Index:
-
Introduction
-
Why Does Syria Detain Lebanese?
-
Official Lebanese and Syrian Positions
(1987-2003)
-
Missing in Syrian Jails
-
From One Detention Center to
Another
-
Testimonies of Released Detainees
-
Human Rights Groups’ Positions
-
Recommendations
A-
Introduction
On June 25, 2003 Joseph Emile Houeiss, a Lebanese citizen, 43
years old, died in detention in a Syrian jail. His remains were
returned to Lebanon six days later and buried hastily in his
native village in the Bekaa Valley. It was the fourth case in
which the body of a Lebanese prisoner has been repatriated from
a Syrian detention center in relative secrecy. Joseph was
arrested in Lebanon in 1992 by Syrian Military Forces following
a road accident in which 2 Syrians died. He was immediately
transferred to Syria where he was serving a 20 years sentence
handed by a Syrian Military Court.
This is one example of an on-going tragedy, the one of the many
Lebanese illegally detained in Syria.
December 2000 brought first
what seemed to be happy news to Lebanese families when Syria
released 46 Lebanese detainees from its jails. Human Rights
Organizations and Political figures hailed it a good initiative.
But soon the mood changed when Syrian Officials declared that
there was no more Lebanese detained in Syrian jails. Families
rushed to protest the death sentence against their loved ones
and demanded the Lebanese Government to assume its
responsibility towards its citizens and attempt to locate them
or at least acknowledge their presence in Syria. As a result of
public and media pressures and the mounting protest to closing
the files of detainees, Lebanese State Prosecutor Adnan Addoum
suddenly announced that Syria still holds 95 Lebanese Nationals
charged with common crimes and that they will not be released
until they serve their jail time in Syria.
But, even when counting those
who were released and adding those names provided by the
Lebanese State Prosecutor, there remain a much larger number of
undeclared persons believed to be held in Syrian custody. Their
families are devastated and times and times again they ride this
emotional roller coaster of being forced to believe that their
sons are dead or permanently missing. However, those families
are convinced that if they keep pushing, Syria will release
prisoners she previously denied holding.
B-
Why Does
Syria Detain Lebanese?
Since its military incursion
into Lebanon in 1976, Syrian forces, military and intelligence,
have been summoning, interrogating, detaining and transferring
Lebanese (and other foreigners residing in Lebanon) to Syria.
Those arrested are deprived of their basic rights, including
access to family, legal counsel, they are often tortured,
mistreated, and kept in Detention Centers in lamentable
condition. There is no clear and transparent legal proceeding,
no respect for due process. Number of those arrested remains
jailed for years before being brought to Court, if ever.
Sentences are swiftly pronounced by Military Courts without
right to appeal
Syria deals with the Lebanese in
Lebanon as it deals with the Syrians in Syria. It considers any
political opposition or any threat to its interests in Lebanon,
a threat to its security. Syria does not tolerate any
opposition to its presence in Lebanon, and detention is a method
among others to curb this opposition.
The
accusations used against detainees vary from collaboration with
Israel to political affiliation with groups opposed to the
Syrian presence in Lebanon.
The Syrian and the pro-Syrian
Lebanese Governments often accuse members of the opposition of
serving Israeli interest in Lebanon. The Lebanese President
Emile Lahoud states that those demanding Damascus withdraw its
soldiers from Lebanon are serving Israel, and are working
against Syrian and Lebanese interests. Also, Syrian officials
declared "Lebanese parties who are launching a campaign against
Syrian presence in Lebanon are serving Israel's purposes and
interests."
C-
Official Lebanese and Syrian Positions (1987-2003)
To better
understand how the Lebanese and Syrian governments have dealt
with the issue of Lebanese Detainees in Syria over the years, it
is necessary to provide this chronology of events and
declarations:
1-
October 1987:
Amnesty International published a report about Lebanese detained
in Syrian Jails
2-
In 1993:
Lebanese President Elias Hrawi, a Syrian ally, announced to the
BBC that Syria does not hold Lebanese prisoners.
