"Sabah Touba, six, proudly shows her grandfather the string of beads her 15-year-old brother Ali sent her, then turns to her brother Taan, who is 10: “Ali loves me most because he sent me all these necklaces and didn’t send you any.”

"Their mother, Zeinab Nasser, tries in vain to hold back tears. Her son Ali is among 15 other children who have been detained in the Khiam detention center for more than a year now".

"Ali still sends his sister strings of beads every month, along with a letter to his mother.

Mrs. Nasser’s husband, Mustafa Touba, was detained a week before his son. “The South Lebanon Army* soldiers banged on our door at 6 A.M. Ali opened the door and fetched his father,” Mrs. Nasser said. A week later, Ali was dragged out of the house. “It was cold and raining outside but they would not let him put a sweater on. They hit him, blindfolded him and took him away,” she said.

"The detention experience did not escape Mrs. Nasser. She spent two months in Khiam, four days after Ali was taken, also accused by the SLA of being affiliated with the resistance".

“We moved back to Arnoun four years ago because my husband couldn’t find any work in Beirut,” she said. “We had no other choice, we couldn’t afford rent and we have a house in Arnoun,” Mrs. Nasser added.

"She is now staying at her parents’ house in Yohmor, less than 1 kilometer from the occupation zone.

The International Committee for the Red Cross takes Mrs. Nasser and other families to visit their relatives in Khiam every three months. “Even then, they don’t allow me to hug Ali. A grill separates us and I have to stand one meter away from him,” Mrs. Nasser said.

"Visits are monitored by the SLA and detainees rarely speak of their experience inside, but speak of horrors once released. Reports issued by Amnesty International claim that detainees in "Israeli" prisons are subject to flogging, electrocution, beatings, and cold and hot water thrown at them simultaneously.

Mrs. Nasser saw her son last in October. “He’s lost weight and he cries every time he sees me. He’s very pale and keeps asking me if people are campaigning for his release. What can I say? I tell him yes,” she said.

"The National Association for Lebanese Detainees in "Israeli" Prisons is organizing a campaign Wednesday urging for the immediate release of children from Khiam detention center, one day before the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".

"Association member Jamal Mahroum said that the first step toward the campaign was the association’s participation in the International Book Fair Nov. 27. “We displayed pictures of detained children, information about their detention and letters of appeal to the United Nations,” Mr. Mahroum said.

"Thomas Ekval, representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund in Lebanon, said that "Israel" was a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and should abide by it".

"Article 37 of the convention, which deals with a child’s torture and deprivation of liberty stipulates that “no child shall be subjected to torture, cruel treatment or punishment, unlawful arrest or deprivation of liberty. Both capital punishment and life imprisonment without the possibility of release are prohibited for offenses committed by people under 18 years old. A child who is detained shall have legal and other assistance as well as contact with the family.”

"Khanjar Shoueib, 17, was detained in Khiam 15 months ago. His mother, who went to protest about her son’s detention with the SLA, was detained for 12 days. “I had to do something. When they were impolite to me, I screamed back at them,” Mrs. Shoueib said.

She saw her son for the first time after his detention in July. “I was scared to see him after 11 months. I had missed him so much and when I saw him I started crying,” she said. “His beard was growing and he acted like a grown up. I asked him if he was being tortured and he said: ‘Forget it but don’t forget to remind people that we exist’.”