LONDON, (PIC)
Sexual torture of Palestinian detainees from Gaza in Israeli prisons is an “organized state policy” endorsed by the “highest, political, military, and judicial authorities,” a new rights report has revealed.
The report, seen exclusively by Middle East Eye (MEE), is based on testimonies from Palestinian former prisoners gathered by the rights watchdog Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
It reveals how the scope of sexual violence of Palestinian prisoners, including rape using objects and trained military dogs, constitutes a “state policy” backed and abetted by Israeli institutions and leaders.
Euro-Med monitor concluded that the testimonies are not isolated incidents but stand as evidence “of a policy supported by senior civilian and military leaders, either through direct orders or by tacit approval and a climate of impunity”.
It said that the scale of such abuse was made possible by legislation, military directives and emergency regulations, such as the “unlawful combatants law,” which vastly expanded detention powers without judicial oversight and stripped detainees of any legal protections.
The report insists that responsibility for the abuse does not stop with its perpetrators, but it is facilitated by the collusion of medical and legal personnel and the Israeli judicial system.
Euro-Med reported that Israeli doctors helped to obscure incidents of torture by hiding the perpetrators’ identities, burying the victims’ injuries in medical records and issuing them “fit for interrogation” certificates.
Meanwhile, the Israeli justice system has shielded perpetrators by restricting evidence given by victims and witnesses, and reclassifying serious incidents as minor offences, resulting in the dismissal of charges.
In March, the Israeli military announced it was dropping charges against five soldiers accused of gang-raping a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman torture camp, despite leaked CCTV footage showing soldiers surrounding the detainee as he was pinned against a wall.
Numerous reports by rights groups and investigations by news sites, including MEE, have extensively documented the widespread use of sexual violence and rape of Palestinian detainees across the Israeli prison system.
A UN inquiry accused Israel of using sexualized torture and rape as “a method of war… to destabilize, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian people,” MEE noted.
