LEBANON: TIME IS RIGHT FOR ACTION ON DETAINEES IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIRUT 001173

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA
ALSO FOR IO ACTING A/S HOOK AND PDAS WARLICK
USUN FOR KHALILZAD/WOLFF/SCHEDLBAUER
NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/YERGER/MCDERMOTT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR AI UNSC SY LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: TIME IS RIGHT FOR ACTION ON DETAINEES IN
SYRIA

REF: A. BEIRUT 1168

B. BEIRUT 1139

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. William Grant for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Following Israel's July 16 release of Lebanese
prisoners including Samir Kantar, the issue of Lebanese
detainees (also referred to as "enforced disappearances") in
Syria has risen to the forefront in Lebanon. President
Sleiman told visiting MNF-I Commander General David Petraeus
on August 6 that it is one of his three priorities for his
August 13 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Asad, though
he doubted there were many detainees still alive (Ref A).
Ghazi Aad, head of the NGO known as "Support of Lebanese in
Detention and Exile," believes that the time is right to
resolve the issue of the 600 or more Lebanese citizens
detained by the Syrians since the 1975-1990 civil war days,
as a precursor to normalizing relations with Syria. In a
July 21 visit to Beirut, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid
Moallem was confronted by a sit-in organized by the
detainees' families. Moallem further angered the families by
his clumsy declaration to the media, "He who waited for more
than thirty years can wait a few weeks."


2. (C) According to Aad, Hizballah and Free Patriotic
Movement leader Michel Aoun have been the most supportive
Lebanese political figures in responding to his pleas for a
resolution, with Aoun recently calling for a minister of
state to take on the issue, but they have been unable to
influence Syrian thinking to date. Aad noted that several
Lebanese political figures are reticent to express support
because they, too, are culpable for disappearances taking
place during the civil war.


3. (C) Independent MP and Aoun ally Ghassan Moukheiber
succeeded in his efforts to include the detainee issue in the
cabinet statement approved by the cabinet on August 4.
Calling past attempts to resolve the issue failures, a
lobbying group of detainees' family members is requesting an
international inquiry commission, a DNA database, and a truth
and reconciliation commission to resolve internal resistance
to addressing the issue. Aad and Moukheiber suggested the
U.S. elevate the issue by urging France, Qatar, and key
political figures to raise the issue with Syria. The U.S.
could also push for an international commission, as well as
provide technical assistance and funding, they said. End
summary.

OVER 600 BELIEVED
TO BE DETAINED
--------------


4. (C) Following the July 16 release by Israel of Lebanese
prisoners including Samir Kantar, the issue of Lebanese
detainees in Syria has risen to the forefront in Lebanon. In
an August 1 meeting with PolOff, Ghazi Aad, head of the NGO
"Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile" (Solide),
estimated that there are over 600 Lebanese detained in Syria.
There could be more than 600, Aad suggested, because some
cases have gone unreported due to fear, immigration, and
deaths of family members. Aad made a distinction between
Lebanese who committed criminal acts and are imprisoned in
Syria and "enforced disappearances," people who were
allegedly arrested by the Syrians and held without formal
charges or on trumped up charges. He is afraid that Syria
will release the real criminals and not the others and
declare the file closed.

RELIGION ASIDE, DETAINEES
HELD PRIMARILY FOR
POLITICAL REASONS
--------------


5. (C) Aad explained that Syria passed an emergency law in
1963 which declared that anyone can be subjected to
detention, and in 1976 started applying this law to persons
in Lebanon. Aad alleged that Syria used this law

BEIRUT 00001173 002 OF 004


politically, arresting Sunni Lebanese militia men allied with
the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1976,
Christian militia in 1978, and so forth -- ultimately
detaining people of all confessions.


6. (C) According to Aad, many of these detainees were picked
up by the Syrians operating in Lebanon, transported to Syria,
and held in interrogation centers. Several family members of
those missing reported that they used to visit the detainees
in Syrian prisons but at some point the detainees were moved
or the family members were prevented from visiting, and they
subsequently lost track of their whereabouts. Further, the
family members claim that in some instances the Syrian
authorities revoked their access permits, and therefore they
lack proof that they had ever made these trips to Syria.

SYRIAN, LEBANESE
GOVERNMENTS DENY
THERE IS A PROBLEM
--------------


7. (C) In the past, the Syrian government has refused to
acknowledge the existence of Lebanese detainees. In 1990,
the Lebanese government publicly denied that there were
Lebanese citizens detained in Syria, and maintained this
position until 2005, despite intense lobbying efforts by
family groups.


8. (C) Despite its denials, Aad noted that Syria has publicly
released Lebanese detainees on four occasions between 1976
and 2005, all for political reasons. For example, 54
Lebanese were released in 2000 as a show of support for
then-President Emile Lahoud. Additionally, there have been
secret releases, as recently as March 2008 when Milad Barakat
was returned to Lebanon after 16 years of detention, the last
seven of which his family had no information regarding his
status.

UNSUCCESSFUL COMMITTEES
--------------


9. (C) Former PM Salim Hoss formed a ministerial committee in
1998 to investigate the situation and concluded that those
missing should be considered dead. The families rejected
this decision, and in 2005 another committee headed by MP
Fouad Saad was formed. After composing a list of 91 missing
citizens, Saad traveled to Syria to present the list to the
late Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan and Lebanon's former
Syrian intelligence head Rustom Ghazaleh, and reported
afterwards they had promised to reply but he had never
received an answer.


10. (C) A joint Lebanese-Syrian commission was established in
2005 under PM Najib Mikati, which Aad assessed has been
unsuccessful. Aad explained that the Lebanese members have
submitted names of missing individuals to their counterparts,
only to receive denials that these people are in Syria, or
falsified documents on their status.

