo Bay Detention Facilities, Executive Order Review of Detention Policy Options, signed Jan. 22, 2009, the Vice President said. 

“He issued an executive order to reverse the policies that in my view and the view of many in this Agency caused America to fall short of its founding principles and which gave al-Qaeda a powerful recruiting tool. As a result of these orders, we will close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. We will have a single standard across the government for interrogation of – in armed conflict. And we’ll ensure the Red Cross access to all those who are detained in armed conflict,” the Vice President said.

EHC / EHC