הוועד הציבורי נגד עינויים בישראל

The Public Committee Against Torture in
Israel (PCATI) and Physicians for Human
Rights-Israel (PHR-IL) demanded last week that the Ministry of Health and the
Israel Medical Association (IMA) investigate the case of the Palestinian
prisoner, Jihad Mughrabi.

21-year-old
Jihad Mughrabi was arrested by the GSS in 2008 and was heavily
beaten during his interrogation. As a result, Mughrabi needed medical
care. Unlike other torture cases, there are medical records from Laniado
hospital and from the Kishon Detention Center which support Mughrabi's
claims of abuse. PCATI submitted a complaint in Mughrabi's name to the
Attorney General of Israel - but to no avail.

Israeli Physicians act as a safety net for GSS
interrogators-- they supply the interrogators with medical assessments
of the detainee's medical status, they are on call during
interrogations, and they fail to report or document claims of abuse -
all of which violate Medical Ethics.

PCATI & PHR-IL call upon the IMA to lead the
medical community in a struggle
against torture and against the involvement of Physicians in this
horrible practice.

PCATI & PHR-IL call upon the Ministry of Health to
disseminate a memorandum to all Physicians prohibiting any form of
compliance with torture, reminding them of their ethical duty to protect
their patients from being subjected to abuse and to document and report
such cases.

PCATI & PHR-IL continue to advocate to the World Medical
Association (WMA) to hold a discussion about the concrete
obligations of national medical associations in combating torture. We
hope the WMA will hold true to its values and will discuss different
experiences with torture from around the globe, including Israel.