Summary

An unknown number of Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians are imprisoned in Syria: some of them "disappeared"[1] 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 West Beirut, including Lebanon's most famous newspaper al-Nahar, as well as L'Orient Le Jour, al-Safir, and al-Muharrir. Only three pro-Syrian newspapers remained....Syrian forces also arrested several journalists, including al-Safir editors Muhammad Mashmushi and Tawfiq Sardawi, both critics of Syrian intervention.  They were subsequently imprisoned in Damascus.  After a major protest campaign, the Syrians withdrew from the occupied publications, and two months later they released Mashmushi and Sardawi. But al-Safir and other newspapers got the message; only rarely since then have they printed items that would seriously displease the Syrian regime.[2]

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 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 Syrian-Lebanese 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 intelligence forces are controlling this country. We are moving toward a police state. Here in Lebanon, there are masters and servants. Lebanese government officials are the servants of Syria.

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 information about the official legal mechanisms by which victims can exercise their enforceable right to compensation, as provided in Article 9(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Syria is a state party.

·To ensure that individuals in the future are not subjected to arbitrary arrest or "disappearance," Syrian authorities should undertake the following measures:

1. Communicate to all Syrian military, intelligence and security forces that "disappearances" will no longer be tolerated, and that commanders who order or condone such actions will be held responsible for these criminal offenses to the fullest extent of the law.
2. Require that at the time of arrest or detention, the arresting authorities identify themselves, and that all individuals take into custody be held only in publicly recognized detention facilities, where accurate registers of detainees and prisoners are maintained and available for public inspection.  Such procedures should be instituted at each of the now-secret Syrian detention facilities in Lebanon - alternatively, these centers should be closed.
3. Inform individuals taken into custody of the reasons for arrest, and enable them to challenge the legality of their detention before a judicial authority.
4. Permit individuals taken into custody to inform without delay their relatives and lawyers of their arrest and place of detention.
5. Establish effective procedures for prompt response to inquiries from families, lawyers and nongovernmental organizations about the whereabouts of individuals who have been detained.

To the Government of Lebanon

Initiatives by the Lebanese government are also required in order to hold Syrian security forces in Lebanon accountable for their actions. The following affirmative steps may help break the barrier of fear that has prevented families from coming forward when "disappearances" occur, and has likewise discouraged lawyers from providing legal representation and independent nongovernmental organizations from undertaking advocacy on behalf of the victims:

·Take firm and fully transparent measures to ensure that abuses at the hands of Syrian security forces in Lebanon come to an end.

·Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and President Elias Hrawi should publicly declare that Syrian forces will not be permitted to operate with impunity on Lebanese soil, and should set forth the legal regime by which such forces are disciplined and held accountable for criminal offenses committed in Lebanon. Similarly, Lebanese government officials should convey to commanders of Lebanese military, intelligence and other security forces that their personnel must not participate in "disappearances" in any manner.  The government should further make clear that commanders who order or condone "disappearances" will be held criminally responsible for these actions and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

·To ensure that Lebanese military and security authorities in no manner participate in or facilitate "disappearances," the government should require that at the time of arrest or detention on Lebanese soil the arresting authorities identify themselves, and that all individuals taken into custody in Lebanon be held in publicly recognized places of detention, where accurate registers of detainees and prisoners are maintained and available for public inspection.

·As a matter of priority, the Lebanese judiciary and police should be instructed to formulate, implement, and widely publicize procedures for taking written complaints from citizens and lawyers about cases of suspected abduction and "disappearance."  As part of these procedures, copies of the complaints should be forwarded promptly to the offices of the prime minister and the president, the justice minister, the head of the parliamentary human rights committee, and the president of the bar association.

·Immediate steps should be taken to establish an independent legal office with full authority to investigate all cases of "disappearances" in a prompt and transparent manner. This office should be empowered not only to determine the whereabouts of the "disappeared," but also to secure prompt access to these individuals for lawyers and family members. The creation of this office should be widely publicized in Lebanon, and its services should be made available to all residents of the country, including stateless Palestinians who are permanent residents.

·Provide medical care and psychological counseling, when required, to "disappeared" individuals who reappear.

 

To the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

·The Working Group should investigate cases of enforced disappearance in Lebanon, and make demarches to Lebanese and Syrian authorities in order to determine the fate and whereabouts of  the "disappeared."

·Given the extraterritorial dimension of the practice of enforced disappearances in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch recommends that the Working Group analyze the issue in light of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and publicize its conclusions in relation to the implementation of the Declaration when there is such a dimension.

To the European Union and Member States

·Publicly acknowledge at a high level and condemn actions by Lebanese and Syrian authorities that result in the "disappearances" of Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians.

·Raise with the Lebanese and Syrian governments at the highest levels, and as an urgent matter, the cases of Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians who have "disappeared" at the hands of state agents, and impress upon both governments the need to respond positively to the recommendations in this report.

·Instruct embassy staff in Damascus to raise and pursue specific cases of "disappearances" with Syrian authorities and to seek access to detainees whose names are known.

·In the context of negotiations over the Euro‑Mediterranean Association Agreement with Lebanon, urge the government of Lebanon to implement the recommendations of this report, and publicly support such initiatives by the government of Lebanon.

·Use all possible means, including linkage of aid and financial assistance to Syria, to obtain a full accounting by the Syrian government concerning persons detained and "disappeared" by agents of the Syrian state, and on a public commitment by the government of Syria to cease such practices immediately.

·The European Union and member states need to demonstrate that they take seriously their previous commitments regarding human rights abuses by the government of Syria. The Council of Ministers should forward to the European Parliament, without any further delay, the report on human rights conditions in Syria that it received in November 1995 from the European Commission, a report that the Council had committed itself to prepare as part of the December 1993 decision to extend Fourth Protocol assistance to Syria. The Council should further instruct the Commission to prepare an update to this report, to be submitted to the Parliament before the Parliament's August recess. These reports should be made public.

To the Clinton Administration

·Publicly acknowledge at a high level and condemn actions by Lebanese and Syrian authorities that result in the "disappearances" of Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians.

·Raise with the Lebanese and Syrian governments at the highest levels, and as an urgent matter, the cases of Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians who have "disappeared" at the hands of state agents, and impress upon both governments the need to respond positively to the recommendations in this report.

·Instruct embassy staff in Damascus to raise and pursue specific cases of "disappearances" with Syrian authorities and to seek access to detainees whose names are known.

·In the context of the multilateral "Friends of Lebanon" initiative, launched in 1996 to promote assistance to and investment in Lebanon, urge the government of Lebanon to implement the recommendations in this report, and publicly support such initiatives.