العربية
HE
العربية
HE
On May 23, 2024, five human rights organizations – the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, HaMoked, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, the Public Committee Against Torture and Gisha – petitioned the High Court of Justice (HCJ) to stop holding detainees in the Sde Teman Detention Center and close the detention facility. The Sde Teman Detention Center has been operated by the military since the start of the war as a facility for detaining suspected “unlawful combatants” from the Gaza Strip. Reportedly, more than 1,000 detainees were held there in corral-like conditions, without beds or any other facilities. Testimonies revealed an incomprehensibly cruel reality, including beatings and abuse, surgeries performed without anesthesia, holding detainees for days on end in painful positions, holding detainees handcuffed and blindfolded around the clock, including such severe handcuffing that led to amputations, blindfolding detainees even while while relieving themselves or receiving medical treatment, and holding some detainees in diapers.
The declaration of the Sde Teman facility as a "place of detention", under the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law, is lawful only if there are appropriate conditions of detention that will not harm detainees’ dignity and health and will comply with Israel's obligations to detainees’ rights under both Israeli and international law. The petition argued that the severe violation of the detainees' rights renders the deprivation of liberty unconstitutional and makes it unlawful to continue holding detainees in the facility. The petition cited former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak "Even those suspected of the worst acts of terrorism are entitled to detention at a minimum humane level, while ensuring basic human needs. We ourselves will not be humane if we do not ensure a level of humanity for the detainees in our custody".
A hearing on the petition was held on June 5, 2024. That same day, the State submitted a notice informing that due to the overall high number of detainees, detainees had been held in Sde Teman for long periods of time, and that it was now intended to operate the site as a facility for absorption, interrogation and initial screening, where the detainees would be held for a short and limited period of time. Accordingly, the State added, 500 of the 700 detainees in Sde Teman would be transferred to Ofer military detention camp, and regarding the other 200, an update would be provided later on.
On June 11, 2024, the State submitted another update announcing that the transfer of the 500 detainees was underway, that 30 of the detainees had been released to Gaza, and that by June 19, 2024, the number of detainees in Sde Teman would stand at about 160. The state added that by the end of June, Sde Teman would serve for detainees’ absorption, investigation and screening only. It was also reported that by mid-June, upgrading the existing infrastructure at the medical facility was expected to be completed and following the transfer of the detainees from Sde Teman, the detention facilities in the site were expected to be rebuilt within two to three months. The State requested to update again by June 20, 2024, regarding the actual decline in the number of detainees.
On June 16, 2024, the petitioners filed a notice with the Court, insisting that detainees could not be held in Sde Teman, even for short periods. On July 15, 2024, the HCJ issued an order nisi, “given the long period of time that has passed since the petition was filed”, compelling the State to justify within 10 days “why should it not be ruled that the operation of the Sde Teman Detention Facility be conditional on meeting the stipulations set in the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law” and the attendant regulations.
On July 18, 2024, after many extension requests, the State finally submitted an update informing that additional positions had been added to the Israel Prison Service and a new tent wing had been built in Ktziot Prison, to which 140 detainees would be transferred in three phases, so that by July 22, 2024, only 40 detainees would remain in Sde Teman.
A further hearing in the case was held on August 7, 2024. Following violent attempts by ultra-nationalist activists to disrupt the hearing, the Court decided to give the State until August 15, 2024 to update about the number of detainees held in Sde Teman and the adaption of the new facilities under construction in Sde Teman to the established provisions.
