Lebanon mass grave reopens file of those missing

Arabic News ^ | 12/10/05

[Valin]

The discovery of two mass graves by the end of last week in the Lebanese town of Anjar a close distance from the previous general headquarters of the Syrian intelligence contributed to the reopening of the file of detainees and those who went missing during the Lebanese civil war which lasted between 1975- 1990.

The committee of the families of the missing and kidnapped in Lebanon called on the Lebanese authorities to open all mass graves which have recognized sites. The spokeswoman for the committee Widad Helwani said that the committee directed the Lebanese authorities in 2000 several to mass graves and asked for unearthing them, but the government refused to respond, as she alleged.

Helwani called on the Lebanese government to invite the heads of former militias to provide what information they have on the sites of these graves, noting that the Druz leader Walid Junblat is the only one among the political leaders who received her and expressed readiness to unmask hidden facts regarding these graves.

The committee says that the Lebanese authorities have maps for 25 mass graves sites.

For his part, the rapporteur of the parliamentary committee for human rights Ghassan Mukheiber said that the committee will convene a meeting next Tuesday to which it will invite representatives of human rights commission and the International Committee for the Red Cross in order to discuss this matter, stressing the need that "each and every criminal to get due punishment, and cooperation to be maintained among all political sects and groups in order to reach actual reconciliation, rather than false reconciliation."

The Lebanese minister of justice announced on Thursday sending samples from the remains of bodies found in the two mass grave in Anjar to have their DNA tested in order to define the date of death, noting that the results will be known within 10 days.

In addition to the two cemeteries in Anjar, remains of Lebanese soldiers were also found in another mass grave in the surrounding of the Lebanese ministry of defense, in one of the Lebanese capital suburbs.

Worthy mentioning that Amnesty International stressed recently that during the civil war in Lebanon, collective violations of human rights were made. the organization indicated that acts of killing and kidnapping occurred carried out by various Lebanese, Palestinian, and the Syrian and Israeli military forces, acts that went unpunished.