Africa until sanctions were tightened. We feel that the United States has no business playing "business as usual" with the Syrian regime. Both the Council and I appreciate the opportunity to express our concerns and suggestions before this Committee. We strongly urge you to consider our suggestions and incorporate them in your decisions and deliberations regarding US policy toward Lebanon. Thank you. Note: Along with this testimony, the Council of Lebanese American Organizations (CLAO) is submitting a number of supporting documents including NGO human rights reports. CLAO requests that this supporting material be included in the record. A HUMAN RIGHTS DLE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/MIDDLE EAST May 1997 2077 National Press Bldg. (202) 686-4844 Council of Lebanese American Organizatio SYRIA/LEBANON AN ALLIANCE BEYOND THE LAW: Vol. 9, No. 3 (E) 3 5 8 9 9 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 16 17 19 20 21 22 24 SUMMARY RECOMMENDATIONS INTRODUCTION ... THE METHODOLOGY OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN LEBANON Gabi 'Aql Karam: "Disappeared" in January 1997. Unacknowledged Detention .... Abdallah Diab Hussein al-Razayneh: "Disappeared" in 1984 Derar al-Karmi: "Disappeared" in January 1997 Torture in Syrian Custody ... Coercion to Collaborate with Syrian Intelligence in Lebanon THE FAILURE OF THE LEBANESE GOVERNMENT TO ACT Consequences of the Lack of Legal Remedies in Lebanon The Price of Fear...... INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS.. FOR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF THE "DISAPPEARED": WHAT YOU CAN DO. APPENDIX A: Excerpt of Human Rights Watch Statement to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights APPENDIX B: Legal Complaint about the Abduction and Unlawful Detention of Gabi 'Aql Karam SUMMARY An unknown number of Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians are imprisoned in Syria: some of them "disappeared" in Lebanon as long ago as the 1980s. In two cases documented by Human Rights Watch, Palestinian families have learned only recently, through information brought to them by released prisoners, that their loved ones - “disappeared" in 1984 and 1987, respectively may still be alive and in Syrian custody. The problem, unfortunately, not only involves past abuses but also extends to current practice. Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians continue to "disappear" in Lebanon, taken into custody there by Syrian security forces and then transferred to and detained in Syria, perpetuating a climate of fear. This report includes detailed information about three "disappearances" that occurred in 1997, between January and March, one that took place in July 1996, and another that dates back to September 1992. The report also includes information about "disappearances" of Palestinian residents of Beirut and Tripoli in 1995 and 1996, and testimony from Lebanese and Palestinians who were "disappeared" at various times between the mid-1970s through late 1993. The seizures of these individuals take place outside the law. As the Beirut Bar Association reported to the U.N. Human Rights Committee in April 1997, "no existing legislation or bilateral treaty allows such conduct." Moreover, victims do not benefit from the protection of the law. There are no effective official government mechanisms — in Lebanon or in Syria- for families to learn of the whereabouts of their relatives and to seek legal remedy. Human Rights Watch has also obtained first-hand testimony indicating that Syrian intelligence forces have detained some Lebanese and held them incommunicado — in Syrian detention facilities in Lebanon, and in Syria — in order to pressure them to collaborate with Syrian intelligence in Lebanon. Syrian troops first entered Lebanon in large numbers in June 1976, the second year of the country's civil war. The Syrian military presence was formalized pursuant to decisions taken at the Arab League summit that was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in October 1976. The summit led to the creation of an Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) that was to enforce a ceasefire and separate the warring sides. Although the ADF would include small numbers of troops from other Arab states, the bulk of the forces were Syrian and under Syrian military command. Syria's significant interference with Lebanese civil society, including the press, followed, as we described in a 1991 report: Late that year, the Syrian army occupied and closed down seven newspapers and one magazine in Twenty-one years later, an estimated 30,000 Syrian troops remain in Lebanon, as well as an undisclosed number of intelligence officers and other operatives. Syrian intelligence forces are known to maintain detention facilities in at least five locations inside Lebanon: in Tripoli in the north; in west Beirut at the headquarters of Syrian intelligence on Sadat Street, near the Beau Rivage Hotel in the Ramlet al-Baida neighborhood, an area also known ! The term appears in quotation marks "to emphasize that the victim has in reality not simply vanished. The victim's whereabouts and fate, concealed from the outside world, are known by someone. Someone decided what would happen to the victim; someone decided to conceal it." Amnesty International, "Disappearances" and Political Killings (Amsterdam, Amnesty International Dutch Section: 1994), p. 84. 2 Middle East Watch (now Human Rights Watch/Middle East), Syria Unmasked: The Suppression of Human Rights by the Asad Regime (New Haven and London, Human Rights Watch Books, Yale University Press: 1991), pp. 119-120. Human Rights Watch/Middle East 3 May 1997, Vol. 9, No. 3 (E) as Beau Rivage; in Chtoura in the Beqaa' valley; and in ‘Anjar, east of the Beirut-Damascus highway, near the Lebanese-Syria border. There is also a detention facility in Hazmiyeh, on the outskirts of Beirut, where a joint SyrianLebanese intelligence force reportedly is based. This report includes information about and testimony from Lebanese and stateless Palestinians who have been detained at these facilities. Close Syrian-Lebanese bilateral relations were formally cemented by the May 1991 Treaty of Fraternity, Cooperation and Coordination, which established joint councils to coordinate decision-making and activities related to foreign affairs, economic and social affairs, and defense and security affairs. The Defense and Security Affairs Committee created pursuant to the treaty is composed of the defense and interior ministers of both countries. According to the terms of the treaty, the committee is responsible for "studying the adequate measures needed to safeguard the two countries' security and for suggesting joint measures to confront any aggression or threat endangering their national security or any unrest