Rights group: Shin Bet uses relatives to extract prisoners' confessions

[bemildred]

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel has accused the Shin Bet security service of using relatives of individuals under interrogation to extract confessions.

In a report to be submitted Sunday to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the organization says the Shin Bet makes unjustified arrests of family members, or creates the pretense of such arrests to pressure suspects.

The report further states that such methods are used against individuals who are already subjected to severe physical torture. In at least one case, the report states that the pressure led to suicide attempts by the individual under interrogation. Attorney Aviel Linder, who compiled the report, noted that a series of international treaties prohibit psychological torture, including threatened or actual harm to family members. The report details six cases between 2007 and 2008, but says it knows of dozens of others.

According to the findings, it is a common method of interrogation to psychologically abuse a detainee using family members, and that in most cases the interrogation was not a matter of a "ticking bomb." The report states that an interrogation using such harsh and improper means casts aspersions on the confession's veracity.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/974151.html

[ProgressiveMuslim]

1. Chirping crickets, as I expected. nt

[cali]

2. Yeah, I heard this this morning.

Despicable.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Completely unacceptable.

[azurnoir]

4. The assumption is that the purpose of such

interrogation methods is to extract vital information, but seeing as how Shin Bet "allowed" on some level an official story to be reported, one has to wonder if there is not a broader range psychological intent at work here.