UN Press Release on "Israel's Escalating Use of Torture Against Palestinians in Custody"
"Reports of torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison are grossly illegal and revolting, but they only represent the tip of the iceberg, independent human rights experts warned"
As a matter of public service, and with the intent of trying to draw greater attention to Zionist atrocities that are part of Israel’s genocide, I am reposting this press release I recently came across from The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. The prison mentioned in this press release is the same prison that 135 mutilated bodies were returned to Palestine from Israel a few days ago. Please share this article with everybody you possibly can. This might be the most horrific press release I’ve ever read.
GENEVA - Reports of alleged torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison are grossly illegal and revolting, but they only represent the tip of the iceberg, independent human rights experts* warned today.
“Israel’s widespread and systemic abuse of Palestinians in detention and arbitrary arrest practices over decades, coupled with the absence of any restraints by the Israeli State since 7 October 2023, paint a shocking picture enabled by absolute impunity,” the experts said.
Around 9,500 Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently imprisoned—around one-third without charge or trial. Another unknown number are arbitrarily being held in detention facilities and ad hoc camps following a wave of arrest and abduction campaigns across Palestinian territory that targeted men, women and children particularly following 7 October.
The experts received substantiated reports of widespread abuse, torture, sexual assault and rape, amid atrocious inhumane conditions, with at least 53 Palestinians apparently dying as a result in 10 months.
Countless testimonies by men and women speak of detainees in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds blindfolded and in diapers, stripped naked, deprived of adequate healthcare, food, water and sleep, electrocutions including on their genitals, blackmail and cigarette burns. In addition, victims spoke of loud music played until their ears bled, attacks by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual and gender-based violence.
“Allegations of gang-rape of a Palestinian detainee, now shockingly supported by voices in the Israeli political establishment and society, provide irrefutable evidence that the moral compass is lost,” the experts said. In February 2024, a number of experts also expressed grave concern regarding the reports of sexual and other forms of gender-based violence committed against Palestinian women and girls in Israeli detention.
The Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory investigated Israel’s detention practices in 2023 and called on UN Member States to intervene and the International Criminal Court to promptly investigate what appeared to be a consolidated crime against humanity. The experts regret this call was not heeded.
“Torture practices are irredeemably unlawful and constitute international crimes, yet form part of the modus operandi of Israel’s notorious detention and torture system,” they warned. “These practices are intended to punish Palestinians for resisting occupation and seek to destroy them individually and collectively. Israel’s genocidal destruction in Gaza, which is spreading across the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, serves as the backdrop to its abusive detention programme today,” the experts said.
“Most Palestinian detainees are de facto hostages of an unlawful occupation,” they said, referring to the July 2024 Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. They called for oversight and accountability over all Israeli practices and policies in the territory.
“Decrying the silence by Member States following the emergence of testimonies and reports of alleged maltreatment and torture, the experts called for pressure on Israel with a view to implementing a cogent system of access, monitoring and protection of Palestinian detainees. The Human Rights Council, in particular, must urgently demand the deployment of special procedures mandate holders and the Commission of Inquiry to facilities holding Palestinians, they said.
“What is required now is nothing short of an independent, international presence of human rights observers. They must become the world’s eyes in light of Israel’s brazen failure to prevent and address the heinous rights violations against prisoners and detainees,” the experts said.
As I read this press release I couldn’t help but be reminded of America’s crimes against humanity during the “War on Terror” in prisons like Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca, and Guantanamo Bay.
At what point are we all going to come to terms with the glaring fact that the society of Israel has reached the point of no return? In their own words, they have admitted that they do not view the Palestinians as fellow humans. Reading any of the hundreds of reports detailing their brutality can prove that. Is this what our society has become? Is this what we want our tax dollars going to, a genocidal-psychopathic regime? Is this the world we want our children growing up in, one that normalizes crimes against children? One that looks away from it, or worse, condones it?
What if this was your child, sister, mother, or brother? Where has our empathy gone, our humanity?
What is done unto one, is done unto all.
Thank you for sending this gruesome report. I sppreciated your banned must read list. All time nonfiction hit list, eh? At 69, I hope to witness Nuremberg 2.0 and as I write Hangings at the Hague by the thousands. It better be a international affair. At some idd hour last night I watched a but if Istanbue Palestine Tribunal from here in Alaska. Dark Leadership across the globe with a few exceptions. Francesca was a ray if hope as she had to dish out herbown gruesome reports with grace. The Peace Prize truely went to her opposite. Its a upside world. Take care.