Posted on 08/01/2003 8:29:13 AM PDT by dennisw
Minister held 3 weeks in Lebanese prison for crime of visiting Israel By israelinsider staff July 31, 2003
Bruce Balfour, 52, was arrested on July 10 at Beirut airport.
Lebanese authorities arrested a Canadian minister earlier this month on charges of collaborating with Israel, Lebanese Prosecutor General Adnan Addoum acknowledged Wednesday.
Addoum said Bruce Balfour, 52, was arrested on July 10 at Beirut airport on a military court order issued in absentia, which accused him of the crime of visiting Israel and "collaborating with the enemy."
Lebanese authorities received information that Balfour had traveled between Lebanon and Israel in a "suspicious" manner, and issued a warrant in April for his arrest.
Addoum said Balfour is now being held at the suburban Roumieh prison northeast of Beirut. Canadian newspapers have reported that Balfour is a native of western Canada who was in the Middle East directing an evangelical project, Cedars of Lebanon, to help replant the biblical cedar forests in northern Lebanon.
News of his arrest only become known after Balfour managed to get a message out his cell to the Canadian Ambassador in Lebanon. In the message he wrote, "After 11 days of hell in Lebanese prisons, I am finally allowed to make contact with you. I have tried more than 100 times to make contact but nothing worked."
He described the circumstances of his detention. "When I arrived at the Beirut Airport on Thursday, July 10th, at about 9:30 PM on British Airways flight 6703, I was arrested because a computer entry said that I have been in Israel at one time, which is true. But please tell me where the crime in this is. My freedom has been taken away and I have been treated horribly. This is against all international law and moral code of every civilized country in the world.
"I need to get out of here now. Every hour multiples the possibility of me being moved to another location and disappearing forever."
In a second message, Balfour said that he was in Roumieh Prison. "on the top floor with South Lebanese prisoners." He appealed for help from people around the world. "I desperately need your help," he said. "I pray that you will not forsake me!" He is reportedly fasting.
A friend, Fred van Vliet, said Balfour was not even aware his letters were getting through. "He hasn't had any contact with anyone, and he doesn't know if anyone knows where he is. His hand lettering deteriorates through the letter. It starts off pretty good, but at the end of the letter it's very scrawly," said Vliet.
The Canadian government has reportedly demanded that the Lebanese government explained why it was not informed earlier of his arrest.
Balfour's mission is explained on his website: "Since the original Cedar of Lebanon forest began to be cut-down and used for wealth-building more than 4,000 years ago by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Assyrians, etc., up to the British in the 20th century, few have planted new seedlings on he mountains of Lebanon," he said. "We are working toward planting forests of seedling back on the original slopes where they were first harvested by armies of people over the Millennia including Israelites; for King David's, the temple in Jerusalem, Solomon's house as, "The House of the Forest of Cedars of Lebanon," which took 13 years to build, and many other structures in the Bible lands.
Before his arrest, Balfour made no secret of his plans to go back to Lebanese soil. "I will be returning to Lebanon on July 9th from here in Southern California to film and produce a documentary on Lebanon, its Biblical importance of the Cedars of Lebanon and our project. This documentary should be available for showing by the end of August 2003."
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