UN torture cm'tee report flags Israel for allegedly mistreating journalists, detainees, ex-MAG
The UN warned Israel over alleged abuses against rights defenders and detainees, calling for stronger legal protections and impartial investigations.
The UN Committee Against Torture addressed several concerns with Israel's alleged mistreatment of human rights defenders, journalists , whistleblowers, prisoners, and former military advocate-general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi , in a statement last week.
In Clause 47 of its statement, the committee called upon Israel to "ensure that all human rights defenders and journalists are able to carry out their legitimate work in an enabling environment, free from threats, reprisals, violence, or other forms of intimidation and harassment."
The committee also urged Israel to release all "human rights defenders, journalists, and others who are arbitrarily detained as a result of exercising their rights to defend rights and freely expressing themselves."
It also called on Israel to "investigate promptly, thoroughly, and impartially all allegations of arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial killing and other torture or ill-treatment of human rights defenders and journalists, prosecute and punish appropriately those found guilty, and provide victims with redress."
In addition, the committee called on Israel to "provide detailed information on the situation of and any prosecution or disciplinary proceedings concerning Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi and recommends that it establish a whistleblower mechanism to ensure that reliable information about torture and ill-treatment can be provided without risk of reprisals or prosecutions."
