Torture, together with different practices of intimidation are rife at the Ministry of Defense and in other centers of detention supervised by the intelligence services. Physical and psychological tortures are commonly exercised. The political and judicial authorities turn a blind eye on these abuses; detainees can be maintained in secret detention for an indeterminate time without having the right to contest before a court the illegality of their confinement, nor have they the right to ask for compensation.

In an interview published in the Lebanese French language daily, L’Orient Le Jour, the chaplain of jails in Lebanon, Father Bernard Vacherot, referred to this subject: “detainees in the military jails are tortured, and I could have noted it on certain detainees who have been freed. In fact, they don’t allow us to enter the military jails; neither the Lebanese Red Cross nor Amnesty International are allowed to inspect these jails”.

Here are some examples on precise cases carried out at the basements of the Defense Ministry:

Broadly speaking, the torture is exercised by an experienced interrogator. However, if the prisoner reaches a state requiring hospitalization, soldiers take him to the military hospital where he will receive, in principle, the necessary care. Then, he would be brought back to his cell with an anonymous medical report, so that there is no evidence or trace of any documented torture: Hanna Atik is a typical example; indeed, Atik stayed for an extended period in intensive care as a result of the torture he suffered during his interrogations: electric shocks, beatings, sleep deprivation, hanging down the ceiling etc…

The prisoner is the victim of cruel guards who find pleasure in humiliating and beating him. He is subjected to continual moral pressure where they make him believe that his family members are arrested and tortured.

Since his arrival, the victim is asked by a team of interrogators to fill a whole notebook with his history. He is beaten and humiliated. He remains awake blindfolded and his hands are always tied behind his back for a period that can reach up to five days or until his total collapse.

A second team of interrogators takes charge of the detainee and tries to convince him to recognize the facts as they present to him. If he accepts, he signs his prepared declaration with closed eyes. If he refuses, the torture continues until he agrees.

“I have been tortured and I frequently saw other friends being beaten mercilessly. I heard with my own ear people crawling on the ground because they were incapable of moving after being tortured (Georges, former detainee).

“When I arrived at the Ministry of Defense, they attached me to the balanco and struck me with whips, sticks and cables. They asked me questions about my activities within the Lebanese Forces; those who interrogated me threatened to rape and kill me… It was absolutely a terrifying experience (Jihad, ex-detainee)

“My interrogators had endeavored by all means -strokes, abuse, threats- to make me confess that my leader Dr. Samir Geagea gave me the order to plant a bomb at the church. (Jean, ex-detainee).

“Interrogators utilized all forms of torture at their disposal; the electric chair, the balanco, rape, the tie, the chicken on chair, the electrolysis, the torture on the knees...”

1-  The death of Fawzi El Rassi at the Ministry of Defense during his arrest and interrogation was officially attributed to a heart attack, but actually occurred during torture. He was put on the Balanco and subjected to acid immersion.  Amnesty International related the facts as follows: “In April 1994, Fawzi El Rassi, member of the Lebanese Forces, died during a cross-examination at the Ministry of Defense. According to the official sources, the autopsy would have revealed that he had succumbed to a heart attack. Nevertheless, the relatives of this man were not allowed to see his body before the funeral ceremony”.

2- In his testimony before the Judicial Council, Fouad Malek affirmed that a Judge promised him a good and clean way out if he attributed crimes to the leader of Lebanese Forces. The daughter of Fouad Malek, Mrs. Nadine Nahas, confirmed that her detained father “was submitted to strong psychological pressures” and “that he was no longer the same man; he is at the end of his stride”.

3- Gerges El Khoury, the main prosecution witness in the church bombing, declared before the Judicial Council on 6/03/95: “They applied upon me prolonged torture and pressures to implicate the Lebanese Forces and Samir Geagea in person; the intelligence service had particular details concerning my deposition”.   Gerges El Khoury affirmed also that he had given his first deposition before the judge under torture; during forty-six days they forced him to sleep up right, his mouth and hands tied.