3-
In 1995:
the Lebanese Government issued a decree, which considers all
missing during the Lebanese War to be legally dead. This
decision inhumanly requested the families to initiate this
process, thus relieving the Government from the burden of its
responsibility towards its citizens.
4-
October 1996:
Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, another ally of Syria, denied,
while visiting in Washington DC, the presence of any Lebanese
detainee in Syria, when asked by Human Rights Watch delegate
Houeyda Saad.
5-
November 24,
1996: Lebanese
President Elias Hrawi, altered his previous statement and
announced in a Press Conference that Syria holds 210 Lebanese
Nationals comprised of 200 Muslims and 10 Christians.
6-
October 1997:
the "Lebanese Committee of the families of Detainees in Syria"
was established to pressure Lebanese authorities to ensure the
release of the detainees from Syria or at least to transfer them
to Lebanon to be tried in Lebanese courts, in case they
committed a crime.
7-
February, 28
1998: the President
of the Bar Association in Syria denied the existence of Lebanese
prisoners in Syrian detention centers.
8-
March 1998:
Syrian authorities admitted the existence of 155 Lebanese
prisoners in Syria. They announced that 25 more Lebanese would
still be held for collaboration with Israel.
9-
March 5 1998: Syrian Authorities ordered the
release of 121 Lebanese detainees. Amongst those, were 10
Palestinians.
10-
January 27, 1999: Amnesty International published
a detailed report about Lebanese Detainees in Syria.
11-
September 22, 1999: Adel Khalaf Ajouri, a
Lebanese, died under torture in a Syrian prison. He was
kidnapped at a Syrian Checkpoint in Beirut Airport in May 5,
1990. His family received his remains 30 days later.
12-
January 21,
2000: Prime Minister
Salim Al Hoss set up a commission of inquiry to investigate
"disappearances" during the war between 1975 and 1990. The
Commission headed by an Army General and including four members,
officers in the Army, the Surete Generale, the State Security
and the Internal Security was to look into a total of 17,415
people who are listed missing during the war. It was ordered to
report back within three months. No tangible outcome ever
resulted from this commission.
13-
February 17,
2000: A conference to
address the fate of scores of Lebanese jailed in Syrian Prisons
was cancelled after Lebanese Security agents stormed the
Conference center and forced it to shut its door to the
participants.
14-
July 2000:
Lebanese Officials close to Syria stated that there are no
Lebanese held in Syria.
15-
August 25,
2000: the Syrian
authorities released Cheikh Hachem Minkara, a prominent Islamist
activist in Tawhid Movement in Tripoli, North of Lebanon, who
disappeared 15 years ago, and whom Syria had previously denied
holding. It also released Samir Al-Hassan, military official in
Tawhid Movement.
16-
September 2000:
Lebanese Human Right Organizations and Dozens of Lebanese
Families held a demonstration near the Maronite Christian
Patriarchate and accused Syria of having illegally jailed
Lebanese opponents. Syria denied the accusation.
17-
September 26,
2000: a statement was
released by a large gathering of 99 Syrian individuals,
including intellectuals, artists, engineers and journalists
calling on the Syrian Government to cancel the state of
emergency and the martial law, to grant amnesty for all
political detainees and to allow for political freedoms.
18-
September 30,
2000: SOLIDE (Support
for Lebanese in Detention and Exile) organized in Lebanon on the
road leading to Baabda Presidential Palace a demonstration of
300 relatives of Lebanese detained in Syria. Representatives of
the families were finally granted an interview with an official
at the Lebanese Defense Ministry.
19-
October 1,
2000: an official
Syrian source admitted for the first time that Syria is holding
Lebanese prisoners, but said that they number fewer than 50.
20-
December 2000:
Nabih Berri, the Lebanese Speaker of the House, who is also
close to the Syrian regime, mentioned after his visit with the
Maronite Patriarch, the possible release of Lebanese Detainees
from Syrian jails.
21-
December 6,
2000: Lebanon
National News Agency (NNA) published an official statement that
the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud received a letter from
Syrian President Bashar al Assad regarding the release of
“Lebanese detainees” from Syrian jails. This Syrian initiative
is a reward to the Lebanese President for his national stands,
in regards to the struggle with Israel and to the support of the
Syrian presence in Lebanon.
