Calls for the release of Suha Bishara, the Lebanese lady who shot at Lahd
Lebanon-Israel, Judicial, 2/9/1998

Suha Bishara, a young Lebanese girl who was arrested by Israel some ten years ago has since then been held without trial, and Israel is receiving repeated calls for her release. All of them have fallen on deaf ears.

Bishara was arrested on 7 November 1988 after she opened fire and tried to assassinate General Antoine Lahd, commander of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militias in occupied South Lebanon. Right after the arrest, Bishara's lawyer Lea Tsemel said her client was brought into Israel for interrogation and since then has been held without trial.

In a letter to the Israeli military prosecutor, Tsemel called for Bishara's immediate release and threatened otherwise to appeal to the High Court of Justice in Israel. Tsemel said that over all those years, neither Bishara's relatives nor representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, were allowed to visit her. She said she had approached the military prosecutor with requests to get details on those held at Al Khiam prison in south Lebanon, but the answer she received maintained that the prison was beyond the Israeli army's control. Tsemel said she was told that SLA militias were in charge of the prison but evidence she said she obtained from released prisoners who served various periods of imprisonment at Al Khiam showed that the prison is directly under the control of the Israeli army.

Back in the beginning of 1997, an international committee for the release of Suha Bishara was set up comprising of civil rights activists, lawyers and politicians from Europe. The committee had approached the Israeli prime minister and attorney general government asking for Bishara's release. Their requests too were rejected.

Now it is up to the High Court in Israel to decide if Bishara will stand trial or if she is eligible for freedom. Lahd escaped death in the shooting and a few weeks after his injury he was back to work normally.

Previous Stories:
  Amnesty International denounces Israeli detention policy   (12/15/1997)
  SLA releases two detainees from Khiam prison   (12/13/1997)
  Khiam torture more frequent   (10/1/1997)

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