Khiam Prison: Israel Hiding the Past?

Smoke billows in the town of Khiam, in southern Lebanon, July 20, 2006. Israeli jets raided a detention center in the town of Khiam in south Lebanon Thursday, witnesses and local TV said. The notorious Khiam prison, formerly run by Israel's Lebanese militia allies during its occupation of south Lebanon, was entirely destroyed in four bombing runs by Israeli jets, they said. (AP Photo/Lotfallah Daher)



ISRAEL/SOUTH LEBANON
Israel's Forgotten Hostages:Lebanese Detainees in Israel and
Khiam Detention Centre- 1997?

INTRODUCTION

Over the past 19 years Lebanese [1] nationals, mostly those suspected of armed opposition to the Israeli occupation of part of Lebanon, have been held for years in detention by Israeli or Israeli-controlled forces, cut off from the outside world, often without charge or trial. Some of them were secretly moved from Lebanon to Israel. Others are held in Khiam Detention Centre in south Lebanon, a centre run by a Lebanese armed militia allied to Israel, the South Lebanese Army (SLA).

Israel denies it has any control over Khiam. However, Khiam lies in part of south Lebanon, styled by Israel as its "security zone", which has been occupied by Israel since 1978. Israel's influence over funding and supervision of the SLA are not in doubt. Furthermore, as the occupying power it is responsible, according to international law, for the people in the "security zone".

Most of the detainees are believed to have participated in armed opposition against Israeli or SLA rule over south Lebanon. But they are not prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions and Israel does not admit prisoner of war status to its opponents in Lebanon. At least 21 Lebanese detainees are held in Israel without charge or after expiry of their sentences; most of them do not know why they were picked out for prolonged secret detention in Israel. About 130 Lebanese detainees, including one woman, are held in Khiam Detention Centre; they have no legal status and few rights. All these Lebanese detainees exist in a limbo where they have no information as to when, or if, they will be released.

For those held in Israel, the evidence of where they were being held was painstakingly acquired. For not only did the Israeli Government fail to inform the families of the detainees where they were, it persistently denied that it was holding some of those detained for years in Israeli prisons. News of six Lebanese men who simply "disappeared" from a Lebanese militia detention centre in 1990 only reached their families when it was passed on by fellow Lebanese prisoners who had been released. Even after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reportedly saw one of the detainees by chance in a prison hospital and informed families that they were being held in detention in Israel and the Israeli Government acknowledged their detention in January 1992, continuing denials of their existence by Israeli officials show the secrecy still surrounding their situation in Israel. After years of confusion about their status, the Israeli Ministry of Justice now states that they, and 15 other Lebanese nationals held in Israel, are administrative detainees held under the Emergency Powers (Detention) Law of 1979. As such they can be held indefinitely without charge or trial.

Israel's Hostages?

Amnesty International believes that those captured and held in Israel or Khiam without charge or trial or beyond the expiry of their sentences are held as hostages, to be used as a bargaining counter with Islamist militia groups. Israel and the SLA have more than once stated, particularly since 1991, that the release of the detainees held in Khiam and Israel is conditional on the release of, or accounting for, Israeli soldiers and SLA members missing in action in Lebanon. Several releases have taken place in exchange for information about Israeli soldiers missing in action. In 1991 a series of releases from Khiam took place in exchange for confirmation of the deaths of Rahamin Alsheikh and Yossi Fink, both Israeli soldiers believed to have been taken prisoner by Hizbullah, an armed militia which works against Israel and the SLA's occupation of the "security zone". In July 1996 45 Khiam detainees were released as part of a series of exchanges of prisoners and bodies by Israel, the SLA and Hizbullah.

As regards the Lebanese detainees in Israel, when Amnesty International delegates inquired in 1996 about Shaykh 'Abd al-Karim 'Ubayd and Mustafa al-Dirani, two Lebanese nationals held in secret detention since their abduction from Lebanon, they were informed by the then Deputy Minister of Defence, Ori Orr, that "we will release them when we have more information about Ron Arad [an Israeli airman captured in Lebanon]".

The Lebanese detainees held without trial or after expiry of their sentences in Israeli prisons and in Khiam are Israel's forgotten hostages. They should now be remembered. All those held as hostages, including any prisoners of conscience, should be released immediately and unconditionally. Those detained in Israel after the expiry of their prison sentences should also be immediately released. The 10 Lebanese nationals held without charge or trial should be released if, as their prolonged secret detention without trial suggests, Israel has no intention of bringing them to justice. The legal status of the Khiam detainees should be made clear; they should be released if, as their long detention without trial shows, Israel has no intention of trying them.

HOSTAGE -TAKING: THE BACKGROUND

Contiuned

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Links:

Torture in Khiam Prison: Responsibility and Accountability

Photostory: Khiam Detention Camp

Israel Responsible for Abuses in Khiam Prison

Israel accused