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UN presses Israel on 'secret detention center'
Anti-torture committee wants 'all detainees' allegations of ill-treatment at Facility 1391' probed
The UN Anti-Torture Committee Friday called on Israel to release information on any secret detention facilities and to close such interrogation centers. The state has so far refuted claims that such centers exist.
During their examination of Israel, the 10 experts presented allegations that Israel was running a "Facility 1391" in an "undetermined location within Israel which is not accessible to the International Committee of the Red Cross or detainees' lawyers or relatives."
Disputed Facilities
Associated Press
State representative tells UN Committee Against Torture Israel no longer using facility allegedly used to keep Palestinian prisoners in isolation, refutes detainees' mistreatment claims
In conclusions published Friday, the committee said Israel should "investigate and disclose the existence of any other such facility and the authority under which it has been established."
In a written reply, Israel denied that it was operating the facility or using it to interrogate suspects.
"For several years now, the ISA (Israel Security Agency) is not involved in any way in operating that facility, and no ISA interrogations are conducted there. Furthermore, since September 2006, the facility has not been used for detention," said the Israeli authorities.
But in Friday's report, the experts noted "with concern" that petitions filed to examine Facility 1391 were rejected.
In addition, Israel's Supreme Court had ruled that Israeli authorities acted reasonably in not conducting investigations on allegations of torture carried out in the facility.
The court "should ensure that all allegations of torture and ill-treatment by detainees in Facility 1391 be impartially investigated, the results made public and any perpetrators responsible for breaches of the Convention be held accountable," said the committee.
