Nader is right - cut off all funds to Israel as for what do we pay?
Guns and Israelie Torture Camps for children? Looks like some war
criminals will eventually be tried on this one at long last.
Saba
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The BBC's Edward Stourton
"They tortured men, young boys and women"
real 56k
Friday, 3 November, 2000, 18:04 GMT
Israel accused
Israel Accused is a BBC Correspondent programme, and will be shown at
1850 GMT on Saturday 4th November on BBC Two.
Khiam prison was a detention and interrogation centre during the years
of the Israeli occupation in Southern Lebanon. From 1985 until the
Israeli withdrawal this May, thousands of Lebanese were held in Khiam
without trial. Most of them were brutally tortured - some of them died.
Israel has always sought to escape responsibility for what was done in
Khiam; Israel Accused asks where the blame for what Amnesty
International calls war crimes really lies.
To help secure its hold on Southern Lebanon, Israel armed and financed a
local Lebanese militia, the South Lebanon Army or SLA. In theory the SLA
was there to protect the interests of the Lebanese community - in
practice it did Israel's work by proxy. The SLA provided Khiam's guards
and interrogators.
Children tortured
Ali two weeks before he was taken to Khiam
Ali Kashmar was fourteen when arrested and detained in 1988. Although he
had voiced anti-Israeli opinions in school (his own father was killed
fighting the Israeli invasion ten years earlier) there is no evidence to
suggest that he was guilty of any crime.
Ali was tortured for eleven days and says he started making up stories
to please his interrogators. Ali Kashmar was kept in Khiam for ten
years. He grew up from a boy to a man within the prison walls - without
even a mirror to use as his appearance changed, and spent time in
solitary confinement.
Ali Kashmar grew up from a boy to a man within the prison walls
Edward Stourton
Ali was eventually released after a decade as part of a hostage exchange
- fifty five Khiam prisoners and the bodies of 44 Lebanese were traded
for the remains of three Israeli soliders in 1998. Terribly damaged by
his years in Khiam, he is still fighting severe psychological
difficulties - and there is nowhere in Lebanon that provides treatment
for this kind of trauma.
Ryadh Kalakesh was 17 when he was detained in Khiam. He comes from a
family that was deeply involved with the Islamic group Hezbollah - one
of his brothers was a suicide bomber - and he was picked up by Israeli
troops on a sweep through his village in 1986.
electric shocks were administered through wires attached to the finger
tips or the genitals...
Ryadh Kalakesh
Ryadh was tortured for eleven months, and gives a graphic account of
what it was like; the use of electric shocks administered through wires
attached to the finger tips or the genitals, the beatings, the dousings
with hot then cold water, and what was known as "the pole", where
prisoners - often after being striped naked - were handcuffed and
suspended for hours at a time.
Ryadh's brother Adel was detained in Khiam too; when Adel refused to
tell the interrogators what they wanted to hear they hauled in his wife
Mona and tortured her so that he could hear her screams. Mona suffered
electric shocks - through wires attached to her nipples - spent three
months in solitary confinement and lost her baby while she was in the
prison.
Khiam prison today
There is a compelling body of evidence about Israel's involvement in
Khiam. Former detainees all say that in the early days of Khiam's time
as a detention centre Israeli interrogators worked alongside their SLA
counterparts, and their evidence is corroborated by that of those guards
who worked in the prison.
In 1988 the Israel seems to have decided on a change of policy in Khiam,
and the Israeli presence in the gaol became less obvious. But in a court
case brought by Isreali human rights lawyers, the Defence Ministry has
admitted paying all the staff at the gaol, training the interrogators
and guards, and providing assistance with lie detector tests.
Israel denied war crimes in Khiam
Tanious Nafra, a gaurd in Khiam 1985-1987
In May, when Israel withdrew from Lebanon, many of Khiam's guards and
interrogators fled across the border among the six thousand members of
the SLA and their families who took refuge in Israel, living under
Israeli government protection at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer.
No one from the Israeli government was willing to agree to an interview.
When pressed to admit Israeli responsibility for the gaol, a man who
commanded Israeli forces during the late 1980s finally concedes,
"maybe".
Broadcast in the midst of one of the gravest Middle East crises of the
past decade, Israel Accused is a timely reminder that there is still
unfinished business from Israel's recent past.
This week, military prosecutor, Riad Talih demanded the death penalty
for 11 former SLA officials who worked at the Khiam camp, and who will
be tried in absentina.
Reporter: Edward Stourton
Producer: Giselle Portenier
Series Producer: Farah Durrani
Editor: Fiona Murch
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