Khiam detention center

Al Khiam detention camp. Southern Lebanon, 2004.
Remains of the detention center after the 2006 war, behind UN tents

The Khiam Detention Center, located near Khiam, Lebanon, was a French army barracks complex originally built in the 1930s. It became a base for the Lebanese army before falling under control of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), an Israeli-backed breakaway group of soldiers formed during the Lebanese civil war. In 1985 the base was converted into a prison camp and remained in use until Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, and the subsequent collapse of the SLA. After the withdrawal, the prison camp was preserved in the condition it was abandoned and converted into a museum by Hezbollah.

The Israeli Air Force destroyed the museum during the 2006 Lebanon War.

Amnesty International[1] and Human Rights Watch[2] reported the use of torture and other serious human rights abuses in the facility. Unlike Hezbollah's detainees, prisoners in the Khiam Detention Center were allowed visits from family members and International Committee of the Red Cross representatives[3]

Israel has denied any involvement in Khiam, allegedly claiming to have delegated operation of the detention camp to the South Lebanon Army (SLA) as early as 1988.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Letter from an Amnesty International delegation visiting the prison
  2. ↑ Human Rights Watch article on Khiam
  3. ↑ http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/nea/8270.htm

External links

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