Supporters of Lebanese detainees submit list to Ban

Source: Daily Star, 31-3-2007
BEIRUT: An advocacy group for Lebanese prisoners being held in "Israel" submitted on Friday a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was visiting Lebanon, that listed names of detainees and Lebanese who went missing during the 1978-2000 "Israeli" occupation of South Lebanon. The list included names of hostages allegedly taken by "Israeli" forces during last summer`s war.
"During `Israel`s` 34-day-long barbarian offensive against Lebanon [in 2006], it committed many violations and kidnapped innocent civilians," said the letter from the Follow-up Committee for the Support of the Lebanese Detainees in "Israeli" Prisons.
According to the letter, "Israeli" forces detained more than 25 Lebanese during and after the assault on Lebanon. Some of the detainees were released while others are still being held in "Israeli" prisons, the letter said.
"Four days after the cease-fire [on August 14], the `Israeli` forces detained Abdullah Malak from his home in Beit Leif, a border village in Bint Jbeil," the letter said.
"On September 8, `Israeli` troops detained six civilians from Aita Shaab, while inspecting a center for special needs on the outskirts of the village," it said. "They were driven into the occupied territories, handcuffed and blindfolded before being released on September 10."
The committee said that on September 18, 2006, an "Israeli" court convicted five of those captured during last summer`s war of murder and affiliation with a terrorist organization. A civil trial against the detainees is scheduled to be conducted in Nassora in the Occupied Territories.
"Kidnapping civilians in the Lebanese territory and taking them into Palestine is a serious violation of the Geneva Convention," the committee said.
The committee said that "Israel`s" holding the war prisoners "breaches the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, since the suspension of military operations should have occurred simultaneously with an immediate release of all the hostages."
The committee urged the international community to exert pressure on "Israel" to "stop the detention of civilians and release all those kept in its prisons."
The committee said "Israel" was still holding Samir Kuntar, who was detained in 1979 and sentenced to 542 years in prison.
"`Israel` refused to release him during the last prisoner swap on January 29, 2004," the letter said. "Nassim Nisr has been detained since June 4, 2002, and he received a six-year prison sentence," the letter added. The committee said that 25 people were still missing, while the remains of dozens of Lebanese had been interred by "Israel" in "secret" graves.