Detained Palestinians complain of Lebanon army abuse

BEIRUT, July 5 (Reuters) Dozens of Palestinians detained while leaving a besieged refugee camp in Lebanon have complained of abuse by the Lebanese army, ranging from beatings to some cases of sexual abuse, human and civil rights activists say.

Nahr al-Bared camp has seen fierce battles since May 20 between the army and al Qaeda-inspired militants, forcing most of its 40,000 refugees to flee, most to nearby Beddawi camp.

Many of those who initially stayed behind in the hope the fighting would end quickly later also fled only to be detained and interrogated by the army for information on Fatah al-Islam.

Most of those detained were young men. Some were held for several days and described abuse and ill-treatment.

''Many Palestinian refugees in the camp stopped fleeing because they heard Palestinians were being detained and abused,'' said Mahmoud al-Hanafy, head of the Palestinian Organisation for Human Rights, or ''Shahed'' which has documented 60 cases.

The Lebanese army has flatly denied any allegations of abuse and says it only checks the identification cards of people leaving the camp to ensure they are not militants in disguise.

''It is not true that the detained, Palestinians or not, were ill-treated. The Lebanese army is an institution affiliated with the state and it submits to laws and rules and regulations of the state,'' a military source said.

Civil activists say hundreds of people have been detained and they have documented dozens of cases of abuse.

''At the checkpoint, the army thought I was from Fatah al-Islam.

They tied my hands and legs and later blindfolded me. They said they didn't believe us when we told them why we hadn't left the camp sooner,'' Abu Mohammed told Reuters.

BLINDFOLDED, BEATEN Abu Mohammed, a 38-year-old Palestinian who has sought refuge with his extended family in a storage room just outside Beddawi camp, said he was detained by the army for eight days.

He said he was blindfolded much of the time, beaten severely with batons, threatened with electrocution and subjected to verbal abuse and sleep deprivation.

''I had to stand for 36 hours. Every time I slumped, they would beat me. At one point I felt them slip my hands into something behind my back and they started raising me, soon after I lost consciousness and they splashed me with water,'' he said.

The testimony of Abu Mohammed, who has refused to provide his full name for fear of retribution, is one of the more extreme cases.

He does not know where he was held.

''From the testimonies that have been gathering, the abuse is physical and psychological and it is severe. The evidence points to a pattern emerging,'' said Caoimhe Butterly, a human rights activist who has been living in Beddawi for over a month.

''Almost all detainees describe a bare minimum of being verbally taunted and severely beaten, to more serious allegations of death threats, threats of being electrocuted, people having their toes cut off, and being told to choose their preferred way to die.'' Between human rights groups, NGOs, concerned individuals and journalists, the testimonies include two cases of electrocution and two of sexual abuse, Butterly said.

One Palestinian 17-year-old boy said he was taken away by the Lebanese army who beat him severely to the extent a part of his ear was torn and had to be sewn back together.

When he was taken to hospital by men he believes were army intelligence, the boy was told not to say what had happened.

''When the doctor asked what happened to me, they said that they were helping me because I had fallen. So I said, 'I guess I did fall,'' the boy told Reuters.

A male nurse who was detained said the army accused him of treating the militants and selling them medicine. ''They beat me severely with truncheons and whips,'' said the nurse, whose forearms were blotched with severe purple bruises.

Human Rights Watch, which has also been in touch with civil activists and has documented some of its own cases, said it was very concerned about the cases of ''more violent ill-treatment''.

''We've raised this issue with the army directly and they're denying that it's happening, we've asked them to investigate some of these cases,'' said Nadim Khoury, Human Rights Watch researcher responsible for Lebanon.

Khoury also said that most Lebanese media had avoided covering the story because ''it was bad for morale of the army''.

REUTERS AGL PM1717