Honenu Atty. Keidar; Photo credit: Honenu
Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 14:35 A Jewish resident of Yehuda and Shomron who has been detained by the GSS for approximately one month under severe conditions was sexually harassed by GSS interrogators during his interrogation. Honenu Attorney Adi Keidar filed a complaint on his behalf with Mivtan, the department of the Justice Ministry authorized to investigate complaints by GSS detainees. Mivtan is investigating the incident and one of their investigators took testimony from the detainee in his cell at the detention center.
In the complaint, Attorney Keidar described the sexual harassment of the detainee: “My client is detained and under investigation by the GSS in a GSS facility at the Shikma Detention Center in Ashkelon. My client is a 21-year-old Torah-observant man. He complained that he was subjected to several disturbing incidents during the days of his interrogation by the GSS. On Tuesday, March 14, my client was interrogated by a female interrogator who illegally sexually harassed him by forcibly kissing his cheeks several times. It should be emphasized that my client is a religious man, therefore in addition to the harassment, this conduct violates his faith and way of life.
“The next day, on Wednesday, March 15, my client was again interrogated for many hours. During the interrogation, a male interrogator violently put his legs between my client’s knees and put his hands on my client’s legs and stroked his knees. The interrogator also spat at the detainee several times, resulting in saliva landing on his cheek. The interrogatee was fitted with restraints on his hands and feet the entire time. In the days afterward, my client was subjected to several more insulting and illegal incidents of a similar nature”
Honenu Attorney Adi Keidar: “Unfortunately, the use of illegal and aggressive methods of interrogation by the GSS continues. We will continue to fight these methods in the hope that the necessary changes will be made.”