Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

Canadian and Israeli Cases 585
had been self-inflicted that same morning. According to the agents, Mr A had
been able to untie himself whilst in a period of ‘waiting’ and repeatedly banged
his head against the rough surface of the room’s wall. Mr A’s account, in contrast,
was that a GSS agent had slammed his head repeatedly against the wall whilst
he sat shackled to a small chair in order to extract a more damaging confession
from him than he had given the previous day. About 24 hours later a doctor,
who described him as being in a ‘hysterical state’, examined him. Mr A was
given a sedative and re-interrogated four days later.
On the 16th day of his detention, Mr A signed a confession in which he
admitted to having driven in his minicab two activists of Hamas. The terrorists
were carrying explosives and intended to use them to attack the Israeli military
forces.
A ‘log book’ had been kept by the interrogators of the periods of interrogation,
and where Mr A was transferred to after the interrogation sessions. After
interrogation, there were three possible options, referred to as ‘waiting’, ‘cell’
and ‘rest’. Each period appears to have a special function as part of a method
of breaking down the detainee’s resistance (Human Rights Watch/Middle East,
1994).
Mr A’s GSS interrogators were summoned to give evidence about the nature
and circumstances of his interrogation and confinement. The agents’ identity
remained secret, but they testified in public.
According to the agents’ testimony, the term ‘waiting’ is deliberately used to
denote confinement in a painful body position, together with hooding and sleep
deprivation. Whilst in ‘waiting’, detainees are invariably unable to obtain any
sleep, except for very brief moments. They can sleep when they are in their cell.
According to the agents’ testimony, the ‘cell’ is located outside the interrogation
wing and is administered by the Israeli Prison Service. According to the
‘log book’, during his 16-day confinement, Mr A was sent to a cell on only three
separate occasions. The first period was between 12 June and the morning of
14 June. The second period was between late afternoon on 18 June (after his
face injury was discovered) and 23 June in the afternoon. The third period was
in the afternoon on 25 June, after he had signed his second, and more damaging,
confession.
According to the ‘log book’, Mr A was sent on several occasions to the ‘rest’
option for two or three hours at a time, where he was allowed to rest on a
mattress. A part of the rest period involved Mr A being taken to the lavatory,
where he had to have his meals.
The agents testified that they had used various methods during ‘waiting’ in
order to extract a confession from Mr A. These included the following.
1. Sleep deprivation. The agents had deliberately deprived Mr A of sleep as a
way of extracting a confession from him. According to their evidence, there
were three major periods of sleep deprivation, the longest one being over
four and a half days. One agent admitted that agents commonly made sleep
contingent upon detainees’ willingness to talk to the interrogators.
2. Painful bodily position. Mr A had been handcuffed and tied to a small chair
in a closet or corridor near the interrogation room, with a sack over his head.