IDF troops at Balata refugee camp
צילום: רויטרס
Terrorist calls to reopen probe into torture claims
Convict says Shin Bet interrogators beat him and threatened his family; State: Probe yielded conclusion for the future
A man convicted of terrorist activity who claimed he was tortured by Shin Bet officers has petitioned the High Court of Justice on Wednesday to reopen the probe into his complaint and to be allowed access to the investigation materials.
As'ad Abu Gosh, 37, a resident of the Nablus-adjacent Balata refugee camp, was convicted in 2009 of belonging to an illegal group, manufacturing explosives and possessing illegal weapons. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Ahead of his release, he demanded the Attorney General's Office and the State Prosecution to investigate the Shin Bet officers who interrogated him.
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According to Abu Gosh, after his arrest in 2007, the detectives employed methods of torture, as it is defined by the UN. He said that they deprived him of sleep, beat him, slammed him against walls and used other forms of violence that eventually made him unable to stand or hold objects. He allegedly needed medical treatment while being interrogated.
Furthermore, Abu Gosh claimed that the officers threatened to arrest his mother and sister in an attempt to pressure him. In another case, security forces made him watch as they blew up a room in his house. He was not informed about the state of his family.
His claims were investigated by the Shin Bet, but the State Prosecution later decided to close the case because it was "unable to find grounds for the prosecution of the interrogators." It further noted that Abu Gosh was suspected of being a Hamas explosives expert, and that he may possess information about the group's explosives labs as well as its planned terror attacks.
Torture was never denied
However, the State never denied employing the purported methods of torture, noting that "the probe into the complaint has yielded… conclusions for the future."
Abu Gosh, who appealed the closing of the case with the aid of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, took the latter statement as proof for his claims.
"Abu Gosh's complaints of appalling torture and abuse were never denied," the complainant's attorneys wrote. "The assertion that no grounds were found for the prosecution of the interrogators cannot be justified."
A spokesman for the Justice Ministry said in response that the no criminal investigation into a Shin Bet detective can be opened without the approval of the Attorney General's Office, and therefore each case has to be thoroughly examined first.
However, the spokesman noted that the version relayed by Abu Gosh, and the one proffered by his lawyers, were inconsistent.
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