IDF extends detention of ‘tortured’ Palestinian suspect

An IDF court extended the detention status of a Palestinian suspect who was hospitalized on September 28 following his interrogation for the alleged terror killing of Rina Shnerb, but delayed deciding whether he will be sent back to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency.)

The decision extended Samer Mina Salim Arbid’s detention status until Thursday, following a similar decision last week to extend his detention for a few days while he recovers in the hospital.

In addition, the Supreme Court rejected a petition on Monday by Arbid’s lawyers for access to meet with him, saying that the courts had allowed family members to attend to Arbid while he was unconscious. The court said that now that he is awake, security considerations required no further access for the time being.

An IDF court rejected Arbid’s defense lawyers’ request last week to release him from the status of being a detainee on the grounds that he was at least temporarily in 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.

The IDF court ruled last week that even as his medical condition was serious on September 29, his medical situation had improved sufficiently to indicate that he was likely to make a full recovery in the near future.

Therefore, the IDF court said, it would send him back to the Shin Bet for further interrogation based on the IDF Prosecution’s evidence that Arbid was involved in killing Shnerb and other violent terrorist activities.

The Jerusalem Post has learned that at a detention hearing before the military court on September 26, Arbid complained of various pains from his interrogation by the Shin Bet.

Despite these warning signs, the interrogation continued, and when Arbid was transferred to Hadassah-University Medical Center by September 28, he was considered in critical condition.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) said that Hadassah-University Medical Center will need to make a grave decision if the IDF court orders Arbid returned to the Shin Bet.

On the 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.

At press time, Hadassah-University Medical Center had not replied to inquiries from the Post regarding the issue.