QUESTION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF ALL PERSONS SUBJECTED
TO ANY FORM OF DETENTION OR IMPRISONMENT
THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND
THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF DETAINEES
Letter dated 3 May 1995 from the Permanent Observer for Palestine
to the United Nations Office at Geneva addressed to the Assistant
Secretary-General for Human Rights
On the morning of 25 April 1995, a Palestinian citizen, Abdulsamad Harizat, died in Hadassah hospital at Jerusalem, as a result of brutal torture perpetrated by the Israeli General Security Services, "shabak", during the police interrogation at the Maskubia prison of Jerusalem.
This is a new violation of human rights principles, and particularly of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
I enclose, herewith, the statement of the Ministry of Information of the Palestinian National Authority, dated 27 April 1995, relating to this case.
"An official source at the Palestinian Ministry of Information … issued the following statement in the wake of the death of Palestinian martyr, Abdulsamad Harizat, from head injuries sustained by the Israeli interrogators:
"On the morning of 25 April 1995, Palestinian detainee Abdulsamad Harizat, age 30, a computer and mathematics graduate from Yatta village, Hebron, died at Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital as a result of severe brutal torture by the Israeli General Security Services (GSS), known as 'shabak', during police interrogation at the Maskubia prison in Jerusalem.
"The Ministry of Information condemns the murder of Harizat, and holds the Israeli oppressive system responsible for such a barbaric act. This action reaffirms the fascist policy practised by Israel under the Rabin Government. The Rabin Government has permitted the use of psychological and physical torture against Palestinian detainees following the adoption of the 'Landau Commission' recommendations. This latest incident demonstrates that the Rabin Government is still pursuing its torture policy without regard to human rights principles and international charters. Despite the awareness of the Israeli Government and its institutions of the illegality of torture according to United Nations General Assembly resolutions adopted in December 1984, Israel continues to use torture methods in complete defiance of all human considerations. The Israeli Government adamantly rejects all resolutions calling for the release of Palestinian detainees, particularly the sick, women and children.
"The family of the martyr said that 'shabak' police had beaten their son immediately after his arrest on 22 April 1995. His mother stated that she saw her son lying unconscious in the intensive care unit at Hadassah hospital with his feet cuffed and massive bruise marks on his left shoulder, neck and chest. This horrible incident is not the first of its kind as a result of physical punishment at the hands of Israeli intelligence forces. The number of documented torture cases has climaxed to approximately one hundred since the long years of occupation. An independent, non-biased commission must be established to investigate the real cause of Harizat's death.
"The Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Information calls upon all international, humanitarian and governmental institutions to support the Palestinian detainees and prisoners for their right to humane treatment, and to call for their immediate release. The Ministry of Information also appeals to all these institutions to use their good office with the Rabin Government to eliminate its torture policy against Palestinian detainees and to put an end to the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli Government."
