A/HRC/24/30 treatment mostly arose during security campaigns carried out by the Palestinian Authority following serious incidents against its officials or institutions. 51. On 29 January 2013, Saleh Husni Abdulrahman Shomali, a Palestinian police officer on duty at Hebron Police Station, was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and transported to Ramallah for interrogation. Mr. Shomali states that interrogators beat him continuously with a cable while his arms were tied with a rope attached to the ceiling. Two officers allegedly sprayed tear gas directly into his face, causing him to lose consciousness. During the 13-day interrogation period, he reportedly was deprived of sleep for many hours, cursed, slapped, confined in a tiny cell and subjected to shabeh for many hours. He was then transferred to Addahiriya interrogation centre, where he was again subjected to shabeh.65 52. In a positive development, on 14 May 2013, President Mahmoud Abbas decreed that all Palestinian agencies must abide by the provisions of the Palestinian Basic Law, which prohibits all forms of torture and degrading treatment, and any behaviour that diminishes human dignity.66 IV. Palestinians in Israeli detention 53. As of March 2013, approximately 6,000 Palestinians were held in Israel detention facilities,67 of which 164 were in administrative detention.68 The majority was held in prisons and detention centres located in Israel, in violation of international humanitarian law establishing that residents of an occupied territory shall be detained and serve their sentences within the occupied territory.69 Israeli authorities restrict family visits through burdensome bureaucratic procedures to obtain a permit for entry into Israel. 54. On 14 May 2012, Israeli authorities agreed to certain demands made by detainees who had launched a mass hunger strike (A/67/372, para. 25). According to NGO sources,70 the agreement has so far been partially implemented. In July 2012, visits from families based in Gaza took place. However, not all prisoners were able to see their families, in particular those detained in prisons in the north of Israel. Solitary confinement was reportedly lifted for all hunger strikers except one, who was reportedly still in isolation for security reasons.71 Several hunger strikers were released or agreements not to renew their administrative detention were reached.72 55. On 23 February 2013, Arafat Jaradat, a 30-year-old Palestinian, died while detained in the Israeli Megiddo prison. An autopsy report by the Director of the Palestinian MedicoLegal Institute indicated that his death was caused by nervous shock resulting from severe 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 Case monitored by OHCHR. http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=22381 http://www.btselem.org/statistics/detainees_and_prisoners The Committee on the Elimination on Racial Discrimination urged Israel to “end its current practice of administrative detention, which is discriminatory and constitutes arbitrary detention under international human rights law” (CERD/C/ISR/CO/14-16, para. 27). Article 76 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Convention IV). Information provided by the Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association. Ibid. http://www.addameer.org/files/Quarterly%20Update%2001_09_12%20to%2015_01_13%281%29.pdf. See also http://www.btselem.org/administrative_devention/20120223_adnan_ends_hunger_strike. 15