letter (H)
Yesterday, 12 May 2004, Adalah sent a letter to the Attorney General demanding that he issue an order requiring the General Security Services (GSS) to record all interrogations of suspects, including a literal, verbatim transcription of the entire texts of statements, made without amendment and in the language in which they were given. The letter, written by Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker, emphasized that the interrogation methods used by the GSS contravene all procedures required by law regarding the submission of evidence and confessions and which apply, for example, to the police.
Adalah sent the letter following the release of the three youths – Tarek Nujeidat, Yusuf Sbih, and Sharif Eid – Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel from Kufr Kana (located in the north), who have been detained for the last 10 months. The three young men were indicted for their alleged involvement in the murder an Israeli soldier, Oleg Shaichat, last year, mainly on the basis of a confession coerced from one of them by the GSS. It only later became clear that the confession was obtained by illegal means, including the use of force, and was completely false.
Article 2 of the Criminal Procedure Law (Interrogation of Suspects) - 2002 obligates investigators to question suspects in their native language or in a language in which they are fluent. Article 2 also states that when interrogations are documented in writing, the records must be made in the language in which the investigation was conducted. Where this is not possible, the law requires that a video or an audiotape must be made. Written records must also include a suspect’s physical movements, as well as details of the entire conversation between the investigator and the suspect, in order to accurately reflect everything that transpires in the investigation cell. Adalah argued that the GSS and the police routinely ignore these requirements, and thus violate the law, despite the severe criticism they have received from the courts, especially the Supreme Court.
Adalah added that the aforementioned law and in particular Article 7(1), which requires the police to videotape interrogations of suspects alleged to have committed offenses that carry prison sentences of over ten years, must be fully implemented by the GSS. The GSS routinely extract confessions from detainees using illegal methods including psychological pressure and physical violence, as well as conducting interrogations for many consecutive hours, depriving suspects of sleep.
In the letter, Adalah also drew attention to the fact that the importance of recording GSS interrogations of suspects has increased because of the many violations of law that occur during these investigations. For example, GSS investigators do not inform suspects that what they say may be used against them in court, and investigations can last for days, until the suspect feels compelled to confess just to escape the distress caused by the investigation.
Further, the interrogators write down the suspects’ statements without fully or even partially recording the methods of investigation used. These transcripts are then forwarded to the police, who rely on the confessions extracted by GSS in their own interrogations. The police sometimes interrogate suspects based only on the confessions extracted by GSS, and use them as a means of exerting pressure on the suspect. Oftentimes, the confessions are not signed by the suspect, nor does the suspect know what was written down by the GSS investigator. Adalah added that GSS investigators sometimes read false statements to suspects and mislead them in order to convince them to confess.
Adalah argued that coerced confessions obtained by the GSS are presented to the courts as fully corroborated statements with which to convict the accused. If the GSS continues to operate beyond the law, as it does at present, Adalah argued that what happened to the three Arab youths from Kufr Kana will be repeated, as will the conviction of innocent people. It is incumbent upon the Attorney General to order that the basic rights of an accused to dignity and due process be upheld. The gravity of these rights violations cannot be underestimated, especially since Israeli law permits the conviction of an individual on the basis of his/her confession with minimal corroboration.