‘Tortured’ Palestinian suspect expected to be sent back to Shin Bet

Both IDF courts and the Supreme Court rejected Arbid’s defense lawyers’ previous requests to release him from being a detainee on the grounds that the Shin Bet allegedly beat him into a coma.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
IDF soldiers searching in the West Bank for the terrorists who killed Rina Shnerb, August 2019 (photo credit: IDF)
IDF soldiers searching in the West Bank for the terrorists who killed Rina Shnerb, August 2019
(photo credit: IDF)
A Palestinian suspect who was hospitalized on September 28 – following his interrogation for the alleged terrorist killing of Rina Shnerb – has returned to full consciousness and may be returned to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for interrogation soon.
The Shin Bet and the IDF obtained a gag order on the case on October 10 until November 10, both regarding the role of Samer Mina Salim Arbid and other alleged co-conspirators in the Shnerb murder.
Arbid’s detention status was extended numerous times while he had been in a coma, and following an October 7 ruling by the Supreme Court characterizing him as a serious security risk, it appears inevitable that he will be sent back to the Shin Bet.
Both IDF courts and the Supreme Court rejected Arbid’s defense lawyers’ previous requests to release him from the status of being a detainee on the grounds that the Shin Bet allegedly beat him into a coma.
The defense lawyers said that Arbid, who was arrested by security forces on September 25, was tortured by the Shin Bet during his interrogation, and that he was almost killed as a result.
When Arbid was transferred to Hadassah-University Medical Center by September 28, he was considered in critical condition.
On September 29, the Justice Ministry’s unit for probing complaints against Shin Bet interrogators opened a preliminary inquiry into whether the agency’s questioners had broken the law.
In 1999, the Supreme Court banned the Shin Bet from torturing even terrorist detainees, but also has consistently reaffirmed the homeland security agency’s authority to use “moderate physical pressure” against “ticking bomb” detainees – to get information to prevent an imminent terrorist threat.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) has said that Hadassah will need to make a grave decision if the IDF court orders Arbid returned to the Shin Bet.
On one hand, PCATI said that Israeli hospitals do not refuse to release detainees back to the security authorities.
On the other hand, PCATI said that Arbid’s case has been in the public eye in Israel and Palestine, and that the ethical regulations guiding all physicians and the Tokyo Protocol – endorsed by the World Medical Association and the Israeli Medical Association – are crystal clear: doctors cannot allow a detainee to be questioned on hospital grounds, and they cannot knowingly release a prisoner back to an interrogation employing torture.
PCATI has also questioned whether the Justice Ministry unit is ready to prosecute Shin Bet agents, citing that only one criminal probe has been opened out of 1,200 complaints filed since 2001.
Justice Ministry lawyers have replied that there are a variety of reasons for which Palestinian criminal suspects make up allegations of torture, such as justifying their incriminating fellow Palestinians, and that Shin Bet agents will be prosecuted if they cross the line set by the Supreme Court.


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torture
Rina Shnerb