There were red faces in Ottawa on January 18, when a Canadian Foreign Affairs document became public, listing the U.S. and Israel among countries using torture.  Amnesty International (AI) obtained the report as disclosure in connection with its suit challenging Canada’s transferring Afghan prisoners to Afghan authorities.  Justice Department Canada tried to get the report back, saying that it was released in error, but of course Amnesty International refused.  Foreign Affairs immediately went into damage control, saying that the document “does not reflect the views or policies of the government.”  Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins found the charge against the U.S. to be “offensive.”

Among the U.S. techniques mentioned were blindfolding, isolation, sleep deprivation, and forced nudity. Apparently, there was no discussion of waterboarding. The report specifically mentioned Guanatanamo as a place where such practices might be employed. Mention of Guantanamo let Paul Champ, lawyer for AI in the Afghan prisoners’ case, to make a connection to the case of Omar Khadr, the Canadian prisoner there who was taken into American custody in Afghanistan when he was a 15-year-old child soldier and who has been held for six years.

Camp found it “incredible” that Canada has not acted to get Khadr’s release from Guantanamo.Other countries listed in the document, prepared for training Canadian foreign service personnel, include China, Mexico, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.  Michael Mendel, speaking for the Israeli embassy in Canada, countered that “Israel’s Supreme Court is on record as expressing prohibiting any type of torture.”

If Israel does not torture, how did its Supreme Court come to rule on the matter?  In fact, “moderate physical pressure” was sanctioned by a 1987 commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landau: using painful postures, sleep deprivation, and hooding with filthy sacks were all authorized.  While the Court outlawed such practices in 1999, they persist, according to the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.

An official Israeli report, produced in 1995 but made public only in 2000, indicated that Shin Beit (the secret police) frequently used torture even beyond what the Landau Commission permitted.  According to the report, “At the Gaza facility, veterans and even senior investigators committed very grave and systematic violations.”

For the years 2002-2003, the Public Committee reported that “Each month, hundreds of Palestinians were subjected to one degree or another of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (ill-treatment) at the hands of the GSS (General Security Services) and bodies working on its behalf.”  These numbers had “increased dramatically” from the previous year, when the offenses were committed against “dozens.”

More recently, last November the Committee reported on the case of Ama’ad Marwan Yakub Hotri, who was tortured during interrogation at the Kishon Detention Center.  Painful use of handcuffs left his hands paralyzed, verified by a neurological examination ordered by a judge.