A committee of top Lebanese
Security Officials was formed to take charge of receiving the
prisoners and studying their files. The Committee was headed by
State Prosecutor Adnan Addoum and included Director of Surete
Generale, Major General Jamil Sayyed, Director of the Internal
Security Forces Major General Abdel-Karim Ibrahim, and Director
of Military Intelligence, Colonel Raymond Azar.
22-
December 2000:
Syria hands over to Lebanese Military Officials who traveled to
Syria 54 prisoners, 46 Lebanese, 7 Palestinians and one
Egyptian. Two buses carrying the freed detainees rolled across
the Syrian-Lebanese border at high speed, escorted by seven
Lebanese Army jeeps, their sirens wailing. Families who had been
waiting at Masnaa crossing point since early morning were left
on the side of the road, unable to determine whether their loved
ones were on the buses. Photographers could see passengers
handcuffed and blindfolded as the vehicles maneuvered their way
past the border checkpoint and down the road to Chtoura in
Lebanon.
23-
December 12, 2000: after mounting pressure
from the Public and the media, State Prosecutor Adnan Addoum
makes public the presence of 95 Lebanese detainees still
imprisoned in Syria for non-political crimes. He declared the
matter to be “permanently closed.” When reminded that both
governments had earlier denied the existence of any Lebanese
prisoners in Syria, State Prosecutor Addoum claimed that they
had only denied the existence of “detainees,” not those who had
been convicted of various crimes.
24-
December 26, 2000: As a result of
continuing protest by the families of the Detainees, a statement
was issued by the Lebanese Presidential Palace clarifying that
President Lahoud was prepared to “request the Cabinet, in its
next meeting, to set down a mechanism for investigating the fate
of those missing, based on information submitted by their
families to the competent security authorities.”
25-
January 2001: another special
commission was created by the Lebanese government under pressure
from the families of the missing individuals. No official report
has been issued yet. However, one member of the commission
declared to the press that the commission had examined 96 files
of Lebanese detainees in Syria.
26-
June 20, 2001, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad
during a visit to France declared that there were no Lebanese
prisoners in Syria.
27-
June 2001, soon after this
statement by Syria’s President, Syrian Authorities freed
11 Lebanese and delivered the remains of one Lebanese who died
in jail Khaled Ezzedine el-Ass. Those released are: Mohammed
Ahmed Moussawi, Khalil Ibrahim Hamad, Badreddine Ajaj Ghandour,
Ali Abbas Mazloum, Khaled Ezzedine el-Ass, Moussis Bedros
Moujalian, JamilYoussef Hawach, Ali Merhi Khaled, Yehia Hassan
Awad, Mahmoud Nasr Chandab et Nabil Abdallah Fawaz.
28-
July 22, 2002, the Association of Families of
Lebanese Prisoners Detained in Syria met with the Syrian
Minister of the Interior Ali Hammoud and the Director of Syrian
Jails Boghos Sarraj, both admitted that a number of Lebanese
citizens, specifically Lebanese Army personnel, were being held
in Syrian jails. The two Syrian officials promised the families
to review the detainees’ files submitted to them and provide
answers to the families within a 2-3 months period of time. The
families have been waiting since then.
29-
October 11, 2002, Lebanese citizen Henri Badih
Daou was arrested at the Syrian border and detained in
isolation. The Syrian authorities accused him of crimes
committed in Lebanon against the Syrian Army in 1975.
30-
November 9, 2002, the daily Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat
published comments made by Prosecutor General Adnane Addoum in
which he admitted the existence of 20 Lebanese political
prisoners in Syria.
31-
December 11,2002 Lebanese MP Mrs. Nayla Moawad
addressed the Commission, headed by Minister Fouad Es-Saad
charged with investigating the fate of Lebanese political
detainees in Syria, and questioned the fact that it had not yet
issued any finding to the families and relatives of the
detainees. Ms. Sonia Eid, President of the Association of
Families of Lebanese Prisoners Detained in Syria and whose son
Jihad has been held in Syria since 1990, was present and spoke
at the session of Parliament. Pro-Syrian MPs and Ministers
refused to address the issue in Parliament and accused Mrs.
