Following the submission of a petition on the issue, on Wednesday, the High Court of Justice criticized the fact that the location of Secret Prison 1391 has not been made public. “Determining the location is of the utmost importance,” said Justice Yaakov Turkel, while Chief Justice Aharon Barak expressed his unease with the existence of a prison in a democratic country about which no one knows anything.

This morning the High Court of Justice discussed two petitions submitted on the secret prison. The petitioners, including the Center for the Defense of the Individual, claimed that concealing a detention center conflicts with the principles of a democracy, violates the laws of the state of Israel , and does not allow for a real, external inspection of the facility, which may leave prisoners open to abuse.

In the second petition, MK Zahava Gal-On demanded that she be allowed to visit the facility in order to see what goes on inside.

During today's session, the state's representative, attorney Shai Nitzan, said that during the past seven years only 26 individuals have been held for interrogation in the facility, most of whom stayed for less than 15 days. The only exception was the 11-month period from April 2002 to March 2003, during which 138 people were interrogated in this facility. “An exception was made, with the Shin Bet's knowledge, to use the facility to interrogate people from the territories due to an overcrowding crisis,” he said.

Nitzan said that the prisoners in the facility were living in the same conditions given to security detainees in other prisons, and that there was constant oversight over the facility by the Attorney General, the State Prosecutor, and the Judge Advocate General. In addition two ministers of justice had visited the facility.

Justice Barak: This is more than a matter of pinpointing a geographical location

According to Nitzan, most of the details about the facility can only be revealed in a closed session with the attendance of one party. In the open session Nitzan said that the legal practice requiring the disclosure of a prisoner's location should not be interpreted to require a disclosure of his actual, geographical location; rather, the prisoner's family should be informed that the prisoner is being held in Prison 1391, but not told where the prison is located. “Determining the location is of the utmost importance,” Justice Yaakov Turkel responded sternly.

Justice Barak said, “All things considered, I am not pleased by the idea of a prison whose location is unknown existing in a democratic country, somewhere. This is an important issue for all citizens. The question of the prison's location is much more than just a geographic location. The prison is located somewhere, which naturally creates the feeling that the democratic state is administering a prison without anyone knowing anything about it. This is the feeling I get when I read the petition.”

Nitzan responded that a preliminary review at the issue may indeed seem to create a problem, but, he said, there is a legal basis for it on the grounds of state security. “We need this facility because the likelihood of a successful interrogation is greater there,” Nitzan said.

As for MK Gal-On's demand to visit the facility, Nitzan responded that entering detention centers and prisons is not an automatic right of MKs, but depends on the authorities' evaluation.

“We agree on the necessity of parliamentary oversight,” Nitzan said, but he added, “The place is open to members of the security subcommittee in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.” MK Ilan Leibovitch, a member of the committee, says he has in fact visited the facility.