"Israel", SLA responsible for war crimes at Khiam jail: Amnesty

""Israel", together with its allied and its militia militia, is responsible for "war crimes" committed at the notorious Khiam jail in the formerly occupied south Lebanon, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

"The crimes committed in Khiam were the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law - in short, war crimes," said a report by the London-based rights organization.

The report was prepared by an Amnesty delegation which visited the Khiam jail after the last 145 detainees were freed by hundreds of unarmed civilians who stormed the prison and forced the collaborators to flee on May 23.

The jail, run by the militia under "Israeli" supervision, was located in the border zone occupied by the Jewish state for 22 years until its troop pullout on May 24.

"Together with the responsibility of the militia, there is the responsibility of the state of "Israel" which is fully accountable for the arbitrary detention, torture and other abuses committed in Khiam," it said.

"Repeated denials of this never rang true and sometimes seemed more of an attempt to dissociate "Israel" from the worst excesses officials knew were being committed in Khiam," it said.

Elizabeth Hodgkin, Amnesty representative, told AFP that "all those responsible for the exactions committed at Khiam should be prosecuted, both the jailers and their masters."

Hodgkin denounced the "grave breaches to the obligations of the occupying force as defined by the Geneva conventions."

"First, it is "Israel" which was the occupying force, not the militia which was a proxy force. Then, it has been proven that there was an interdependence between the Khiam jail and the prisons in "Israel", since detainees from Khiam were transferred to "Israel" and vice-versa," she said.

"Third, the Khiam jailers were paid by the "Israeli" army. Last year, the "Israeli" Supreme Court admitted that "Israel" was paying and training the militia while "Israeli" experts took part in polygraph tests," she said.

Hodgkin noted that the Supreme Court had actually requested on May 17 the "Israeli" government to "decide the fate of the 145 civilians detained in Khiam before its withdrawal from southern Lebanon."

It was therefore an indication from the highest "Israeli" judicial authority that the state of "Israel" was responsible of the fate of the Khiam detainees.

Amnesty recalled figures provided by Lebanon's Follow-Up Committee for the Lebanese Detainees in the "Israeli" Jails which said about 2,000 Lebanese, including 500 women, had been detained arbitrarily in Khiam, some for 15 years, since its establishment in 1985 and until its forced closure.

Twelve prisoners died in prison, two passed away shortly after their release and most suffered illnesses.

According to the committee, many former detainees continue to suffer from blood pressure, skin diseases, stomach ulcers, rheumatism and eye problems because of ill-treatment and the poor conditions of their detention.

Twenty Lebanese are currently held in "Israel", including 18 who who have been sentenced to various terms.

The remaining two, Islamic leaders Mustapha Dirani and Abdel Karim Obeid have been in administrative detention since they were kidnapped in southern Lebanon in 1989 and 1994 respectively, to seek information about "Israeli" servicemen missing in action in Lebanon.

AFP, 7-6-2000.