[News] Israel likely tortured Palestinian to record rape confession, say rights groups

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-israel-war-likely-tortured-palestinian-rape-confession-rights-groups>
Israel likely tortured Palestinian to record rape confession, say rights
groups
By Katherine Hearst
March 29, 2024
------------------------------

Human rights groups have questioned the credibility of an Israeli
forces interrogation
video <https://twitter.com/Israel/status/1773372654059163711>, in which an
alleged member of Islamic Jihad
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/islamic-jihad> confesses to raping an
Israeli <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> woman during the
Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October.

The video, posted online by the Israeli forces on Thursday, shows the man,
named as Manar Mahmoud Muhammad Qasem, allegedly a member of the Palestinian
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> Islamic Jihad’s naval
force, appearing to admit to the rape during an interrogation by the Israei
Intelligence Division.

But human rights groups and commentators have questioned the credibility
<https://twitter.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1773398134481129533?s=46&t=CIGwxPxiSWVAAk5XnkPwaQ>of
the confession, saying it was likely produced under torture. They cited the
surge in arbitary arrests and "inhuman and degrading treatment"
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/11/israel-opt-horrifying-cases-of-torture-and-degrading-treatment-of-palestinian-detainees-amid-spike-in-arbitrary-arrests/>
of Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces since 7 October.

"In light of Israel's decades-long track record of mistreating and
torturing Palestinian detainees and resulting well-founded concerns that
the interrogations could have involved the use of torture or other forms of
ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch does not rely on, nor consider credible,
accounts recorded in videos of interrogations of detained Palestinians they
say participated in the 7 October assault," Israel and Palestine director
at Human Rights Watch, Omar Shakir, told Middle East Eye.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International's researcher on Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian territories, Budour Hassan, said that "any public 'confession'
made by the defendants should be excluded from the evidence considered by
court".

"Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Israeli authorities to
end the practice of filming alleged confessions by detained individuals and
broadcasting them on social media in advance of their trial," she told MEE.

The video was deleted and reposted several times after commentators noted
<https://x.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1773398134481129533?s=20>
inconsistencies in the testimony and subtitle mistranslations.

The alleged confession was first reported in December
<https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=en&text=%D7%91%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A8%2C%20%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%99%20%D7%94%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%99%D7%94%20%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%95%20%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%A2%D7%94%20%D7%A4%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%99%20%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9F%20%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D%20%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%97%D7%A8%20%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%9F%20%D7%A8%D7%A6%D7%97%D7%94%20%D7%90%D7%AA%20%D7%94%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%9F.%20%D7%9B%D7%9A%20%D7%A0%D7%97%D7%A9%D7%A3%20%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%91%20(%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%99)%20%D7%91%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA%20%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%91%20%D7%91%D7%9B%D7%90%D7%9F%2011.%20%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%91%D7%9C%20%D7%A0%D7%AA%D7%9F%20%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%99%D7%9D%20%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A9%20%D7%91%D7%94%D7%9D%20%D7%9B%D7%93%D7%99%20%D7%9C%D7%96%D7%94%D7%95%D7%AA%20%D7%90%D7%AA%20%D7%94%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%9F%20-%20%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%99%D7%9D%20%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%90%20%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%A1%D7%9E%D7%95%20%D7%91%D7%A9%D7%9C%20%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%92%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA%20%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%91%D7%95%D7%93%20%D7%94%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%9F.%0A%0A%3E%20%D7%94%D7%95%D7%95%D7%90%D7%98%D7%A1%D7%90%D7%A4%20%D7%A9%D7%9C%20%D7%9B%D7%90%D7%9F%20%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA%20-%20%D7%A2%D7%A7%D7%91%D7%95%20%D7%90%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%99%20%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A5%20%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%99%0A%0A%3E%20%D7%94%D7%97%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9D%20%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%93%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9F%20%D7%91%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%99%20-%20%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%94%20%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%94%0A%0A%D7%A2%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA%20%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9F%20%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA%20%D7%94%D7%99%D7%95%20%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%A7%20%D7%9E%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%98%D7%94%20%D7%A9%D7%9C%20%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%99%20%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A1%20%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%A4%D7%AA%20%D7%94%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A8%20%D7%91-7%20%D7%91%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A8%20-%20%D7%9B%D7%9A%20%D7%A2%D7%9C%D7%94%20%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A8%D7>.
Since
then, despite Qasem providing a detailed description of the victim's
physical appearance,  the Israeli forces have failed to identify the woman.

The alleged testimony comes after the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees
(Unrwa) <https://www.unrwa.org/> accused
<https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/04/middleeast/un-israel-confessions-allegations-intl/index.html>
Israel of extracting false confessions from the agency's staff under
torture about their ties to Hamas.
Surge in arbitrary detention and torture

Israeli authorities have long arbitrarily detained and tortured Palestinian
detainees, with over 1400 complaints of torture, including painful
shackling, sleep deprivation, and exposure to extreme temperatures, by Shin
Bet, Israel’s internal security service, filed with Israel’s Justice
Ministry since 2001.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iron-bars-electric-shocks-dogs-and-cigarette-burns-how-palestinians-are-tortured-israeli-detention>

Iron bars, electric shocks, dogs and cigarette burns: How Palestinians are
tortured in Israeli detention

Read More »
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iron-bars-electric-shocks-dogs-and-cigarette-burns-how-palestinians-are-tortured-israeli-detention>

The 2002 Unlawful Combatants Law
<https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/01/gaza-unlawful-combatants-law-violates-rights>
permits
Israeli forces to detain Palestinians from the Gaza Strip with minimal
judicial oversight.

Since 7 October, extended emergency measures have facilitated a surge in
arbitrary arrests and a rapid deterioration in detention conditions, with
many Palestinians reporting physical and psychological trauma
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/how-hold-israel-accountable-torturing-palestinians>at
the hands of Israeli forces.

Since the current Israeli onslaught on Gaza began, Israeli forces have
arrested over 7,350 Palestinians <https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/v> in
the occupied West Bank alone.

At least 250 of the detainees are children
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/18/systematic-torture-to-be-palestinian-in-an-israeli-prison>,
and over half are in administrative detention, which means they can be held
indefinitely without due process.

In March, Haaretz reported that 27 Gaza detainees
<https://www.newarab.com/news/27-palestinians-died-israeli-jails-7-october#:~:text=At%20least%20twenty%2Dseven%20Palestinian,daily%20Haaretz%20said%20on%20Thursday.>had
died in Israeli military facilities since the start of the war.

While some have been released, 9,100 remain in detention, compared to the
5,200 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons before 7 October.

These figures exclude the hundreds of Palestinians
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iron-bars-electric-shocks-dogs-and-cigarette-burns-how-palestinians-are-tortured-israeli-detention>
reportedly arbitrarily detained, tortured, and interrogated in Gaza.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20240330/314d2294/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Manar Mahmoud Muhammad Qasem_X_march29.jpg.webp
Type: image/webp
Size: 34590 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20240330/314d2294/attachment-0001.webp>