Red Cross “regrets” Involvement in Allegations of Torture by Israel, Notes Confidentiality of Findin

The International Committee of the Red Cross issued a statement here saying that it “regrets” being “involved in the controversy now developing concerning the treatment of Arab prisoners in Israel and the occupied territories.” The statement was in response to an article in the Sunday Times of London that cited ICRC reports to substantiate allegations that Israel tortures Arab prisoners under interrogation.

The statement said that the Red Cross “wishes to confirm that since December, 1967 the Israeli government has authorized its delegates to make regular visits to Arab security prisoners convicted, on remand, or detained under administrative orders, and to penal law prisoners–but only after the interrogation period which is generally limited to a month following arrest.” The statement said that Red Cross delegates talk privately with prisoners of their choice who have an opportunity to voice complaints about interrogation methods or conditions. But it stressed that the reports of these private talks are kept in strictest confidence and sent only to the detaining power and to the prisoners’ own governments.

“It is particularly to avoid becoming involved in controversy of this kind that the ICRC observes a policy of strict discretion about its delegates’ findings in camps and prisons. Such discretion is doubly necessary to safeguard the prisoners’ interests and to maintain ICRC action in a purely humanitarian context,” the statement said.