Moawad of taking an anti-Syrian stance harmful to Lebanon’s
sisterly relations with Syria.
32-
May 11, 2003, Hanna Youssef Challita who holds
dual citizenships, Lebanese and Australian, was arrested at the
Syrian border and then incarcerated at the “Palestine Section
235” Investigations Bureau in Damascus for unknown reasons. Mr.
Challita was released few days later without being charged.
33-
June 9,2003, A delegation of the Association of
Families of Lebanese Prisoners traveled to Damascus to meet with
the Syrian President and discuss the release of their missing
relatives, Although they were originally promised an audience
with President Bachar al-Assad, they were later denied the
meeting.
34-
June 25, 2003 Joseph Emile Houeiss, a Lebanese
citizen, died in detention in a Syrian jail after 11 years of
detention following a car accident in Lebanon in which Syrian
citizens were killed.
D-
Missing in Syrian Jails
The following provides
testimonies and background information on a number of detainees
in Syrian jails, and whose existence has been repeatedly denied
by Syrian (and Lebanese) authorities. Their families insist
they have seen them and know their whereabouts.
·
Butros
Khawand: Khawand was kidnapped at
9:00 AM on September 15, 1992,
about a block away from his home in Sin-El-Fil, a city
controlled by the Syrian Army in East Beirut. His car was
intercepted by a squad of eleven gunmen in a red van and two
cars who forced him into the van and drove away. He has not been
seen since.
In 1982, Khawand was Head of
Kataeb Security Council, the anti-Syrian Christian Militia.
Shortly after his second marriage in 1986, Khawand resigned from
all his duties in the Kataeb, while remaining a member of the
party's political bureau
Khawand’s family and various
Human Rights Organizations confirm that he is currently held in
Aadra prison in Syria. Pro-Syrian Lebanese Officials have
constantly denied.
·
Beshara Rumiyeh:
Miranda Rumiyeh spoke about her son Beshara who was taken by
Syrian intelligence agents in the remote town of Riyaq in the
eastern Bekaa Valley on March 2, 1978. “They told us that he was
detained because he had a pass from the National Liberal
Party,"-a Lebanese Party politically opposed to Syrian presence
in Lebanon- He was only 16. Miranda Rumiyeh visited Beshara in
a Syrian detention center near the Masnaa main border crossing,
once every two weeks over the next 11 months. "The first time I
saw him, his feet were swollen because he had been beaten. And
every time I visited him, he gave me clothes to wash which were
stained with blood," she said. One day, she was told that
Beshara and other Lebanese detainees had been transferred to
jails inside Syria. That was the last she heard from him.
Beshara did not return home, although Elie, his brother, insists
that a Syrian intelligence officer had confirmed that his name
was among those to be released.
·
Tony Tamer
was born in Tripoli, North of Lebanon in 1969. He was detained
by Syrian Military in Lebanon on July 7, 1993. Seven months
later, his parents visited him in Mazzeh, a Syrian Prison for
the first time, and then they were allowed to see him every
three months. Tony hasn’t been released yet. Charges against him
are so far unknown.
·
Elias Tanios and Elias Abu Ghosn,
2 Lebanese Internal Security Forces members, were arrested by
Syrian elements in Lebanon in 1992. Elias Tanios was arrested
in December 15, 1992 when the Syrians surrounded the house where
he was staying at Tallet al Khayat and took him with his brother
and his cousin Elias Abu Ghosn handcuffed and blindfolded to
Hotel Beaurivage in Beirut. His brother was released 24 hours
later after being beaten. Elias was taken to Anjar, a Syrian
Detention Center in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon and then to
Mazzeh Prison in Syria. His father visited him in Mazzeh, seven
months after he was taken. The visits then became regular, once
per month. One week before the death of the Syrian President
Hafez al Assad, the family was informed that Elias had been
condemned to ten years in prison on “collaboration charges”, ie
working for Israel, and that they are not authorized to see him
anymore.
