Lebanese groups issue human rights warnings against Syria
Solida, Albawaba.com | 12.06.2003 19:44
Three human rights groups issued a joint communique stating that Syrian authorities continue to deny the imprisonment of Lebanese citizens, despite the findings of several international organizations. Now they fear Syria may be hiding mass graves...
Lebanese human rights groups warn of potential mass graves in Syria
Albawaba.com, June 12, 2003
Three Lebanese human rights organizations have appealed from Beirut for an international action to rescue many Lebanese allegedly held in Syrian jails, warning of family fears of potential mass graves in Syria similar to those recently discovered in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. The call was voiced by The Lebanese Human Rights Organization, Solida-France and Solid for the Support of Imprisoned and Banished Lebanese, An Nahar website reported on Thursday.
The three bodies said in a joint communique that Syrian authorities were still denying the presence of any Lebanese prisoners in Syria, although several international organizations have established that many Lebanese were still held in Syrian prisons. Representatives from the three human rights groups had lately visited Damascus, seeking meetings with Syrian officials, but they were denied access to top Syrian officials, the statement said. (Albawaba.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=251596〈=e&dir=news
RELATED:
Lebanese Political Prisoners in Syria
Communique From SOLIDA , 12 Dec 2002
On the 54th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Lebanese MP Ms. Nayla Moawad questioned Parliament yesterday about the fact that its Inquiry Commission, headed by Minister Fouad Es-Saad and charged with investigating the fate of Lebanese political detainees in Syria, had not yet issued any findings to the families and relatives of the victims. Her remarks were met with the customary bad faith of some Lebanese officials in what concerns this matter, as one Minister and one MP vehemently denied even the existence of the problem, even as Ms. Sonia Eid, President of the Association of Families of Lebanese Prisoners Detained in Syria and whose own son Jihad has been held in Syria since 1990, was present and spoke on the issue at the session of Parliament.
For the Lebanese authorities, time seems to have become suspended in June 2001 when President Bashar Al-Assad was on visit to France. He then declared that there were no Lebanese prisoners in Syria. But the Lebanese government ignored the remainder of the Syrian President's statement, in which he welcomed any request submitted by the Lebanese government on this matter, thus admitting half-heartedly the persistence of the problem. Yet, things have dramatically changed since June 2001, and the fact of Lebanese political prisoners held in Syria is now officially recognized:
- On July 22, 2002, the Association of Families of Lebanese Prisoners Detained in Syria met with the Syrian Minister of the Interior and the Director of Syrian Jails, both of whom admitted that a number of Lebanese citizens, specifically Lebanese military personnel, were being held in Syrian jails.
- On 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. In addition to the evidence that the families of the detained have gathered, substantial new information is continuously being collected on specific cases in the form of testimonies and official documents. SOLIDA wishes to reaffirm that the arbitrary detention of no less than 200 Lebanese citizens in Syria is now an established fact that requires no further proof. This matter has become a purely humanitarian question that must be resolved strictly from its humanitarian dimension by both the Lebanese and Syrian authorities
SOLIDA hereby urges:
1. Syria to release without further delay all Lebanese citizens who were kidnapped in Lebanon proper, and return to Lebanon the bodies of those who died while in detention.
2. The Lebanese authorities to seek a humanitarian resolution to this tragedy through an effective mechanism of negotiation with the Syrian authorities, or alternatively to seek the mediation of an international third party.
3. The European States, the European Parliament, and the United Nations to pursue their efforts on behalf of the Lebanese political prisoners who are arbitrarily being held in Syria, and of their families who continue to suffer from a lack of closure on this inhumane situation.
http://www.generalaoun.org/jan0307-11.html
Albawaba.com, June 12, 2003
Three Lebanese human rights organizations have appealed from Beirut for an international action to rescue many Lebanese allegedly held in Syrian jails, warning of family fears of potential mass graves in Syria similar to those recently discovered in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. The call was voiced by The Lebanese Human Rights Organization, Solida-France and Solid for the Support of Imprisoned and Banished Lebanese, An Nahar website reported on Thursday.
The three bodies said in a joint communique that Syrian authorities were still denying the presence of any Lebanese prisoners in Syria, although several international organizations have established that many Lebanese were still held in Syrian prisons. Representatives from the three human rights groups had lately visited Damascus, seeking meetings with Syrian officials, but they were denied access to top Syrian officials, the statement said. (Albawaba.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=251596〈=e&dir=news RELATED:
Lebanese Political Prisoners in Syria
Communique From SOLIDA , 12 Dec 2002
On the 54th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Lebanese MP Ms. Nayla Moawad questioned Parliament yesterday about the fact that its Inquiry Commission, headed by Minister Fouad Es-Saad and charged with investigating the fate of Lebanese political detainees in Syria, had not yet issued any findings to the families and relatives of the victims. Her remarks were met with the customary bad faith of some Lebanese officials in what concerns this matter, as one Minister and one MP vehemently denied even the existence of the problem, even as Ms. Sonia Eid, President of the Association of Families of Lebanese Prisoners Detained in Syria and whose own son Jihad has been held in Syria since 1990, was present and spoke on the issue at the session of Parliament.