FAMILIES LOBBY FOR RESULTS
--------------


11. (C) Prior to the Syrian withdrawal in 2005, some of the
detainees' families began a sit-in, which continues today, in
front of the UN ESCWA building in downtown Beirut. On July
21, coinciding with Syrian FM Walid Moallem's visit to
Beirut, the families demonstrated at the Presidential Palace.
They submitted a memo to President Sleiman calling for a
resolution to the detainee issue. Aad subsequently met with
President Sleiman, who informed him that he will refer this
case to the government.


12. (C) In response to the July 21 protests, Moallem
acknowledged the problem when he stated to the press, "He who
waited for more than thirty years can wait a few weeks." Aad
relayed that Moallem also said, "I should have brought Syrian
families with me to protest." (Note: In what Aad dubbed a
"tit for tat," Syria alleged in 2005 that there are 800
Syrians missing in Lebanon. End note.)

GAINING POLITICAL SUPPORT

BEIRUT 00001173 003 OF 004


--------------


13. (C) On the same day, July 21, Free Patriotic Movement
leader Michel Aoun publicly called for a minister of state to
take on the detainee issue, which Aad said was in response to
his prodding. Aoun also has called for the establishment of
a DNA database, another Solide demand, to identify the
remains of the missing Lebanese.


14. (C) Aad relayed that he also had approached Hizballah
Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who reportedly agreed to
raise the issue in Syria. Nasrallah responded to Aad that
his Syrian interlocutors told him to hold off on this issue
until diplomatic relations are being discussed. Aad
concluded that the time is now right to address the detainee
issue, but fears that Syria will dictate the terms in an
unfair manner.


15. (C) Efforts to address the detainee issue in the
ministerial statement to parliament (Ref B) proved
successful, as the cabinet committed to resolve the issue "as
soon as possible." The statement called for the disclosure
of the fate of all of the missing detainees, and committed to
working towards their release or the return of their bodies
as part of normalizing relations with Syria, whether through
the existing joint committee or through "various political
and judicial means."


16. (C) Efforts by independent and Aoun ally MP Ghassan
Moukheiber, who sits on the Parliamentary Committee on Human
Rights, were instrumental in including the detainee issue in
the statement. Moukheiber affirmed that Hizballah officially
supported a resolution of the issue, though its hands were
tied in terms of effecting change. He clarified that
relations with Syria should not be contingent on resolution
of the detainee issue, but that it was a fundamental part of
normal relations.


17. (C) Aad mentioned that he had urged the French to raise
this issue with Syria, adding that the diplomats had agreed,
but had refrained from making it a requirement for
establishing diplomatic relations. (Note: PolOff will check
with French diplomatic contacts in Beirut. End note.)


18. (C) Aad cautioned that not all political figures are
willing to address the issue because they too are culpable
for crimes committed and disappeared persons during the
1975-1990 civil war, citing Lebanese Forces leader Samir
Geagea, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, and Speaker Nabih
Berri's Amal Movement in particular. He said that while they
may publicly endorse resolving this issue, they will not take
decisive action to achieve results out of embarrassment and
for fear of facing reprisal.

HOW THE USG CAN HELP
--------------


19. (C) Noting that he had attempted to tack on the detainee
issue to UNIIIC, the UN committee charged with investigating
former PM Rafiq Hariri's assassination, Aad pressed for
first, the establishment of an international inquiry
commission to investigate the detainee issue. He said he
believes the joint Lebanese-Syrian commission has been
"worthless" during its three years of existence. Second, he
is calling for the establishment of a DNA database to
identify the remains of the missing individuals. Third, Aad
stressed the importance of forming a truth and reconciliation
commission, primarily to resolve the internal resistance to
addressing the issue.


20. (C) Aad suggested the U.S. provide funding and technical
assistance to form a DNA database. He expressed his hope
that the U.S. could push to expand UNIIIC's mandate to
include the detainee issue, or alternatively, to press for
the establishment of a new international commission.
Recognizing that U.S.-Syrian relations are sensitive, Aad
wondered if the U.S. could encourage the French and the
Qataris to prod Syria into addressing the issue.


21. (C) Aad also suggested that the U.S. influence Lebanese
political figures to open up to a solution. He also proposed

BEIRUT 00001173 004 OF 004


a Congressional resolution passed by Congress which would
raise the profile of the issue.


22. (C) Echoing all of Aad's suggestions, MP Moukheiber added
that the U.S. could provide visible support to American NGOs
and international organizations working on the issue,
including Amnesty International and the International Center
for Transitional Justice. He also inquired whether U.S.
intelligence could provide information on the missing
individuals.


23. (C) Moukheiber also said President Sleiman may play a
pivotal role in pressuring Syria to address the issue.
Sleiman told visiting General David Petraeus on August 6 that
the detainee issue was one of his three priorities for his
August 13 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Asad, though
he doubted there were many detainees still alive (Ref A).
Aad expressed his fear that Syria will intentionally
misinterpret "detainee," and agree to move Lebanese jailed in
Syria for genuine crimes to Lebanese prisons.

COMMENT
--------------


24. (C) Both Aad and Moukheiber, who have worked on this
issue since 1990, believe the time is right to push this
issue, in part because Hizballah has been working to close
its detainee file with Israel, but more importantly, because
Lebanon appears to be on the brink of establishing relations
with Syria. Neither one believes that relations should
depend upon a resolution of the issue, but that Lebanon
should capitalize on Syrian outreach to Lebanon to raise the
stakes of normal relations. End comment.
GRANT