Solidarity rally in Lebanon with Khiam detainees
Lebanon, Politics, 10/29/1999

Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss stressed on Thursday that Israel's withdrawal unconditionally from south Lebanon to the internationally-recognized border according to UN resolution 425 is the main solution for the Israeli occupation and its consequences.

In a statement he made in Beirut on Thursday on the occasion of the world day for the closing of Khiam camp, al-Hoss said, "We voice Lebanon's official solidarity with the call to close off this detention center of a black history which stands as an evidence on the Israeli brutality and its inhuman practices against the Lebanese citizens."

Al-Hoss vowed to spare no efforts to achieve the withdrawal of the Israeli forces unconditionally from Lebanon and ending the sufferings of the Lebanese people under the Israeli occupation.

Meantime, a sit-in was observed on Thursday in front of ESCWA's headquarters in Beirut for mothers and relatives of the Lebanese detainees in the Israeli jails on the occasion of the national and world day to close off Khiam detention center.

Taking part in the said sit-in were Lebanese first lady Mrs. Andrea Lahoud, political and social figures, citizens and the press.

Mothers of the detainees observed a hunger strike and called for putting an end to the continued sufferings of their children in the Israeli jails.

Meanwhile, two Palestinian legal establishments Mandella and the al-Damir have joined the media campaign started on Thursday to close off Khiam detention camp which was established by the Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon in 1985.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Mandella establishment said that the follow up committee in backing the cause of the Lebanese prisoners and detainees in the Israeli jails will observe a massive sit-in front of the UN premises in Beirut to call for the closure of the said detention camp which includes 155 children, men, women and old people without any charges nor trail, besides 19 Lebanese held by Israel in Eiloun prison in al-Ramlah since 1989.

For its part the al-Damir establishment called for immediate release of all the Lebanese detainees. It stressed that the absence of international responsibility encourages Israel to behave irresponsibly and take oppressive measures against the Arab detainees, noted that 14 detainees died in mysterious conditions during the past years.

For its part, the follow-up committee in support of the Lebanese detainees in the Israeli jails and detention camps said on Thursday, in a statement that the Lebanese detainees in the jails of Israel and its agents were exposed to torture, and this resulted in the death of many of them.

In a message he sent to the UN secretary general and handed over to the executive secretary of ESCWA (the Economic Social Committee for West Asia), Hazem al-Bablawi, the committee said that the Israeli occupation forces have held in al-Khayyam camp since its establishment in 1985 some 2000 Lebanese citizens including 500 women.

The statement added that Israel is currently holding in the camp some 160 detainees including six women who are tortured by electricity wire, and extracting their nails and hairs and other sorts of psychological tortures. The committee explained in its message that 14 detainees dies as a result of the torture and that infectious diseases threaten 50 detainees.

The committee called on the international community to interfere with Israel to permit members of the International committee of the Red Cross to enter into the camp and get acquainted with conditions of the prisoners inside it.

Previous Stories:
  UN representative to inspect conditions of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails   (8/26/1999)
  Beirut shows solidarity of follow citizens imprisoned in Israel   (7/15/1999)
  Lebanese prisoners confront Israeli jailers   (7/12/1999)

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