·
Joseph Aoun and Tanios Shedid
(cousins)
were kidnapped in 1982 by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party- a
Pro-Syrian Lebanese group- when they were on their way to Beirut
from their hometown in Saghbin, West Bekaa. Both the Aoun family
and George Shedid, Tanios’ brother, insist they have a complete
list of testimonies from eyewitnesses proving that their
relatives were seen in Syrian prisons throughout the 1980s,
after they were handed over to the Syrians by the SSNP during
Israel’s 1982 invasion. Over the years, the Aouns have tried in
vain to visit Joseph in prison. After meeting with several
high-ranking Lebanese officials, they were told their son was in
Syria, charged with being an Israeli agent and therefore they
could not see him.
·
Joseph Fares,
a Lebanese Army soldier, was arrested in 1984 by Syrian
Intelligence agents in Lebanon, and is still missing.
·
George Shalaweet:
Was abducted in March 30, 1994 by Syrian Forces in Lebanon.
Ayoub and Nadia Shalaweet visited their son George “more than 20
times” between 1994-1998 in Syria. “We’d go about once every
three months,” said Ayoub. Nadia recalled the site of her
shrunken, haggard son the first time they visited him. “From 95
kilograms, he now weighed 30.” she said. “He was handcuffed. His
feet were swollen. His hair was overgrown and his beard was down
to here,” she added, pointing to her waist.
·
Joseph Hanna Yammine:
born in Aïn Dara in 1960, was arrested in his home in June 1987
by Syrian Intelligence Services of Zahle, in the Bekaa Valley.
He was held for three days in Chtoura Syrian Detention Center
located in Lebanon. Afterwards, he was taken for five days to
Anjar, a Syrian Detention Center in Lebanon and later
transferred to the “Palestinian Branch” in Mazzeh Prison in
Syria. In 1988, his mother Alice visited him in prison. He was
later transferred to Tadmor Syrian Prison and his father visited
him there in 1992. Since 1991, released prisoners visited the
Yammine family upon Joseph’s request. Mansour Eid from Zahle
spent four years with him in prison. “He even described the
shirt that I have sent to Joseph”, said Tony, his brother.
Rajah Salloum and Najah Kazoun from Kib Elias, former prisoners,
also saw Joseph in prison. The last news of Joseph Yammine
received by his family were in 1997. He was in Tadmor Prison in
Syria.
·
Two Antonin Priests, Fathers
Albert Cherfan and Sleiman Abou Khalil were
abducted with their helper Victoria Daccache by Syrian Soldiers
on October 13, 1990, in the Lebanese City of Beit Meri. Written
testimonies from eyewitnesses who gave the two priests water to
drink, state that they were in Syrian military vehicles,
transferring them to Syria.
Lebanese State Prosecutor Addoum,
a staunch supporter of Syria, said that the two priests were
buried near the Defense Ministry, along with 25 Syrian soldiers
killed in combat in October of 1990.
·
Najib Jaramani
was arrested by Syrian
elements in January 24, 1997 and was visited last in Syrian
Prisons by his parents in 1997.
·
Six soldiers of the Lebanese
Army then
under the command of the General Michel Aoun disappeared on
October 13, 1990, following military fighting with the Syrian
Army. They are believed to be held in Syrian jails. They are:
Corporal Johnny Nassif of Battalion 101, Staff Sergeant Marwan
Zoghbi of Battalion 101, Youssef Hasbani, of the Republican
Guard, and Privates Joseph Azar, Elie Haddad and Elias Aoun.
Violette Nassif, the mother of one of the missing soldiers said
“Johnny was 26 years old when he was taken to Syria. The
government may have closed the file, but we won’t,”. “I saw him
in 1991 and 1994 in Palmyra Prison (in Syria),” Violette
insisted, saying she was told that another 146 Lebanese were
being held there.
·
Antoine Zakhour
and
Salem Nassif:
Lebanese Army soldiers were
arrested by Syrian Military in the Lebanese Cities of Beit Meri
and Dahr al Wahish, on October 13, 1990. Their presence in Syria
was confirmed following official documents issued by the
Lebanese Ministry of Defense on October 22, 1990. Amnesty
International issued a statement on 12/12/2000 requesting
information on the fate of both men known to be held in Syria.
