הוועד הציבורי נגד עינויים בישראל

The law allows for the arrest of suspects for long periods without any judicial oversight, for deliberations to take place in their absence, and for the decision to extend their detention to be concealed from them

letter sent by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) to the President, Prime Minister and Minister of Justice of the Palestinian National Authority condemning the death sentences recently imposed against two persons by the High Military Court of the Palestinian National Authority.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) calls on the Knesset not to pass the proposed amendment to the Detention of Illegal Combatants Law debated in the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member and partner organizations in Israel, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and Mosawa, are deeply concerned by a draft bill concerning refugees and asylum seekers which passed its preliminary reading in the Israeli Parliament by 21 votes to 1 last week.

5 prisoners, their relatives and 10 Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations petitioned the Supreme Court calling for the immediate renewal of the visits.

The report, published this morning, reveals the widespread phenomenon of violence against bound Palestinian detainees by IDF soldiers and the almost absolute indifference of the IDF, the Ministry of Defense and the Knesset towards the existence of this phenomenon and the need to take action in order to eradicate it completely.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) held a special event in Tel Aviv to mark United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (June 26th).

The petition, filed in March 2008, demands the annulment of a law which severely violates the basic rights of detainees suspected of security offences.

Three human rights organizations, The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel and  Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel withdrewtoday their principle petition that they submitted to the High Court of Justice (HCJ).  This was done in protest of the Court's unprecedented and invalid majority decision by the nine judge panel to base their decision on the constitutionality of a law on secret evidence presented by Israel's General Security Service (GSS) and heard ex-parte, in the absence of the petitioners. 

Following the indictments filed on 7.8.08, in the Ni’lin shooting affair, the Palestinian victim and four Israeli human rights organizations demanded that the military Judge Advocate General suspend legal proceedings against both the lieutenant colonel involved and the soldier who fired the shot. The delay will enable the organizations to examine and consider challenging the decision to charge the two with the relatively light offense of “inappropriate conduct”.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) calls on the Knesset not to pass the proposed amendment to the Detention of Illegal Combatants Law debated in the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee

An ad published by human rights organizations in the "Ha'aretz" newspaper on 30 December 2008:

"Civilians are not cannon fodder, not in Gaza, not in Sderot"

Wednesday, January 7, 2009: Nine human rights organizations petitioned Israel's Supreme Court today demanding that Israel stop the collapse of Gaza's sewage and water system, a collapse caused by the military operation and by a 14-month policy of systematically blocking fuel supplies necessary to generate electricity

Israeli Supreme Court Orders State to Explain Gaza Civilian Policy:

1. Why Not Permitting Evacuation of Wounded

Following the petition submitted in March 2008 by The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI),The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Adalah, On 4 January 2008, an expanded High Court of Justice panel  consisting of 9  Justices and presided over by Chief Justice Dorit Beinich,  held a hearing on the constitutionality of the Criminal Procedure (Detainees Suspected of Security Offenses) Law.

A Press conference was held in Jerusalem on Wednesday (14/1/09) in which 9 Israeli human ritghs NGOs (including PCATI) read their statement to the Isaeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, warning of the clear humanitarian danger looming in Gaza and pointed out the severe nature of Israeli action in the course of its war in Gaza which blatantly violates the human and humanitarian rights of civilians in Gaza.

Seven Israeli Human Rights Organizations:
Israel held many Gaza prisoners in harsh and humiliating conditions and threatened their lives and their health

  More...

You are invited to view the third film in the joint PCATI - Social TV  series on International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The film focuses on the laws of occupation.

Three human rights organizations withdrew a principle petition in protest of the High Court's unprecedented and invalid decision to base their decision on the constitutionality of a law on secret evidence presented by Israel's General Security Service (GSS) and heard ex-parte.

The only way to investigate violations of human rights committed in Gaza is by establishing an external, extra-military investigation mechanism.

High Court Judges pointed out (20.5.09) that because of PCATI's petition there have been recognizable improvements in the enforcement of the law to record confessions in the language of the suspect. 

PCATI and PHR-Israel wrote to chair of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) ethics committee, Prof. Avinoam Reches, claiming that the manner in which complaints concerning physician involvement in torture are investigated are flawed.

