SOLIDA's URGENT APPEAL (Arabic)
The SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained
Arbitrarily) Movement is gravely concerned about the condition of Mahmoud
Abou Rafeh, who has been held for almost 8 months in the Ministry of
Defense
Mahmoud Abou Rafeh, age 59, is accused of being a member of a network
operating in Lebanon on behalf of the Israeli Intelligence Services.
Arrested June 7, 2006 by the Intelligence Services of the Lebanese Army
under suspicious circumstances resembling a kidnapping (men in civilian
clothes are alleged to have hit his car at 5:00 AM before taking him away,
leaving his vehicle on the crash site with the motor running), his
detention location was kept secret for several days.
If this information is true, his arrest and interrogations without a
lawyer present have taken place in conditions contrary to Lebanese law and
the international commitments of Lebanon.
In addition, since his arrest, he has been held in the detention center of
the Ministry of Defense, an official prison to whose basement cells
neither the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) nor
humanitarian organizations have had access. This is contrary to Lebanese
Government Decree 8800 of 2002, which gives the ICRC access to all
Lebanese prisons. According to data collected by SOLIDA (data which have
been cited in our report published October 5, 2006 [1]) several
individuals have been subjected to torture and to conditions of detention
deemed cruel, inhumane or degrading.
For these reasons, we are very concerned about the physical and
psychological integrity of Mr. Abou Rafeh, and about the subsequent legal
proceedings in his case.
With no information filtering through about his situation, we ask the
following questions: What are the current detention conditions of Mahmoud
Abou Rafeh? Why, almost 8 months after his arrest, has he still not
received the assistance of a lawyer? For what reasons has he not be
transferred to a civil prison, which would guarantee his rights and reduce
his risk of being victim of an unfair trial?
Finally, in the interest of justice, we ask that he be tried within a
reasonable period of time, which will guarantee the families of his
presumed victims the right to the truth.
Paris, January 19, 2007
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