·
Samir Mikhayel al Hage:
taken by Syrian
Forces from Lebanon and held in Tadmur Syrian Prison for
7 years, now. His parents in Rmeish, a village in South of
Lebanon, contacted al Nahar, a Lebanese newspaper, confirming
information their son is in a Syrian jail, although Syrian
authorities deny it.
·
Karam & Ziad Yussef Morkos
(brothers) and Elie Abu Nader,
Flutist and two Violinists ages
40, 35 and 40 respectively. Karam and Ziad are from Zakrit
village in the Metn District in East Beirut. On November 21,
1984, the three men were kidnapped on a checkpoint in Beirut by
Syrian Intelligence and Palestinian “Saiqa” Militiamen loyal to
Syria. They were taken to Anjar, Syrian Intelligence
headquarter in Lebanon and then to Saydnayah Syrian Prison.
Karam and Ziad were tried in the Syrian Third Military Court and
sentenced to 50 years of prison on charges of collaborating with
Israel. Elie was sentenced to jail in Saydnayah Syrian Prison.
·
Mohammed Taan Nasrallah, Adnan
Zaki Abou Hamdan and Nasser Hussein Abou Hamdan
from Chmestar, Taalabaya and Hazzerta (Lebanese cities)
respectively. Their parents confirm that the three men have
been detained in Syria for 24 years after being arrested in Deir
Zannoun, Lebanon at a Syrian intelligence check-point.
·
Joseph Houeiss,
who was on the list of the 95 prisoners still detained in Syria
after 2000, was held in the Damascus Central Prison. The Syrian
Military Tribunal on February 4, 1994, condemned Joseph Houeiss
to 20 years in jail. He was accused of premeditated murder of
two Syrians on the road to Dhour Choueir-Boulogne Forest in
Lebanon. He accidentally ran them over with his car on June 2,
1992. Houeiss suffered from nervous problems and severe
dizziness, at the time of the accident. Joseph died in
detention on June 25, 2003 in a Syrian jail.
The spokesman for Support for
Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE) Ghazi Aad listed the
names of detainees whose presence in Syrian jail was not
recognized by Syrian authorities but who were actually visited
by their parents, “some as recently as August 2000.” “No one can
convince the parents of Najib Youssef Jarmani, Tony Geryes
Tamer, George Ayoub Shalawit and Milad Barakat that their sons,
whom they saw in Syrian prisons, were figments of their
imagination,” he told reporters. “They visited their sons
several times … and no one, no matter how high-ranking they are,
can say this file has been closed.”
E-
From
One Detention Center to Another
After a subject is apprehended
in Lebanon by Syrian elements, he/she is taken from one
detention center to another. The following is the usual order
followed. Between brackets are the names of the Syrian Officers
in charge:
·
Original
Stops: In Lebanon
-
American
school in Tripoli - North
of Lebanon (General Mohammad Khallouf currently Assistant of
General Rustom Ghazaleh, Head of Syrian Intelligence in
Lebanon.)
-
Syrian
intelligence bureau in
Sadat street - Beirut (Colonel Jameh Jameh)
-
Beau
Rivage Hotel in Beirut
(General Rustom Ghazaleh, Head of the Syrian Intelligence in
Lebanon).
-
Syrian
intelligence bureau - Near Comfort Hotel – Hazmieh
-
Syrian
intelligence bureau - Chtaura - Beqaa (Colonel Toufic Haydar)
·
Subsequent Stops:
- To Anjar, the Syrian intelligence headquarters - Beqaa :
(Previously Major General Ghazi Kanaan -currently Head of the
Political Intelligence Service in Syria – Now, General Adnan
Balloul - Colonel Amir Kanaan - Colonel Burhan Kaddour - Colonel
Youssef Al Ahmad - Colonel Youssef Abdallah.)
·
Final
stop: Syria
-
Palestine Branch(headed by Major General
Mazhar Fares,-Military Intelligence Service)
-
Syrian Prisons:
Saydnaya Prison
Adra Prison
Mazzeh Prison : closed in
September 2000 .The prisoners were transferred to Saydnaya and
Adra prisons according to a Syrian Human Rights Organization.
