Nowlebanon - CLDH What to do about torture - June 30,2010

Beating different parts of the body, crushing toes, pulling out hair or nails, and exposing inmates to the screams of other detainees being tortured. These are just a few of the practices to which inmates can be subject in Lebanon’s main interrogation centers, which include Tripoli’s al-Qubba detention center, Zahle’s Palais de Justice, Beirut’s Hobeish police station, Roumieh Prison and the Military Intelligence Unit of the Defense Ministry.
According to Marie Daunay, president of the Centre Libanais des Droits Humains (CLDH), although Lebanon ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) in October of 2000, few if any of its stipulations are actually implemented. What happens behind closed doors has left victims of torture both physically and emotionally scarred, and human rights advocates are eager to voice their anger.
As such, last Friday, a day before the International Day to support Victims of Torture on June 26, several NGOs led by the CLDH marched down the streets of Nejmeh Square toward parliament. Despite a small turnout, the group consisted of mostly 15 to 20 NGO representatives who joined hands to form a “human chain in support of the victims of torture,” participants loudly decried the theoretically illegal practice. Theoretically, only because despite being technically bound by Article 7 of the CAT, Lebanon has its own penal code, which does not criminalize torture explicitly. “Crimes are rather evaluated according to the consequences on the individual, and the penal code includes just about everything but the term ‘torture’,” said Daunay.
Lebanese officials are convinced of the efficacy of torture, which at the moment is still very much engrained in the system, noted Daunay. “It seems almost cultural,” she said, “as if Arab states feel their pride is compromised if they fail to find a culprit, so they condemn people unjustly.” Unsurprisingly, many detainees are forced to confess to crimes they have not committed. According to a 2003 Amnesty International report, Dr. Muhammed Khaled, who endured days of torture as a detainee at the Ministry of Defense back in 2000, claimed interrogators also threatened to rape his wife if he did not sign certain papers.

Daunay recalled when CLDH, at the time known as SOLIDA, first released its report on the practice of torture in 2006. The day before, their offices were raided. “We were being followed by cars; there were even some intrusions into employees’ homes.” Yet, ironically, when compared to the rest of the region, Daunay said Lebanon is slightly better off, specifically because NGOs have more freedom to express themselves.
Despite room to vent, most demonstrations, like last Friday’s, are small, which offsets their impact. “It is not easy to mobilize civil society here,” said Sofia Palandri from the Italian human rights organization COSV during the rally on Friday. “Participants are usually foreigners, many from NGOs, because Lebanese society is very individualistic and caught up in protecting its own sect.” About half of the protesters at the march were international.
Despite challenges, Wadih al-Asmar, secretary general of the CLDH, says there have been efforts to make a change. He pointed to a global decrease in the practice of torture in police headquarters and commended the efforts of certain Lebanese cabinet members, namely Interior Minister Ziad Baroud and Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, insisting their attempts have come within their personal capacity. The problem lies in the system, he said, and changing the system requires a new law in parliament.
Saadedine Shatila, from the Swiss-based human rights organization Al-Karama also acknowledges timid although present efforts by the state. He noted that Lebanon signed the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which stipulates that the government must conduct regular visits to detention centers in an effort to stop the practice. An official proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Justice on September 30. However, governmental action since then has come to a halt. Human Rights Watch reported back in December that the country missed the deadline to set up a national institution to prevent torture. The watchdog added that Lebanon is more than eight years behind on submitting a relevant report to the UN, as required by the CAT.
If Lebanon has failed in prevention, it has certainly not offered any type of initiative to compensate for damages and false condemnations. “We only receive support from embassies, international NGOs, the UN Fund for Victims of Torture and maybe a few hospitals,” said Manal Najem from the Centre Nassim, which intervenes to help torture victims, providing them with medical, psychological and legal assistance. “We help both direct and indirect victims,” said Najem, who is one of the social workers. “In fact, the wives of men who are detained and tortured are those who suffer the most, as they are left with the burden of providing both affection and financial support to their children.” According to Najem, the women benefit tremendously from routine soubhiyehs (morning gatherings over coffee) at the center, where they find mutual comfort and can express worries freely.
Besides private donors, the European Union has been essential in helping NGOs in their research. The EU, along with the Netherlands Embassy and Pax Christi International, gave the Association Libanaise pour l’Éducation et la Formation (ALEF), which monitors human rights in Lebanon, almost 200,000 Euros to implement a prevention and monitoring project. The resulting report found that some detainees did not even survive the ill treatment they received in certain prisons. Another finding was that Lebanon extradites many of its refugees to countries where they are at risk of being tortured. The EU’s Centre Restart, which is similar in its operations to Centre Nassim, provides relief for 250 victims of torture.

Ultimately, it seems that like in most areas of national concern, despite efforts to change the system, tangible governmental action is lagging. While human rights organizations reiterated their call in a joint public statement issued last Saturday, they can only hope the cabinet will someday take concrete measures, beginning with an official condemnation of torture in the country’s penal code.

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