that may disturb their internal security." For Lebanese Muslims and Christians alike, the phenomenon of "disappearances" is one manifestation of what many of them view as de facto Syrian control or "annexation" or "occupation," as they variously describe it — of their country. A prominent Shi'i lawyer, who requested anonymity, put it this way in an interview with Human Rights Watch in August 1995: No one in Lebanon will talk about the reality. Our government is not a government. Syrian Indeed, public discussion of "disappearances" is largely taboo in Lebanon, and efforts to address the problem generally, or individual cases specifically, are not undertaken. Families of the "disappeared" typically are afraid to come forward with information for fear of worsening the situation for their loved ones or putting themselves at risk of harassment or reprisal. They have been unable to secure assistance from Lebanese government officials or Lebanese nongovernmental organizations to obtain information about, access to, or the release of their relatives. The son of one Lebanese who was seized and “disappeared" in the early 1990s, and is believed to be held in Syria, told Human Rights Watch in 1997 that no one in Lebanon, including former colleagues of his father who now serve in high-level government positions, would talk to him about the case. The son said that he met privately with President Elias Hrawi in 1992, who told him "there is nothing that we can do." Human Rights Watch has written to Lebanese and Syrian government officials four times to express concern, to request information, and to recommend steps to remedy the problem of the continuing "disappearances." These letters to Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in October 1996 and March 1997, and to Syrian President Hafez al-Asad in November 1996 and March 1997 — have gone unanswered, and persons continue to be detained and "disappeared" on Lebanese soil. Families continue to wait for news, and official confirmation, that their relatives are dead or alive. To end this agony for the families, Human Rights Watch urged President Asad in November 1996 to disclose fully the names and other information about non-Syrians held in Syrian custody in Lebanon and Syria. We received no reply to our letter. The Lebanese government clearly has ceded certain police powers to Syrian intelligence forces inside Lebanon - in practice if not also by secret agreement. By providing an effective guarantee of impunity for human rights abuses under this arrangement, Lebanese authorities must bear a measure of direct responsibility for these abuses. Lebanese complicity in abuses by Syrian forces sometimes goes beyond official acquiescence and becomes direct collaboration with Syrian forces in carrying out reported "disappearances." To end complicity in torture, “disappearance,” and other abuses by Syrian forces in Lebanon, it is incumbent upon Lebanese authorities to establish enforceable procedures under which Syrian forces present and operating in Lebanon can be held fully accountable for their actions under both Lebanese and international law. Lebanese authorities should begin to address this problem by ending immediately their silence concerning abuses being committed by Syrian forces on Lebanese territory, and by carrying out independent and effective investigations of "disappearances" in such a manner as to bring the perpetrators to justice. This report focuses only on "disappearances" in Lebanon at the hands of Syrian intelligence forces and their Lebanese accomplices. It does not address the issue of Lebanese citizens who have been seized in Lebanon and transported to Israel, which occupies approximately 10 percent of south Lebanon (850 square kilometers) in a zone that is home to some 150,000 Lebanese. Lebanese citizens imprisoned inside Israel, along with other Arabs and Iranians, is the subject of a separate inquiry by Human Rights Watch/Middle East and a report that we will publish later in 1997. In March 1997, Human Rights Watch presented a written statement to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights which was meeting in its fifty-third session in Geneva. Our statement addressed the problem of "disappearances" of Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians in Lebanon by Syrian security forces, as well as Lebanese citizens who are being held in extended periods of detention in Israel, either without charge or trial or long beyond the expiration of their sentences. Human Rights Watch's submission regarding "disappearances" at the hands of Syrian forces is elaborated upon in this report. The part of the statement that addressed Israeli practices is appended to this report. RECOMMENDATIONS To the Government of Syria The Syrian government should apply the principles of transparency and accountability to address the problem of foreign nationals and stateless Palestinians who are detained in Syria, and to bring some measure of justice to victims and their families. Human Rights Watch urges the Syrian government to take the following actions: Make public the names of all non-Syrians — including Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians -- who are currently detained or imprisoned in Syria. In addition to releasing the names, the Syrian government should make public the following additional information about each individual: 1. Nationality or place of permanent residence, and date of birth; 2. Date and place of initial arrest, and the name of the security force that took the person into custody; 3. Date of transfer from Lebanon to Syria, and the basis in Syrian or Lebanese law, if any, for such transfer; 4. Name and location of the facility where the person is currently being held in Syria; 5. Whether the person has been permitted to contact his family and lawyer, and the date on which such contact was initially made; 6. Whether the person has been permitted family visits, and the frequency of such visits; and 7. The basis in Syrian or Lebanese law for the continuing detention and imprisonment of each person held in Syria. Individuals who are unlawfully detained should be immediately and unconditionally released. Syrian authorities should also investigate allegations that Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians have been tortured at Syrian detention facilities inside Lebanon, and should take steps to bring such practices to an immediate halt. The Syrian government should instruct its judicial authorities to determine, on a case-by-case basis, if foreign nationals and stateless Palestinians have been subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention in Syria. In cases of arbitrary arrest or detention, authorities should set forth and disseminate widely in Lebanon Human Rights Watch/Middle East 5 May 1997, Vol. 9, No. 3 (E) |