For the Lebanese authorities, time seems to have become suspended in June 2001 when President Bashar Al-Assad was on visit to France. He then declared that there were no Lebanese prisoners in Syria. But the Lebanese government ignored the remainder of the Syrian President's statement, in which he welcomed any request submitted by the Lebanese government on this matter, thus admitting half-heartedly the persistence of the problem. Yet, things have dramatically changed since June 2001, and the fact of Lebanese political prisoners held in Syria is now officially recognized:
- On July 22, 2002, the Association of Families of Lebanese Prisoners Detained in Syria met with the Syrian Minister of the Interior and the Director of Syrian Jails, both of whom admitted that a number of Lebanese citizens, specifically Lebanese military personnel, were being held in Syrian jails.
- On 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. In addition to the evidence that the families of the detained have gathered, substantial new information is continuously being collected on specific cases in the form of testimonies and official documents. SOLIDA wishes to reaffirm that the arbitrary detention of no less than 200 Lebanese citizens in Syria is now an established fact that requires no further proof. This matter has become a purely humanitarian question that must be resolved strictly from its humanitarian dimension by both the Lebanese and Syrian authorities
SOLIDA hereby urges:
1. Syria to release without further delay all Lebanese citizens who were kidnapped in Lebanon proper, and return to Lebanon the bodies of those who died while in detention.
2. The Lebanese authorities to seek a humanitarian resolution to this tragedy through an effective mechanism of negotiation with the Syrian authorities, or alternatively to seek the mediation of an international third party.
3. The European States, the European Parliament, and the United Nations to pursue their efforts on behalf of the Lebanese political prisoners who are arbitrarily being held in Syria, and of their families who continue to suffer from a lack of closure on this inhumane situation.
http://www.generalaoun.org/jan0307-11.html
Solida, Albawaba.com
Comments
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Mass Graves?
12.06.2003 20:51
Now the holding of 200 political prisoners incommunicado is wrong. If some of them are dead, and their families haven't had the bodies back, that's wrong.
But 'mass graves'? Pure propaganda.
Who are these Lebanese political prisoners anyway? I searched on Google, and all the Lebanese sites I found relating to this were Falangist. I seem to remember it was the Falange that were responsible for Sabra and Chatila, following their Israeli paymasters.
Brian
The Lebanese get no respect from Syria
12.06.2003 21:03
SYRIA
...In neighboring Lebanon, opponents of Syria's long-term domination of the country had their own hopes, calling repeatedly for reassessment of the lopsided bilateral relationship and return of full sovereignty. It was not only Asad's death but Israel's earlier military withdrawal from occupied south Lebanon in May that prompted and emboldened Lebanese critics and activists, particularly university students, to press directly and publicly for the withdrawal from their country of all Syrian troops and security forces.
...Despite the presidential succession, Syrians continued to be denied civil and political rights. Freedom of expression, association, and assembly were strictly limited in law and practice; the local media and access to the Internet remained state-controlled; and the pervasive powers of the security forces under the country's long-standing emergency law, in force since 1963, were intact. There were no effective safeguards against arbitrary arrest and torture; civilian and military prisons, including the infamous Tadmor in the Palmyran desert, remained off-limits to independent observers; and the Kurdish minority continued to be denied basic rights, including the right to a nationality for tens of thousands. No one inside the country dared to advocate justice and accountability for current and former government officials responsible for gross human rights abuses, including the massacre of possibly as many as 1,100 unarmed prisoners at Tadmor in 1980, and the military assault on the city of Hama in 1982 in which thousands were killed.
...Another call for political reform and human rights came in a September statement signed by ninety-nine prominent intellectuals, artists, and others residing in Syria and abroad that appeared in the Lebanese daily al-Safir. The statement called on the authorities to cancel emergency law, issue a general amnesty for all political prisoners, allow political exiles to return, and recognize the rights to freedom of assembly, press, and opinion. The signatories included novelist Abdel Rahman Munif, poet Adonis, and philosophy professor Sadiq al-Azm. Earlier appeals included a June editorial in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat for intellectual and press freedoms, and a July request from Ibrahim Abu Daqqah, human rights advisor to Palestinian Authority leader Yaser Arafat, for the release of Palestinian detainees.
From Beirut, a Lebanese member of parliament, Boutros Harb, called for an "opening of the files" on some two hundred Lebanese known or suspected of being imprisoned in Syria, some of whom had been detained without trial for over fifteen years. The Jordanian branch of the Arab Organization for Human Rights also called for the release of sixty-nine Jordanians, as well as Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners.
...Against the backdrop of the impending Israeli withdrawal from the occupied south, Lebanese citizens used various tactics to protest Syrian domination of their country. On March 23, for example, journalist Gebran Tueni, managing director and chairman of the board of the independent daily an-Nahar (Beirut), wrote as an editorial an extraordinarily frank open letter addressed to then Col. Bashar al-Asad, who had been assigned responsibility for Syria-Lebanon relations by his father. He wrote that "many Lebanese are neither at ease with the Syrian policy in Lebanon, nor the Syria `presence' in Lebanon....[T]hey resent the way Syria deals with Lebanon, they detest it and reject it....We are not a Syrian province."
Tueni also criticized "direct Syrian interference in Lebanese politics," and said that Lebanese "refuse the principle of pre-fabricated voting lists in Damascus" and "reject arresting Lebanese in Syrian prisons." He went on: "There are some Lebanese fears that are getting deeper. There are people who believe that Syria is an enemy. You have to face this reality to be able to solve the problem." Two days later, Lebanese president Emile Lahoud condemned such writing as a "broken record ... played with pro-Israeli motivations." He added: "We all know that such calls and their timing do not reflect interest in protecting Lebanon's sovereignty and independence."
HRW