Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1996 - Lebanon, 1 January 1996, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a9fc4c.html [accessed 17 September 2023]
Disclaimer
This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Scores of people, including possible prisoners of conscience, were arrested on security grounds. Some were briefly detained and released without charge; others were charged and tried or were awaiting trial. Several political prisoners were sentenced after trials some aspects of which fell short of international fair trial standards. Allegations of torture and ill-treatment continued to be received. One person died in custody. One person was executed and at least 11 others were sentenced to death. Armed political groups continued to commit human rights abuses. The fate of thousands of people abducted by armed groups in previous years remained unknown. In January the Lebanese authorities issued a decree legalizing the use of the Ministry of Defence as a prison and permitting the intelligence services, the Military Court, the Court of Justice and the military police to open prisons. In October the Lebanese Assembly (parliament) extended President Elias al-Harawi's term of office for a further three years. There was heightened tension in south Lebanon throughout the year. The South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia and Israeli armed forces retained control of a "security zone" along the Lebanese/Israeli border. Hizbullah, the main armed political group fighting the SLA and Israeli forces in Lebanon, controlled most of the areas north of the "security zone" in south Lebanon. Armed clashes and rocket attacks by both sides were frequent. With the agreement of the Lebanese Government, Syrian forces remained deployed throughout most of the country. Scores of suspected political opponents, including possible prisoners of conscience, were arrested by government forces on security grounds. In March, two students from the American University of Beirut, both apparently supporters of General Aoun, a former military leader living in exile, were arrested. Tony Faddul was released without charge the following day; Joseph Najim, a reporter for the Nahar al-Shabab, a weekly supplement of the daily newspaper al-Nahar, was held for three days. He appeared to have been detained in connection with an article, published on the anniversary of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, in which he called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. Both were possible prisoners of conscience. In June, three journalists were tried before the Publications Court. Yusuf al-Huwaik, editor of the daily newspaper al-Diyyar, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for "slandering" a member of parliament. Hassan Sabra and Ghazi al-Maqhour, the publisher and managing editor of the weekly magazine al-Shira respectively, were each sentenced to one month's imprisonment for allegedly defaming the President. All three sentences were later commuted to fines. Two members of the Lebanese Popular Congress, Muhammad Zughbi and Ibrahim Sannu, were arrested in July by the security forces and briefly detained. They appeared to have been arrested for distributing leaflets calling for a boycott of elections for a vacant parliamentary seat. They were possible prisoners of conscience. In July about 200 people, including possible prisoners of conscience, were arrested in Beirut, Sidon and Nabatiyah during unauthorized demonstrations organized by the General Workers' Union in protest against high prices and tax policies. Many were detained for days or weeks before being released without charge, but more than 100 were tried on charges including possessing weapons. Most were sentenced to one month's imprisonment, immediately commuted to a fine, while others were acquitted. In mid-March up to 30 members of the banned Lebanese Forces (LF) party, a former Christian militia, were arrested after participating in a demonstration on the anniversary of the bombing of a church in March 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Sporadic arrests of LF members continued throughout the year; most alleged that they had been tortured while in detention to extract confessions. Most had been released without charge by the end of the year. Several political prisoners were sentenced after trials some aspects of which fell short of international fair trial standards. In June Samir Geagea, leader of the lf, and nine others were convicted by the Court of Justice, Lebanon's highest court, of killing National Party leader Dany Chamoun and his family in 1990 (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Trial proceedings were seriously flawed. Statements which witnesses alleged had been extracted under torture were accepted as evidence by the Court, which failed to investigate the allegations. Detainees were denied prompt access to families and lawyers and were not given the right to a judicial review of conviction and sentence, in contravention of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Lebanon acceded in 1972. Samir Geagea was sentenced to death, but this was immediately commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour. Camille Hanna Karam was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and eight others, who were tried in absentia, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from life to 10 years' imprisonment with hard labour. Rafiq Sadeh and two others, who were tried in absentia, were acquitted. In December the Court of Cassation refused a request for a retrial filed by the lawyers of Samir Geagea and his co-defendants. There is no right of appeal against sentences imposed by the Court of Justice. The concurrent trial of Samir Geagea and other members of the LF for the 1994 church bombing (see Amnesty International Report 1995) was postponed indefinitely in May and had not resumed by the end of the year. In February, one of the defendants, Jirjis Khoury, retracted his statements to police, alleging that they had been extracted under