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JERUSALEM — While security forces were maintaining a high state of alert for possible terrorist attacks Sunday, the High Court of Justice in a 5-4 vote permitted Shin Bet to continue using force to extract information from the suspected leader of a terrorist ring.

The nine-member bench was divided over whether to accept the petition for an interim injunction preventing the use of force in the interrogation of Abdel Rahman Ghanimat, with Court President Aharon Barak in the minority.

Ghanimat is one of the heads of the Hamas-affiliated Tsurif cell which was responsible for a number of suicide bombings in Israel, including the attack at the Apropo cafe in Tel Aviv, and Shin Bet believes he holds information about other planned attacks.

Shin Bet is permitted to use "moderate physical force" to extract vital information that could prevent the loss of life, according to guidelines laid down by the Landau Commission, which examined the issue.

A number of human rights organizations are currently testing the definition of such physical force in three cases of suspected terrorists under interrogation. The nine-member panel said last week that it would hand down a joint ruling on the issue.

Ghanimat has been under interrogation for 58 days. His lawyers say he has been tortured by being deprived of sleep for extended periods, being handcuffed to a small chair placed on a slant (known as the shabah) for about 20 hours at a time, having his head covered with a sack and being subjected to loud music.

"Ghanimat is put on this kindergarten chair, at a slant, for approximately 20 hours a day from Sunday to Thursday," his lawyer, Allegra Pacheco said Sunday. "Its front is [eight inches] high and its back is [10 inches] high. Sometimes they let him sleep for about two to three hours and sometimes they keep him there for 48 hours straight. He sleeps a total of seven hours approximately over five days.

"Over the weekend, the interrogation stops and he is allowed to rest because presumably the interrogators go home. That undermines the critical nature of this interrogation if they can stop it," she said. "The sack is like a duffel bag on his head and there is blasting music all the time.

"The State Attorney's Office said in court that this is not a case of a ticking bomb," Pacheco added. "Ghanimat has already confessed. He says they are interrogating him about certain guns. The same issue has been going on for a month. He has told them everything."

Questioned earlier by the court, Shin Bet recently admitted publicly that it deprived suspects of sleep, saying that this is necessary to extract information to avert planned terrorist attacks against Israelis.

According to details provided by Shin Bet to the court, the suspect's head is covered with a sack when he is near other suspects and loud music is played to prevent information from being passed between them. He is handcuffed to prevent attacks on the interrogators, the state said.