By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle  

“No one is above the law. No one is immune from prosecution for torture.”

The UN special rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, has condemned the sexual assault of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention center.

“This alleged sexual torture involving multiple offenders is particularly gruesome,” Edwards said on Friday. “There are no circumstances in which sexual torture or sexualized inhuman and degrading treatment can be justified.”

Leaked footage from surveillance cameras showed the detainee being picked out from a group of about 30 others lying bound and blindfolded on the ground. The detainee is then escorted to a corner where guards, trying to hide their act with shields, proceed to rape him.

Leaked Video – Israeli Soldiers Sexually Assault Gaza Detainee

Israeli Channel 12, which recently aired the video, said the detainee was bleeding and taken to hospital where his condition was described as “complex,” adding that “the injury was caused by the insertion of an object.”

The UN rapporteur said “I have been informed that several soldiers suspected of involvement have been identified and are currently under investigation,” in an official meeting with Israeli authorities.

‘Violent Interference’

She said she was “troubled by recent attempts by Israeli citizens – including reportedly one member of parliament – to intervene violently after the arrests of soldiers on these abuse charges,” and called for the investigation to take place without interference.

Rape and Torture at Israel’s Sde Teiman Concentration Camp – Video Analysis

“Criminal proceedings into all allegations must proceed unhindered. No one is above the law. No one is immune from prosecution for torture,” she said.

Ten occupation soldiers were detained on July 29 for the sexual assault, but five were later released after riots erupted when far-right Jewish settlers and politicians broke into two military bases where the soldiers were being held.

On Tuesday, the remaining five were released and placed under house arrest by an Israeli military court.

Torture at Sde Teiman – Soldiers Accused of Sexual Abuse Released into House Arrest

According to Haaretz, the court ordered the soldiers to remain under house arrest for ten days until August 22 after an agreement between the military prosecution and the soldiers’ defense lawyers.

The soldiers “were suspected of aggravated sodomy (a charge equivalent to rape), causing bodily harm under aggravated circumstances, abuse under aggravated circumstances, and conduct unbecoming of a soldier,” the Times of Israel reported, citing the Israeli military.

Inhumane Practices

In recent months, numerous reports have emerged of mass abuse of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza at the infamous Sde Teiman prison in the Negev desert, southern Israel.

Last month, Israel’s Attorney-General requested the closure of Sde Teiman “immediately”, the Anadolu news agency reported, citing Israeli media.

‘Something You Can’t Imagine’ – Israeli Doctor Recounts Horrors at Sde Teiman

Haaretz published a report on Friday of an unnamed Israeli physician who gave a first-hand account to the Israeli newspaper of the inhumane practices detainees from Gaza are subjected to by Israeli forces at Sde Teiman.

The doctor told Haaretz that his entire experience of serving at the detention facility of Sde Teiman “felt so surrealistic to me… Like, everything I’d been taught, all the years in university and in hospitals, how to treat people – all that exists, but in an environment in which 20 people are being held naked in a tent. It’s something you can’t imagine.”

He also said, “…to hold a person without letting them move any of their limbs, blindfolded, naked, under treatment, in the middle of the desert… in the end it’s no less than torture.”

‘Welcome to Hell’

A new report by the B’Tselem Israeli human rights group documented testimonies from 55 Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli detention facilities.

Titled ‘Welcome to Hell’ the report indicates “a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.”

It documented frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation, prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment.

‘Horrific Conditions’ – Two Detainees Confirmed Dead Due to Torture in Israeli Prisons

The organization said “no less than 60” Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody.

The report also documented “unrelenting physical and psychological abuse,” with testimonies attesting to physical, sexual, psychological and verbal violence, directed at all Palestinian prisoners and “perpetrated in an arbitrary, menacing fashion, usually under a shroud of anonymity.”

“The scope of violence emerging from the testimonies clarifies that these are not isolated, random incidents, but rather an institutional policy integral to the treatment of prisoners,” said B’Tselem.

(The Palestine Chronicle)