[Ppnews] Dutch authorities let Israel get away with torture

[Political Prisoner News]

Dutch authorities let Israel get away with torture
Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, 17 October 2008

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9897.shtml

Last May, although he was visiting the Netherlands, Dutch police 
failed to arrest Ami Ayalon, an Israeli government minister. An 
application for Ayalon's arrest had been submitted to Dutch 
authorities by Khalid al-Shami, a Palestinian man who alleged he was 
<http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9881.shtml>tortured by 
Israel's Shin Bet secret service when Ayalon ran it. It was a narrow 
escape; but credible reports indicate that Dutch authorities actively 
colluded with Israel to frustrate the course of justice.

Al-Shami had tried fruitlessly for years to get Israel to investigate 
his claim that after he was arrested by soldiers on 31 December 1999 
he was subjected to weeks of often round-the-clock interrogation and 
mistreatment amounting to torture at Israel's Ashkelon prison. 
Al-Shami alleged that he was subjected to extreme cold, stretching, 
sleep deprivation and being bound to a painfully small chair by his 
hands and feet for long periods. He was denied legal representation 
for the first twenty days, before the Israeli military court extended 
his detention for an additional month.

A month before Ayalon's four-day visit to the Netherlands, European 
Union governments had adopted updated Guidelines on Torture and Other 
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment. These called on all countries 
to ensure that their judicial systems would effectively pursue 
allegations of torture, protect victims, and investigate suspects and 
bring them to justice in fair trials. The EU's goals were nothing 
less than to prevent and eliminate torture and impunity in wherever 
it occurred.

There is ample reason for them to focus on Israel. In February 2000, 
Israeli authorities released a previously secret state comptroller's 
report acknowledging for the first time that the Shin Bet "knowingly" 
committed torture. Israel's high court acknowledged as much two years 
later when it banned the use of "physical pressure" in interrogations.

In November 2001, the United Nations Committee on Torture added its 
voice, expressing its concern about Israel's use of methods similar 
to those alleged by al-Shami against both adults and minors. While 
acknowledging Israel's security concerns, the UN report emphasized 
that "no exceptional circumstances" could justify torture. Israel's 
state prosecutor received over 500 complaints of Shin Bet 
mistreatment since December 2001, yet, a joint report by the Israeli 
human rights organizations B'Tselem and Hamoked protested, the 
prosecutor "has not found cause to order the instigation of a single 
criminal investigation."

It was because of such systematic impunity that al-Shami was forced 
to take his quest for justice abroad. "Ayalon's visit to the 
Netherlands provided an exceptional opportunity and engaged a duty to 
arrest him and establish jurisdiction," said the Gaza-based 
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza which has helped gather 
evidence in al-Shami's case and those of other victims seeking legal 
redress outside Israel, "in accordance with the legal principle of 
universal jurisdiction."

Al-Shami's lawyers' initial 16 May torture complaint included a 
request for urgency because Ayalon was only scheduled to be in the 
Netherlands for a few days to speak at a conference organized by a 
Dutch pro-Israel organization. On 18 May, Dutch Foreign Affairs 
minister Maxime Verhagen attended the event and declared that he was 
"lucky to be in the company" of Ayalon.

Only one month later, on the International Day in Support of Victims 
of Torture, the EU issued a statement condemning any action or 
attempt by states or public officials to legalize, authorize or 
acquiesce in torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment 
or punishment under any circumstances, including on grounds of 
national security or through judicial decisions.

Though time was pressing, the Dutch Public Prosecutor failed to 
initiate an investigation because another body, the College of 
Procurators-General, had to rule on whether Ayalon had immunity. When 
their decision arrived on 21 May that he could be charged in the 
Netherlands, it was a day too late.

This was no accident of timing, according to a report in Israeli 
daily Yedioth Ahronoth on 7 October. As soon as Israeli officials 
learned of al-Shami's legal action, they "immediately contacted Dutch 
authorities to make certain Ayalon would not be arrested." The Dutch 
government's "speedy and positive response to Israel's plea," the 
newspaper said, meant that Israeli officials did not have to consider 
"the possibility of spiriting Ayalon out of the country immediately," 
as they had done in other cases of senior Israeli officials being 
pursued by judicial authorities in Europe (Itamar Eichner, "Report: 
Minister Ayalon evaded arrest in Holland," YNet, 7 October 2008).

The Dutch daily De Volkskrant cited an Israeli government official 
confirming the contacts between the Israeli and Dutch Ministries of 
Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice. Not only did the Dutch 
foreign minister publicly associate himself with Ayalon while the 
latter was been accused of torture, but, it would appear, his 
department helped the accused get away.

This is not only a violation of al-Shami's rights and a further slap 
in the face of Palestinian torture victims, it is a grave violation 
of the Netherlands' commitments under international law and further 
exposes Europe's shameless collusion with Israel's mounting human 
rights crimes.

Arjan El Fassed is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and the 
author of <http://www.nietiedereenkanstenengooien.nl>Niet iedereen 
kan stenen gooien (Uitgeverij Nieuwland, 2008).



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