Syria in Lebanon: Arbitrary Detentions and Enforced Disappearances

In May 1991 Lebanon and Syria signed the Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination, and four months later, the Defense and Security Agreement, thus in effect setting the stage for what many took to calling the Pax Syriana in the ensuing years. This stage was marked by increasing repression of institutions and people who opposed the status quo, until 2005 when the Syrian Army withdrew. Moreover, the amnesty law was shaped in such a manner that prosecutions were still possible and were indeed practiced against those who were deemed threats to the newly established order.
Indeed, those responsible for assassinations of diplomats as well as political and religious leaders were exempted from this law.
It was in this atmosphere that arbitrary arrests, assassinations, and torture, as well as transfers to detentions centers inside Syria were carried out, primarily by Lebanese security agencies and Syrian intelligence services.

In 1990, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that, “Over 2,000 were in Syrian detention facilities in Lebanon [. . .] Hundreds of other prisoners, including some abducted from Lebanon, were jailed in al-Mezze Military Prison, al-‘Adra Prison, Saydnaya Prison, Kafr Sussa Detention Center, the Military Interrogation Branch’s prison and other facilities in Syria.

In 1992, some 1,500 Palestinians and Lebanese were believed to be still in detention in Lebanon or transferred to Syrian prisons. They were detained without trial or access to the ICRC or any other independent organization. Between 250 (documented by HRW) and up to 1,250 (reported by Syrian human rights committees) Lebanese citizens suspected of having pro-Iraqi Baathist loyalties were being detained in Syrian prisons.

In 1996, Syrian security forces detained an unspecified number of Lebanese citizens and Palestinian refugees, who then disappeared. Some of these abductions began with short-term detentions at the Beau Rivage Hotel, headquarters of the Syrian intelligence headquarters in Beirut, and were followed by transfer to Syria and detention without charge.

In 1997, at least four confirmed cases of enforced disappearances were reported. The victims, Lebanese and Palestinians, reportedly were transferred to Syrian prisons.

The Lebanese NGO SOLIDE (Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile) reports that it has received files from families for at least 640 individuals who are believed to be in
Syria.

Former detainees who had been detained in Syrian prisons or detention centers in Lebanon reported that they were tortured during their detention. Methods included extended stays in solitary confinement (one prisoner recounted spending five years in solitary confinement), severe beatings, electric shocks, deprivation of food and water, degrading treatment, and harassment.