High Court declines to shutter Sde Teiman, orders state to abide by law for detainees
Court notes that conditions at detention facility have improved since petition was filed, says maintaining rule of law distinguishes Israel from its enemies
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The High Court of Justice warned the state on Wednesday that it must abide by the law in its treatment of Palestinian terror suspects at the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility, but did not order the government to shut the prison down as petitioners demanded.
In a unanimous ruling, the court noted in its final decision on the petition that conditions at Sde Teiman had changed significantly since the motion was filed, and therefore declined to shutter the facility.
But the justices pointedly emphasized that upholding the rule of law was a critical component of a democratic government, including during wartime, and noted that doing so distinguished Israel from its enemies.
One of the petitioners, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), welcomed the ruling while lamentong that the High Court was needed “to issue rulings that should be obvious — that the state must abide by the law” and is prohibited from abusing detainees.
The petition was filed earlier this year by ACRI, together with the Doctors for Human Rights, Gisha, and Hamoked human rights organizations, after allegations were made that IDF soldiers at the Sde Teiman facility — mostly reservists — were systematically abusing Palestinian terror suspects caught by the security forces during the war.
The accusations and the petition against the state generated huge controversy, with claims that the conditions and abuse of detainees at Sde Teiman amounted to war crimes and violations of international law.
One soldier has been indicted for abusing detainees at the facility, while another five are currently under investigation for the alleged violent sexual abuse of a detainee.
In early July, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a delay in reducing the number of detainees in Sde Teiman, which she attributed to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, would have “very serious and broad consequences,” without specifying what those might be.
As a result of the legal pressure, the government vastly reduced the number of detainees held at the facility from some 700 at its peak to just several dozen as of the end of August.
It also told the court in a written submission that it had reduced the use of restraints, and was providing food and medical treatment in accordance with the requirements of the law.
Additionally, the government built a new detention facility at Sde Teiman, scheduled to open this week, which it said provided conditions equal to those at established prisons, and therefore called on the court to reject the request to shutter Sde Teiman.
In its decision, the court noted these improved conditions and therefore sufficed with an order instructing the state expressly to abide by the laws for detaining such suspects in the future.
The court said the current war presented “numerous challenges” for the country, including how to imprison the large number of detainees caught by security services during the conflict, but said that this did not exempt the state from keeping the law.
“Protecting the rule of law, even during a difficult war, is the clear expression of the difference between a democratic state, which is fighting for its life, and a terrorist organization which wants to destroy it,” wrote Acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman.
Justice Daphne Barak Erez wrote that the steps taken by the state to bring Sde Teiman into compliance with Israeli law was enough to satisfy the court, adding that previous conditions there “will not return,” and insisting that detainees must be held in a manner that accords with the law.
“This obligation is not dependent on, and cannot be influenced by, the background to the detention of the detainees in the facility,” she continued. “In contrast to terrorist organizations, Israel is a country of law, and in this too there is strength.”
Vogelman added that allegations of criminal conduct at Sde Teiman should be investigated by the authorities, noting that such investigations had already begun.
He also said that should new allegations arise regarding conditions in Sde Teiman, the petitioners would be entitled to turn to the court again.
Allegations of severe human rights abuses at Sde Teiman against Palestinian detainees emerged earlier this year, with several media outlets and rights organizations reporting the extreme use of physical restraints, amputations due to prolonged use of handcuffs, beatings, and neglect of medical problems at the facility.
The five soldiers currently under investigation are suspected of aggravated sodomy (a charge equivalent to rape), as well as other forms of assault and abuse against a detainee.
Upon the arrest of nine soldiers by military police at the Sde Teiman at the end of July on suspicion of abuse, a right-wing mob that included coalition MKs and government ministers broke into the IDF base in an effort to obstruct the detention of the suspects.
When they realized that the soldiers had already been taken to the military court at the IDF base of Beit Lid, the mob broke in there as well, scuffling with IDF soldiers before being removed.
