Israeli Torture to Extract False Confessions

 According to a statement from the Palestinian Prisoners Society, Palestinian orthopedic surgeon Adnan al-Bursh, who served as the head of orthopedic surgery at Al-Shifa Hospital, died in the Ofer Israeli detention centre in the West Bank on April 19 after being imprisoned and tortured for more than four months. According to available information, his name was first reported on May 2 after a released detainee said al-Bursh had been tortured and killed.

The surgeon's body is being held by Israel, four Palestinian human rights groups -- Addameer, Al Mezan, Al-Haq and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights -- informed on May 3. They said that Israel released more than 60 Palestinian prisoners and detainees via the Kerem Shalom crossing, some of them displaying "visible signs of physical torture." Israeli authorities also transferred the body of 33-year-old Ismail Abdelbari Khader. Dr. Marwan al-Hams, the director of Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, said that Khader's body bore "torture marks on his wrists, as well as swelling in his shoulders, knees and chest."

Following the information on the death of al-Bursh, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese said on May 3 that she was "extremely alarmed" at the death of the prominent doctor. "I urge the diplomatic community to intervene with concrete measures to protect Palestinians. No Palestinian is safe under Israel's occupation today," she said via social media.

More than 3,660 Palestinians are being held without charge, including 22 women and 40 children.

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This article was published in

Volume 54 Number 31 - May 8, 2024

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54319.HTM

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