torture. Fu'ad Malek, the deputy of Samir Geagea and his main co-defendant, was released on bail. Six people tried in absentia were convicted by a military court in June of killing three people, including two members of Hizbullah, in an explosion in December 1994 which the security forces had claimed had been masterminded by Israeli intelligence (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Ahmad Hallaq and Tawfiq Nasser were sentenced to death; Hanan Yassin, Ahmad Hallaq's wife, and Wafiq Nasser, a Palestinian, were sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment; Ghassan al-Humsi was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment with hard labour; and his brother, Suhail al-Humsi, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. At her trial, Hanan Yassin alleged that she had confessed under torture to her husband's involvement with the Israeli intelligence service. In December a military court tried five people accused of facilitating the abduction of Mustafa al-Dirani by Israeli commandos in May 1994. Muhammad Ahmad al-Dirani and Muhammad Ali Salim al-Dirani were sentenced to death in absentia; the other three defendants were acquitted. Five people charged with state security offences in 1994 remained on bail awaiting trial (see Amnesty International Report 1995). No information was available about the fate of 13 members of the illegal pro-Iraqi wing of the Arab Socialist Bath party detained in 1994 and who may have been taken to Syria (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Three Iraqi nationals, including two diplomats, and a Lebanese national detained for the 1994 assassination in Beirut of an Iraqi opposition figure (see Amnesty International Report 1995) were believed to remain in detention. A third Iraqi diplomat detained in connection with the assassination died in custody (see below). Allegations of torture of political detainees continued to be reported. Methods of torture reported included falaqa (beatings on the soles of the feet with whips or wires), electric shocks, and "balanco" (hanging by the wrists which are tied behind the back). At least one person died in custody. In June Khaled Alwan Khalaf, one of the Iraqi diplomats accused of the 1994 assassination of an Iraqi opposition figure (see above), died in al-Hayat Hospital from a brain haemorrhage. No investigation was known to have been carried out into the death. No information was received about any judicial proceedings against members of the security forces arrested in connection with the death in custody of Tareq al-Hassaniyah in March 1994, nor about the investigation into the death in custody of Mufid Sukkar in July 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995). One person was executed and at least 11 others were sentenced to death; most had been convicted of murder. In January Husam Ali Nassar was executed by firing-squad in Rumieh Prison. Those sentenced to death included Elias al-Haber, who was sentenced in April; Khalil Radi Abu Huwaili, Jamal Hassan Sab and Safi Khalil Sab, who were sentenced in absentia in June; and Sultan Ahmad Mazlum, Abbas Abd al-Hamid Ismail and Akram Sulaiman, who were sentenced in July. More than 200 prisoners, most suspected of membership of armed groups opposed to the Israeli presence in Lebanon, continued to be held by the SLA outside any legal framework in the Khiam detention centre in the "security zone". Some or all may have been held as hostages. In January the SLA and the Israeli authorities permitted some of the prisoners in the Khiam detention centre to receive family visits for the first time since 1987. In October representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited the detention centre, which had been closed to humanitarian agencies since 1985. About 75 prisoners were released during the year, including Bilal Hassan, Rafiq Adil Dabaja, 'Iyad Ibrahim, Muhammad Afan and Ghazi Ghani Hussain. In January Haitham Dabaja died after being held without charge for 10 years in the Khiam detention centre. The exact circumstances of his death were unclear but it was reported that ill-treatment or torture may have contributed. No investigation was known to have been initiated. Armed political groups continued to commit human rights abuses, including the apparently deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians. Dozens of civilians were killed by armed political groups, often in reprisal for killings by opposing forces. Dozens of people were killed, apparently for political reasons; some may have been deliberately and arbitrarily killed by armed opposition groups. For example, in August, three gunmen shot and killed Shaikh Nizar al-Halabi, a religious leader and head of the Islamist al-Ahbash movement. At least five people, who were believed to be members of a militant Islamist organization, were arrested in December and charged with assassinating Sheikh Nizar al-Halabi. They were detained awaiting trial at the end of the year. The fate of thousands of people including Palestinians, and Lebanese, Syrian and other nationals taken prisoner in Lebanon by armed groups since 1975 remained unclear. They included Daud Yusuf Lahud, abducted in 1983, and Sman Jada, abducted in 1985. New information came to light in 1995 suggesting that dozens of people who had been abducted since the end of civil war in 1990 may have been transferred to Syria. Amnesty International urged the Lebanese authorities to commute all death sentences. It expressed concern about the fairness of important aspects of the trial of Samir Geagea and others, including the lack of a judicial review of the conviction and sentence and the apparent failure to investigate reports of torture and ill-treatment. No response had been received by the end of the year. In an oral statement to the UN Commission on Human Rights in February, Amnesty International repeated its call for the release of Lebanese and other detainees held in the Khiam detention centre and in Israel, and of any Israeli soldiers and SLA members missing in Lebanon who were being held as hostages.
