Israel’s Minister of Police denied yesterday that torture is ever used in interrogating suspects or prisoners and added that “even a slap on the face is an unacceptable method for which the interrogator is disciplined.” Shlomo Hillel made his remarks on a radio interview following publication of a report by Amnesty International in London last Wednesday claiming that it had prima facie evidence of the maltreatment of Arab prisoners under questioning in Israeli jails. The Amnesty report was vigorously repudiated by the Israel Government last Thursday. It raised a storm of controversy in London and caused a split in Amnesty, a private international organization active on behalf of political prisoners. The split occurred when Mark Benenson, chairman of the American section of the group, said at the United Nations Thursday night that the U.S. section dissociated itself from the report.
The Amnesty report conceded that all the evidence came from the prisoners themselves but recommended an immediate inquiry by an independent commission because of the “serious nature” of the charges. The Israel Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing Amnesty International of allowing itself to be used as a vehicle for atrocity propaganda emanating from the Arab states and their supporters. Mr. Hillel said that torture is against the moral standards and professional ethics of Israeli investigators. He said that “rigorous” interrogation methods are sometimes employed in cross-examining suspects about evidence possessed by the interrogator to determine the measure of truth in his replies.
The Police Minister said that “of course the Arab prisoners in Israel are dissatisfied with their sentences and detention, but so are Jewish prisoners and in fact anyone serving a sentence almost anywhere in the world.” Mr. Benenson said in New York that the Amnesty report was “either sloppy writing or biased; I prefer to believe the former.” He said the report “gives the Impression that Israel gave no satisfaction” on Amnesty’s charges when that was not the case. He said it did not mention many cases the group brought to Israel’s attention that Israel checked out and responded to. Mr. Benenson said the American section of Amnesty decided last Dec. 9 to dissociate itself from the report.
AMNESTY REPORT CONCEDES ITS CLAIM OF TORTURE IS UNSUBSTANTIATED
After its initial questioning of prisoners, Amnesty submitted a four-part report to the Israel Government last May. By August, the latter gave Amnesty a detailed account of its investigation of one part of the report that contained the names of the complainants and gave details of their charges. It said its investigation showed the claims to be unsubstantiated. Israel did not reply on the other three parts of the report which it said contained unspecific and undocumented charges by anonymous
(Washington Post correspondent Alfred Friendly reported from London yesterday that pro-Arab members of the Amnesty International board were partly responsible for publication of the report accusing Israel of torturing Arab prisoners. Mr. Friendly cited a statement Wednesday by Christopher Mayhew, an MP who is leader of the pro-Arab faction in the Labor Party, as saying on a radio interview that members of Amnesty who like himself “take a balanced view” of the Middle East had been “very worried” that Amnesty would not publish the report. Mr. Friendly remarked that the nature of Mayhew’s “balanced view” could be found in the fact that be never complained that Amnesty had not been able to investigate the treatment of Jews in Arab countries. Israel, on the other hand, has cooperated fully with the organization whose investigators have visited Israel “at will and have been given free and complete access to all prisoners.”
(The Amnesty report took note of the fact that Israel offered to grant safe conduct to the complainants and provide them with Arab lawyers of their choice provided that an inquiry into the charges was conducted along formal legal lines with the right of cross-examination. The proposal was conveyed to Amnesty by Israel’s Ambassador in London, Aharon Remez. But the Amnesty report said it was “insufficient” and insisted that an investigation be conducted by an outside independent agency empowered to produce documents and subpoena witnesses. The Daily Express remarked editorially today that it believed Amnesty’s charges should be investigated by an international inquiry. “It would be to Israel’s everlasting credit if it invited international scrutiny of its handling of Arab suspects and if there is nothing whatsoever in the charges, the Arab campaign of atrocity mongering would be brought to an abrupt halt,” the Express said. Mr. Friendly wrote however that no country would permit an international tribunal to “sit within its borders investigating the workings of its own judicial system.” He said he doubted that Britain would accept such a commission to probe suggestions of violent treatment of Catholic prisoners in Ulster.)
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