A variety of agencies in Israel – chief among them the GSS and the IDF – shackle detainees in painful ways that amount to torture and ill treatment.This is done in violation of Israeli law, basic moral principles and international law, including international human rights conventions  signed by Israel. The primary victims of this practice are Palestinian ‘security’ detainees.

Seven human rights organizations based in Israel presented a report to the UN Fact-Finding team investigating allegations of war crimes during “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza, led by Justice Richard Goldstone.

The Israeli High Court of Justice ruled today in favor of changing the indictments filed against the soldier and commander who were involved in the shooting of a handcuffed detainee in Ni’lin.

PCATI Attorney Majd Bader was invited to the United Nations in Geneva to testify before the Goldstone Commission.

On 6 July 2009, the High Court of Justice rejected the contempt of court motion filed by PCATI, HaMoked and ACRI on the violation of the HCJ judgement on torture of September 1999.

Ten human rights and social change organizations in Israel have publicly declared support for the organization "Breaking the Silence" (Shovrim Shtika).

Two articles by Amira Hass from Ha'aretz newspaper, based on testimonies and affidavits collected by PCATI.

PCATI attorney Samah Elkhatib-Ayoub testified on 9 August 2009 in Amman before the UN Special Committee to Investigte Israeli Practices affecting Human Rights of the Palestinian People and other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.

With the publication of the Goldstone Committee report today, human rights organizations in Israel are studying the report and its conclusions, and they call upon the Israeli Government to take the report seriously and to refrain from automatically rejecting its findings or denying its legitimacy.

Subsequent to the petition submitted by five human rights organizations led by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), the High Court of Justice today clearly stated that it is forbidden to use threats, false promises and charades that relate to family members of interrogees as a form of pressure in General Security Service (GSS) and police interrogations.

A global coalition of civil society organizations, ncluding PCATI, have urged members of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to support the recommendations of the Goldstone Report...

PCATI released today a new report which exposes the shifts in Israel's combat doctrine as evidenced in the prosecution of operation "Cast Lead" and from numerous public oral and written statements made by high ranking military officers and senior Israeli Government officials. 

A new report by PCATI exposes an intolerable reality. Israeli authorities systematically prevent investigations of complaints of torture against General Security Service (GSS) interrogators. 

Thrusday, April 29, 2010 – Democratic values are important to the human
rights community in Israel. A new bill proposes to trample these
democratic values and undermine the ability to seek accountability for
human rights violations. It is with great concern that we respond to the
proposed bill: Associations (Amutot) Law (Amendment – Exceptions to the
Registration and Activity of an Association), 2010.

Right-Wing Attack on Human Rights Defenders and Dissent in Israel

Position Paper
April 2010
Introduction
The Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) entered into force on 22 June 2006, as the culmination of decades of negotiations over the establishment of a worldwide system of torture prevention based on regular visits to places of detention.  To date, as many as 64 states have signed and 50 states have ratified or acceded to the OPCAT.

PCATI and Adalah's New Report on Treatment of Palestinian (Gazan) Detainees during Cast Lead:Torture, Ill Treatment and Human Shields
A Special Report on "Cast Lead": Israel Used Palestinian Detainees as Human Shields
Testimonies Gathered by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and by Adalah Reveal that the Israeli Army Deliberately Violated Palestinian Detainees' Rights through "Legal Black Holes"

The human rights organizations – the Association for Civil Rights in
Israel (ACRI), B’Tselem, Gisha, Public Committee against Torture in
Israel (PCATI), Yesh Din, Hamoked: Center for Defense of the Individual,
Adalah, Rabbis for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights Israel,
and Breaking the Silence – have appealed to the Attorney General
immediately following Operation Cast Lead, calling on him to investigate
allegations regarding violations of the laws of war during the
operation.

On the fifth anniversary of the capture of Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit, leading Israeli, Palestinian and International Human Rights organizations issued a joint statement demanding that those holding him must immediately end his inhumane and illegal treatment.

PCATI Updates its Report on Impunity: In 2012 despite Israel's Attorney General's pledge to reform the torture complaints investigation process there has been no change. The result: "Accountability Still Denied"