A/HRC/31/40 4. Hunger strikers, torture and ill-treatment 44. During the reporting period, some Palestinian administrative detainees resorted to hunger strikes to protest against their unlawful indefinite detention without charge. For instance, lawyer Mohammad Allan, who had been detained since 11 November 2014, began a hunger strike on 16 June 2015. On 10 August, he was moved into intensive care at a hospital, chained to a bed despite his obvious weakness. On 14 August, he lapsed into a coma for four days, and was reportedly given minerals intravenously. On 20 August, he ended his hunger strike after 65 days, when the Israeli High Court suspended his administrative detention. The suspension was directed on the grounds that his MRI scan showed extensive brain damage and that he could not be a security risk. However, he was detained again on 16 September and resumed his hunger strike until his release, on 4 November, when the detention order expired. 45. Mohammad Allan was among the first detainees at risk of force-feeding after an amendment to the Israeli Prisons Act, passed by the Knesset on 30 July 2015, permitted a District Court President to authorize force-feeding of a detainee on hunger strike.34 Although its stated aim was to save the life of the detainee, the legislation allows the Courts to factor into their decisions the State’s security and public safety. In a further similarity with the administrative detention process — the root of many hunger strikes — the Court may make its decision in a closed session and on the basis of secret evidence, not accessible by the detainee’s lawyer. The bill included an important safeguard, namely the requirement that a doctor certify that the patient would be in immediate, mortal danger were the hunger strike to continue. However, the final text referred to the Hebrew term metapel (instead of doctor),35 which, in Israeli law, encompasses medical trainees, midwives, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and nutritionists (see Patients’ Rights Act, 1996). 46. Various United Nations bodies and experts have raised concern about the enactment of this law, reiterating that force-feeding was tantamount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and a violation of the right to health. 36 The Israel Medical Association stated that force-feeding amounted to torture. In September 2015, several Israeli organizations challenged the law before the High Court. The petition is currently pending. 47. OHCHR has received reports of ill-treatment of detainees generally. The Public Committee against Torture in Israel submitted 23 complaints of torture to investigatory bodies relating to the current reporting period. 37 Most allegations refer either to assaults at the time of arrest or beating and threats during interrogation, particularly by the Israel Security Agency. Common means of ill-treatment include sleep deprivation, stress positions, sexual harassment and physical assaults. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partner organizations also documented 58 cases of West Bank children reporting ill-treatment by the Israeli security forces. Common complaints were physical violence, being blindfolded with hands painfully tied, and strip searches, while some reported being held in solitary confinement. 48. On 4 July 2015, the Knesset extended the temporary law exempting the interrogations of Palestinian “security suspects” from audiovisual recording for an additional year and a half; the latest in a series of continuous extensions since 2002. This 34 35 36 37 10 The bill was introduced at the time of the mass hunger strikes, in June 2014 (see A/HRC/28/80, para. 34). Addameer, “Factsheet: Force-feeding under International Law and Medical Standards”, 16 November 2015. Joint statement on new Israeli law on force-feeding of detainees, 8 August 2015; “UN experts urge Israel to halt legalization of force-feeding of hunger-strikers in detention”, 28 July 2015. Public Committee against Torture in Israel, “Update – November 1st, 2014 – October 31st, 2015”.