Tadmur Prison
(PALMYRE)
Telfiteh Prison
F-
Testimonies of Released Detainees
The following are some
testimonies from released Lebanese prisoners who have endured
hardship and torture in Syrian Jails:
·
Joseph Aziz Haleet:
“I am a Lebanese Physician from Hawoush Hala, in Riyak,
Lebanon. I was arrested on November 11, 1992 after I attended a
lecture at the Lebanese Law School about Peace in the Middle
East. After the lecture, I went with some friends to a cafe
where a person approached me and said he needed to talk to me.
Next thing I knew, he and others were severely beating me. Then,
they took me to the Syrian Intelligence Center in Damascus where
I spent 1600 days in solitary confinement. They questioned my
affiliation with the Lebanese Forces- a Lebanese anti-Syrian
Party- and formally charged me with collaboration with the
enemy-Israel. I endured all sorts of torture and I used to hear
horrible sounds from prisoners being tortured in the
Interrogation room. I was allowed 3 trips to the bathroom per
day, each for one minute. If I took a second longer, I would be
beaten severely. I was allowed to take a bath once every 45 or
50 days for 10 minutes. In 1993, I only took 3 baths. In the
entire 4 years, I was only let out of my cell to go to the
bathroom, to the interrogation room or to the Military Hospital,
where they treated my hands, paralyzed from torture. When I was
arrested, I weighed 100 Kg. Few weeks later, I weighed 60 Kg. In
the winter, I suffered from the cold temperature in my
underground cell with no sunlight. The only means to relatively
warm my body was to put plastic bags on my head and feet because
I was allowed no extra cloth or blanket. In the summer, I had
difficulty breathing from the heat. I used to put my head on
the floor and try to breathe from under the door. The only light
I had in my cell was the one coming through the narrow opening
of the door. I knew what season it was from the clothes the
guards wore. My family knew where I was, two years after my
detention but was not allowed to visit me until after 4 years.
I had difficulties interacting with them because I had forgotten
how to speak properly. After four years I was moved to Mazzeh
Prison where I spent 310 days and later I was moved to Saydnayah
Prison until my release. My family was allowed to see me once
every 3 months until January 23, 1999 when I was denied
visitations without any explanation.” When asked how many
Lebanese with him in prison, he answered: “we were 42 in
Saydnayah and later more joined us from Tadmur.”
·
Ali Abou Dihin:
“I am from Hassbaya and I live in Dikkwani. I spent 13 years in
jail in Tadmur Jail (in Syria) where they beat us regularly.
·
Naji Harb,
a Lebanese Army Soldier: - “I was a Aounist- supporter of
ex-Prime Minister General Michel Aoun. I was arrested in July
1990 by a Syrian checkpoint in Beirut. I was then taken to
Mazzeh Prison (in Syria) on January 1, 1991. Then, I was moved
to Tadmur Prison (in Syria) before ending in Saydanaya Prison
(in Syria) where I spent the last eight years of my detention.”
·
Ibrahim Harshi:
“I am from Tyre. I was arrested in July 1986 on charges of
collaborating with the Israelis. I spent 5 years and 8 months
in Mazzeh (Syrian Prison) and was transferred to Tadmur Prison
(in Syria) in 1992 and then to Saydnayah Prison (in Syria) in
1997.”
G-
Human Rights
Groups Positions:
·
Between January 26 to February 1
1998, several
French and International Human Rights Organizations,
particularly Amnesty International, the International
Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), Justice and Peace, SOLIDA
(Support for Lebanese in Arbitrary Detention), the French Human
Rights League, Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture,
and International Prison Observation launched a vast
campaign starting from Paris for the release of Lebanese
detainees in Syria, and for the disclosure of all information
pertaining to any Lebanese arrested by Syrian Forces.