4- Habib Nammour (ex-detainee) affirmed in a letter sent to the judicial court that he was subjected to physical and psychological pressures: he was taken to a cell where Dr. Samir Geagea was standing blindfolded with his hands behind his back and told to look at the state of his leader…

Amnesty International writes: “new cases of torture and bad treatment have been reported. Among the utilized methods are violent beatings on all parts of the body, the falaq (beatings on the soles), the abeyance by wrists to a pulley, and the electric discharges. Joseph Faddoul and his two sons, Tony and Faouzi, retained for about thirty-six hours at the Defense Ministry, have been hit with rifle butts.  On this particular subject, Bern, the magazine of the international commission of criminal affairs recalls that the prolonged interrogation tends to exert extreme pressure on the detainee and acts negatively upon his mental capacities and nervous system; for this reason, confessions extracted under these conditions are meaningless and inadmissible in court.

In France, the minister of Justice in his address to attorney generals through an administrative circular on April 2, 1995 drew their attention to the fact that prolonged interrogations distorted and prejudiced the right of defense.

The French judiciary follows in its arrests the following principles:

• “An accused is presumed innocent and must on no account be submitted to methods of extracting confessions by force; the experienced serious cruelties in these conditions by civil servants of the police must be repressed severely”.

• “It is inadmissible that an accused, who must be presumed innocent until his/her guilt is proven, is submitted by policemen to physical and mental pressures. Such practices by police tend to impede the task of magistrates, decrease the detainees mental awareness and are to be condemned”.

Recommendations of Amnesty International in this domain are reiterated by the special United Nation’s report on torture:

• The vast majority of torture allegations investigated by the report linked torture with detention in secret; this link of detention should be therefore definitely forbidden.

• Other allegations linked to torture were exercised at the time of illegal detentions and before the prisoner is presented to a judge. Those strict regulations governing the legality of arrests should be made the object of suitable sanctions.

• All sessions of interrogations should be recorded in writing; the identity of all people present should be made clear and recorded. Undocumented declarations taken from the detainee during interrogation should not be admitted in court.

• Every time a person dies in detention, or dies a short time after having been released, should be the object of an independent investigation on reasons and circumstances of the death.
• Persons responsible of acts of torture or grave ill treatments should be submitted to the process of justice and should be punished severely if found guilty.

5- A Tragedy Named Antoinette Chahine:

Antoinette Chahine was born in 1971; this student incarcerated since June 9, 1994 was being sentenced to death on January 7, 1997; her sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment with hard labor for her alleged involvement in the murder of the priest Seman Boutros El Khoury on May 11, 1992.

The main charge against Chahine rests on her presumed membership of the Lebanese Forces and on the content of confessions extracted from Rachid Daw and Saad Gebrayel under torture and duress.

During her detention, Chahine had been tortured regularly and had been hospitalized repeatedly. Doctor Elias El Sayegh examined Chahine on June 17,1994, eight days after her arrest, in his report he confirms that Chahine presented with bruises and obvious contusions at the level of her arms pointing to the fact that she had been suspended from the ceiling for a long time. Injuries were also evident on the knees and left leg caused by impact injuries by a strong object. Her right foot was swollen, and showed burn marks probably from boiling water.

Chahine declared thereafter, before the court, that she has been tortured progressively and beaten whilst suspended by her arms, the torture resulted in internal and uterine hemorrhages.

Amnesty International wrote a special report concerning Antoinette Chahine and her co-accused Saad Gebrayel, Jihad Abi Ramia and Rachid Daou. The report mentioned irregularities during the investigation, and reported that the accused retracted their depositions before the court stating that their confessions were extracted under torture and that they were forced to reenact the crime in the absence of their lawyers.

Currently the Case is in the hands of the court of Appeal. The family of the assassinated priest knew about the torture and injustice. They withdrew any act of prosecution against the victims but nothing effectively changed. A masquerade revolving around one of the three judges and involving a conflict with the Prosecutor General has managed to keep all the accused in Prison and postpone any hearing into their case. This meant until now a further six months in prison. The tragedy and the masquerade continue.