Israel court ruling confirms denial of prisoners' rights

The Israeli Supreme Court refused to overturn an army order denying Palestinian prisoners legal rights, despite hearing allegations of torture at a detention camp near Ramallah.

The tribunal threw out a petition from four Israeli human rights groups on Sunday, which quoted an Israeli source at the Ofer detention centre as saying detainees were being subjected to torture during interrogation, including repeated instances of them having their toes broken.

In an order last Friday, the army said detainees would not have access to lawyers during their permitted period of arrest, which was at the same time extended from eight to 18 days.

Quoting testimony from the unidentified witness, Sharon Avraham-Weis, lawyer for the petitioners, said: "Soldiers dragged one man by the legs back and forth in the mud before standing him against a wall, pulling him by the hair and banging his head against the wall. The witness heard noises from nearby rooms that sounded like heads being banged against a wall."

Blindfolded and bound, prisoners were told they would be shown no mercy if they failed to name suspects, according to the testimony. One detainee, who questioned why he, a doctor, had been arrested, was allegedly told: "We don't know who is a terrorist. That's why we're arresting everybody."

The army said that by the weekend 1,600 people had been rounded up throughout the West Bank. It said 800 had since been released, although human rights groups have so far been unable to contact them.