‘Duma confessions under torture can be canceled’

Attorney explains that if ISA is truly abusing suspects, court can rule out admissions; ‘a person will say anything to be allowed to sleep.’

By Benny Tucker, ARUTZ SHEVA

Attorney Ariel Atari, a senior criminal defense attorney, told Arutz Sheva on Tuesday that if the admission of one of the Jewish suspects in the lethal Duma arson case was indeed extracted under torture as has been testified, it can be canceled.

“Reducing the hours of sleep is problematic,” said Atari. “The court will need to clarify how much the admissions reveal the truth, or if they were said under pressure. The more they harm a detainee, the less chance there is that the admission reveals the truth. A person without sleep could say a lot of things just so that they let him sleep.”

Aside from sleep deprivation, the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) investigators have been accused by the suspects of harsh torture, and on Tuesday they were likewise accused of sexually abusing a minor suspect during the course of the interrogation.

In the past there have been cases in which the court canceled admissions extracted under pressure, said Atari, noting that “four months ago I represented a youth from Jerusalem who admitted to lighting the car of an officer on fire.”

“He admitted and reenacted the arson. In the end, we convinced the court that he admitted and reenacted due to the emotional state he had been placed in, and the court was convinced and despite that he admitted, they acquitted him.”

The lawyer expressed his concern over the ISA investigation, saying, “we must oppose any torture in investigation, the more the Shabak (ISA) crosses red lines, the  more it will find itself in a hopeless situation.”

“Also to those being interrogated I would say not to exaggerate claims of torture, and that the claims should be measured and detail what is close to the reality, because if they exaggerate, their level of reliability in the court will decrease,” he added as a note of caution.

Damning audio evidence released earlier this week during a court hearing revealed one suspect testifying that he attempted suicide and begged for the ISA to kill him because he could not bear the torture any longer. The suspect’s arms were found to be covered in numerous scars, providing further backing to his statements.

Psychologists and social workers have issued a petition to stop the torture they argue is illegal under Israeli law, and likewise civil rights groups have called to investigate the ISA over the apparently illegal torture, but a string of politicians gave their full support to the ISA on Tuesday.

It has already been clarified that there is no evidence against the suspects.

 

December 23, 2015 | 6 Comments »

Leave a Reply

6 Comments / 6 Comments

  1. @ babushka:
    Sweet Babuska I asked a question. So who is attacking whom? Granny with a bad bad temper. You should take your high blood pressure medicine and chill out?

    For the record I am not in favor of torture nor bad tempered grannies!

    I gather you decided to attack me because you know no Shin Bet people. So you actually do not know anything first hand.

  2. If that feeble ad hominem is the best you can do, this would be the ideal time for you to unplug your keyboard, grasp it firmly in both hands, and smash it into your forehead until you knock some sense into yourself.

    I oppose Shin Bet torturing Jews. Since you disagree, Al Jazeera beckons.

  4. In recent days, members of the radical Right…

    Ah, the “radical right”.
    As distinguished from the “amoral center”.
    And the “depraved left”.
    I’ll take the radical right.

    The Shin Bet works tirelessly to fulfill its sole mission: protecting Israelis.

    Beautifully vapid platitude. The Shin Bet answers to corrupt, craven politicians.

  6. The Shin Bet protects us all

    In recent days, members of the radical Right have been holding demonstrations — some violent — to protest the administrative detentions of the alleged Jewish terrorists believed to be behind summer’s deadly arson attack in Duma, which killed three members of a Palestinian family, including an 18-month-old boy.

    The protesters have picketed the homes of senior law enforcement officials and staged demonstrations on street corners. The more the investigation progresses and indictments move closer, the louder the protests become. Perhaps the significance of Jews committing such murders has finally dawned on the protesters.

    The suspects’ lawyers have been fueling these protests by spreading false rumors that they were being tortured by the Shin Bet security agency. But the lawyers are just doing their job. They hope this approach will help build a solid defense for their clients.

    My advice to the suspects and their supporters is to show restraint, and even more importantly, tamp down their rhetoric. If it turns out that the interrogators overstepped their legal authority, Israel has the necessary means to prosecute them. But if it turns out that these suspects indeed carried out the attack in Duma, all those protesters and their leader will have to eat a lot of crow. They will have to grapple with the realization that their young people, supposedly raised on Jewish values, went astray and committed such violent acts. What the Duma attackers did was no youthful transgression or juvenile prank, but very serious violence that motivates Palestinian terrorists to attack Jews.

    The Shin Bet works tirelessly to fulfill its sole mission: protecting Israelis. Its agents work around the clock to prevent terrorism and hunt down its perpetrators. Their work is never done, as they constantly face new waves of terrorism that take new forms. It is such a pity that the organization has to expend so much energy to prevent Jewish terrorism on top of everything else, because it means that essential resources are being diverted away from combating the main threat — Palestinian terrorism.

    I have no doubt that the Shin Bet follows the letter of the law. The interrogation techniques have been written into law and sanctioned by multiple court decisions. Considering what the Shin Bet went through after the Bus 300 Affair (when interrogators deliberately killed suspects), it is hard to imagine the Shin Bet taking the law into its own hands.

    Unfortunately, media heavyweights have joined forces with the detainees and their representatives, turning their defense attorneys into media darlings. This warm embrace has become stronger every time those lawyers utter worn-out cliches normally relegated to the subversive activity of Breaking the Silence (a group that highlights alleged misconduct of Israeli soldiers). It is hard to understand why the Right, even as it fights Breaking the Silence, adopts the group’s very arguments just so it can de-legitimize the Shin Bet.

    Israeli citizens are grateful for the Shin Bet; our lives depend on it. Given the current circumstances, let’s hope the investigation is completed soon. It is essential that we get answers to what happened in Duma.http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=14741