GENEVA: The use of solitary confinement in Israeli jails nearly doubled between 2012 and 2014, a UN panel investigating the Jewish state over a raft of alleged violations of prisoners’ rights said Tuesday.

In its first review of Israel since 2009, the UN committee against torture questioned a delegation from Jerusalem over multiple reports of potentially illegal conduct by security agents, especially with respect to Palestinian prisoners.

Lead questioner Jens Modvig said the UN committee had “received reports that the use of solitary confinement in Israeli jails has doubled between 2012 and 2014,” with the number of people held in isolation jumping from 390 to 755 over the period.

Committee members, who typically do not visit the countries subject to review, compile their statistics largely from data provided by civil society groups and independent reports.

Modvig, who did not give statistics for 2015, asked Israel to provide its own breakdown of the prevalence of solitary confinement, including why the practice appeared to have spread dramatically.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016