·
Amnesty International
through one of its
Official Abdel-Salam Sayyed Ahmad, from their Middle East
Office in London acknowledged that they did not have a
definitive number of Lebanese prisoners in Syria for lack of an
official, central source of information. In 2000, Sayyed Ahmed
argued that while the fate of those Lebanese arrested by or
handed over to the Syrian authorities during the 1970s and 1980s
remained shrouded in mystery, this was not the case with those
detained after 1990. “Many of these people have been visited by
their parents,” he said, “The number of 45 detainees remaining
is not accurate. There are many more”. “In fact”, he added,
“there are hundreds who are believed to be there, but we are not
sure.” He also said that the Lebanese Government has a “duty
toward those people and their families, because even if the ones
arrested in Syria for crimes committed in Lebanon, have to be
handed over to Lebanese authorities to serve their time there.”
·
SOLIDE
(The Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile) a Lebanese
Association has been very active on behalf of the Lebanese
detainees and their families. Their President Ghazi Aad
organizes meetings, press conferences and repeatedly demands
Syrian Authorities to release complete lists, with names,
numbers, places and all pertinent information on the status of
Lebanese held in Syrian jails. He also asks the Lebanese
Government to establish a permanent office where families of
missing Lebanese can file their inquiries about their
disappeared relatives.
·
The Federation of Human and
Humanitarian Rights,
another Lebanese group, has been
also vocal on the same issue. Their President Wael Kheir, a
Human Rights advocate and attorney says that lists of detainees'
names and confirmed numbers were still missing, and indicated
the absence of fair and public trials. He also affirms the fact
that Lebanese citizens being pulled out of their country and
detained abroad "constitutes a violation of sovereignty and
international laws."
·
MIRSAD
(Multi-Initiative on Rights: Search, Assist and Defend), another
Lebanese Human Rights group says through its President Kamal
Batal that “before Syria released 121 Lebanese detainees in
1998, we had only the names of two of them, so you can imagine
how many they would be at this time.”
·
In January 2003
the UN Working Group on arbitrary detention looked into
the case of Georges Ayoub Chalaweet after SOLIDA (Support
for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) and the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) submitted the case of Mr.
Chalaweet to the UN in June 2002. An inquiry was sent to the
Syrian authorities who admitted the detention of Mr. Chalaweet
after he was involved in a car accident in Lebanon in 1992
causing injuries to Syrian elements. Then, the UN Working Group
on Arbitrary Detention issued its conclusion stating: “Georges
Ayoub Chalaweet has been deprived of his liberty since March 30,
1994 without having been informed of any charge against him,
without a court ruling on the legality of his detention and with
no contact whatsoever with his family since 1998, which
constitutes a series of grave violations. Such detention is in
contravention of articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and of principles 10 to 12 of the Body of
Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of
Detention or Imprisonment”. The UN Working Group went on to
“request the Syrian government to take the necessary steps to
remedy the situation”.
·
In January 2003, the European
Parliament debated the human rights situation in
Lebanon. In particular, the question of the Lebanese citizens
detained in Syria was repeatedly raised by several MPs belonging
to different political groups. As part of the ratification
proceedings for a Partnership Agreement between the European
Union and the Lebanese Government, a resolution was adopted by
the European Parliament on January 16, 2003, pertaining to the
status of Lebanese prisoners illegally held in Syria.
H –
Recommendations
In consideration of the above
facts and positions and since the pro-Syrian Lebanese Government
refuses to carry out its responsibilities in this matter and has
never demanded that the rights of Lebanese nationals detained or
missing in Syria be upheld, we strongly recommend the following:
1-
To urge
Syrian and Lebanese authorities to publicly disclose all
information past and present pertaining to Lebanese Nationals
held in Syria.
2-
To ask
Syria to release all
Lebanese individuals arbitrarily detained in Syria and to return
to Lebanon the remains of those who died while in detention.
3-
To
ensure that all detainees in Syrian jails are granted their
basic rights while in detention. In particular the detainees
should be allowed visitation rights by their families and
lawyers, as well as adequate medical care, and should not be
tortured or mistreated.
4-
To
demand the intervention of International Organizations with the
purpose of reaching a humanitarian resolution to this tragedy
through an effective mechanism of negotiation with the Syrian
authorities.
