About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

34 Isr. L. Rev. 509 (2000)
The Legality of Interrogational Torture: A Question of Proper Authorization or a Substantive Moral Issue

handle is hein.journals/israel34 and id is 519 raw text is: THE LEGALITY OF INTERROGATIONAL TORTURE: A QUESTION OF PROPER AUTHORIZATION OR A SUBSTANTIVE MORAL ISSUE? Mordechai Kremnitzer* Re'em Segev** I. Introduction Is there a justification for the use of torture as an interrogation method, aimed at preventing acts of terror and thus saving people's lives? Israeli society has faced this difficult question for years since it became public knowledge that Israel's General Security Service (hereinafter GSS) had used physical interrogation methods towards Palestinians on a regular basis.' In 1999, the Israeli Supreme Court delivered its first serious judgment regarding this question,2 after a long period in which it avoided a general ruling on the matter. The justices chose to avoid the substantive moral problems relating to the issue of interrogational torture and based their declaratory Judgment on other grounds. The Judgment's main conclusion was that while there might be a justifica- tion for using exceptional interrogation measures in order to save lives, as the lesser evil, and while the concept of lesser evil is embodied in the criminal defense of necessity, the government is nevertheless not au- thorized to use such means in the absence of explicit legislation to that effect. The aim of this paper is to present and to evaluate the Judgment, particularly the relation between the substantive moral questions in- volved and the aspect of authorization. * Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. ** Research Student, Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 1 This question is now under discussion in the United States as well. See Dana Priest and Barton Gellman, U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations: 'Stress and Duress' Tactics Used on Terrorism Suspects Held in Secret Overseas Facilities Washington Post, 26 December 2002. 2 H.C.J. 5100/94 The Public Committee against Torture in Israel v. the Government of Israel 53(4) PD 817 (hereinafter the Judgment). An English translation of the Judgment can be found on-line at: http://62.90.71.124/mishpat/html/en/system/ index.html. The quotations from the Judgment are taken from this translation, except when it does not accurately reflect the official Hebrew version.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most