Alexandra Uteev Johnson

“ TO TORTURE, CONFESSION, TRIAL, AND PRISON, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE PERSON'S ACTIONS HAD BEEN. THE SECOND GROUP, WHO HAD BEEN INTERROGATED AND THEN RELEASED WITHOUT TRIAL, GENERALLY SHARED THIS VIEW AND HENCE HAD NO REAL COMPREHENSION OF THE REASONS FOR THEIR RELEASE, VIEWING IT LARGELY AS A MATTER OF LUCK. ONLY ONE INDIVIDUAL NOTED THE INTERVENTION OF AN OUTSIDE ORGANIZATION IN THE PROCESS: A TEACHER (NOW UNIVERSITY LECTURER) ”

“ THE BASIC CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS WHICH ARE EXPECTED IN A FREE DEMOCRATIC STATE LIVING IN A STATE OF PEACE. NEVERTHLESS, SERIOUS MISTREATMENT OF PRISONERS IS A CAUSE OF HUM [sic] RIGHTS CONCERN TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WHENEVER IT OCCURS. IT SEEMS CLEAR FROM THE RESEARCH OF MS. JOHNSON THAT, BY ANY US OR WESTERN STANDAR [sic] OF POLICE PRACTICE AND INTERROGATION, ISRAELI PRACTICES ON THE WEST BANK GO BEYOND ACCEPTABLE CIVILIAN NORMS.
5. ”

“ FIVE APPLICANTS SAID THAT THEY WERE EACH BEATEN BY TWO OR MORE INTERROGATORS SIMULTANEOUSLY. MOST OFTEN, THESE APPLICANTS SAID THAT TWO OR THREE INTERROGATORS PARTICIPATED. HOWEVER, AN INDIVIDUAL INTERROGATED IN RAMALLAH SAID THAT ONE SUPERVISING INTERROGATOR DIRECTED A TEAM OF FIVE SOLDIERS WHO WERE BEATING HIM, WHILE ANOTHER SECURITY OFFICER TOOK NOTES. IN SOME INSTANCES, APPLICANTS DESCRIBED HOW ONE OF THE GROUP OF INTERROGATORS WOULD PROTEST THAT THE ACCUSED WAS A GOOD PERSON WHO WOULD CONFESS WITHOUT BEATING ”

“ AND POLITICALLY INDISCREET CONVERSATIONS ALLEGED TO HAVE INCLUDED VERBAL CONSENT TO JOING [sic] THE ORGANIZATION. SIGNIFICANTLY, TWELVE OF THE TWENTY-NINE APPLICANTS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN ARRESTED ON THE BASIS OF SUCH CONVERSATIONS. THE CHARGES RECORDED IN COURT WERE, HOWEVER, QUITE VARIED -- DEPENDING ON WHAT THE ACCUSED WERE UNWISE ENOUGH TO DISCUSS. FOR EXAMPLE, APPLICANTS SAID (AND COURT RECORDS CONFIRM) THAT CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WEAPONS WERE TRANSMOGRIFIED INTO CHARGES OF "ATTEMPTING TO PROCURE ARMS" OR "MILITARY TRAINING."
9. ”

“ AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA. TWO OTHERS STATED THAT THEY WERE BEATEN TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY CONSIDERED SIGNING FALSE CONFESSIONS, ALTHOUGH THEY DID NOT DO SO. ONE SEEMS TO HAVE CUT SHORT HIS INTERROGATION BY DENOUNCING OTHER INDIVIDUALS. EIGHT SAID THAT THEY CONFESSED TO PUT AN END TO WHAT THEY REGARDED AS INTOLERABLE PAIN AND DEGRADATION. ONE CLAIMED THAT HE CONFESSED TO AVOID PERMANENT PHYSICAL DAMAGE.
6. ”

“ CONCERNING THE SECURITY OFFENSE, AND AT THE TERMINATION OF THE INTERVIEW, REQUESTED TO WRITE A STATEMENT CONCERNING THE MATTER. BETWEEN MARCH 1977 AND APRIL 1978, JERUSALEM HAS PROCESSED FIFTEEN SUCH CASES. THE INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED IN CONNECTION WITH THESE CASES PRODUCED CONSIDERABLE INFORMATION BEARING ON THE ISSUE OF TORTURE OF ARAB PRISONERS. (POST SENDING BY AIRGRAM DETAILED REPORT OF CONSULAR OFFICER INTERVIEWS WITH 15 APPLICANTS.)
3. ”