Jerusalem: An Israeli human rights group charges that Israel's military court system for Palestinian suspects in the West Bank produces almost automatic convictions.

A report by the Yesh Din organization found that in 2006, more than 99.7 per cent of those accused are found guilty, some 95 per cent of the cases end with a plea bargain and the average hearing is just two minutes long.

Yesh Din, which said that its inquiry was the first of its kind, found major failings in the court's due process: Hearings were held in Hebrew and the Arabic-speaking suspects often did not understand the charges brought against them, they were unable to present a full defense or have an effective counsel.

"Most are detained in Israel and their attorneys are not able to meet them," said Michael Sfard, Yesh Din's legal counsel. In addition, minors were often tried as adults and detained at length before being charged. Sfard said the 0.29 per cent acquittal rating in 2006 (23 out of 9,123) was most jarring.

 "We think that this is an outrageous number which clouds the presumption of innocence," he said. "It is unreasonable that a justice system will have such a low figure of victory of the defense."

The army said it had not been provided the full Yesh Din report and could only respond to an initial draft. Still, the army said in a statement, the report was filled with flaws, faulty research methods and mistaken analysis.

The army said its court system operated with full disclosure and stressed that defendants were provided fair trials, hearings had simultaneous translations. 

Source : PTI