^** For this decree, see supra at 141.

^* This report was prepared and released by Amnesty International in October 1995 (AI Index: MDE 15/23/95). It is reproduced herein with minor editorial changes. It deals with one of the most lethal techniques of torturing Palestinian detainees by Israeli interrogators. It is a technique sanctioned by an ex-Israeli Supreme Court justice, as well as by the Israeli government. One may wonder if the same technique would have been sanctioned if the detainees were Israeli Jews commit- ting "crimes" as the crimes attributable to Palestinian detainees. One cannot help comparing the treat- ment accorded to Palestinian detainees to that of Yigal Amir, the Israeli Jew who assassinated Prime Min- ister Rabin on November 4, 1995. 1. 'Abd al-Samad Harizat had been detained twice previously, in October 1994 and January 1995, and released without trial on both occasions. 2. The detainee's head is covered almost continuously by a foul-smelling hood.

3. Palestinians from the Occupied Territories are not allowed to enter Jerusalem without a pass. Barriers manned by the IDF surround the city. 4. There was an old medical report about a malformation in his knees. The only thing that set 'Abd al-Samad Harizat apart physically was that he was short and slight in build measuring only 151 centimeters in height and weighing only 44.5 kilograms. 5. 'Abd al-Samad Harizat had, in fact, already been pronounced brain dead at 1 am on 24 April by a doctor sent by the Department of Investigations of Police.

6. This appears to breach Article 12 of the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-L,egal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions which states that "those conducting the autopsy shall have the right to all investigative data, to the place where the body was discovered, and to the place where the death is thought to have occurred".

7. However, a number of important reservations made by Israel limited the application of these treaties. These reservations include Israel's failure to make a declaration under Article 22 recognizing the compe- tence of the Committee to receive and consider complaints from or on behalf of individuals. ^* See Israeli reservations to some of these treaties in 6 Palestine Y. B. lnt'1 L. 138 (1990/91). Ed., 8. See Israel and the Occupied Territories: The Military justice system in the Occupied Territories: detention, interrogation and trial procedures (AI Index: MDE 1513419 1), pp.50-57, and Israel and the Occupied Ter- ritories: Torture and ill-treatment of political detainees (AI Index.. MDE 15103194), pp.8-13, for a fuller dis- cussion of the Landau Commission. 9. Following a review of the Landau Commission guidelines in 1993, the authorities stated that exposure to temperature extremes, food deprivation or denial of access to the toilet were not permitted. However, detainees continue to complain of these interrogation methods.

10. The ministerial committee which oversees the GSS is composed of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Jus- tice, the Minister of Police and the Minister of the Environment. 11. Israel's Interrogation of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, Human Rights Watch/ Middle East, New York 1993, p.188. 12. Testimony of 'Abd al-Naser at-Qaysi, cited by B'Tselem, 1994.

13. In an equally convoluted argument, it thus becomes impossible to bring one person to face criminal charg- es because: (a) the main "shaker", who shook by the clothes, was presumably shaking according to the Landau guidelines; (b) the later shaker, who shook by the shoulders, may have been shaking not according to the guidelines but, "the causal link between the said interrogator's action and the death of the deceased" is difficult to prove to the degree of certainty required by criminal law.

14. The committee, set up in 1993, was headed by Michael Ben Ya'ir and made up of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, the Head of the GSS, the Head of the Police, and the Legal Advisor of the Security Forces.

15. At least five other detainees have committed suicide since 1992 in circumstances where stress caused by physical or psychological torture could have contributed to their death. One 17-year-old from Gaza, died in May 1992, 10 days after his release from detention. The autopsy report stated that no reason could he found for his death. A Danish pathologist who represented the family at his autopsy said that it was 'justi- fiable to conclude, that in all probability, one way or another, death was a consequence of the described detention period and the alleged torture"