The Palestinian Association for Human
Rights (Witness) follows with great concern the method of raids carried out by units of
the Lebanese Army to arrest wanted persons in Nahr Al-Bared camp on Tuesday
dawn, 10/25/2022, which ended up arresting nine of them with various charges.
The Palestinian Association for Human
Rights (Witness) stresses the necessity of arresting wanted individuals and bringing
them to trial in accordance to the applicable law. At the same time, however,
it considers that the raids were against international standards pertaining
this regard.
According to frequent testimonies, a large
number of the Lebanese Army, supported by armored vehicles, helicopters and
naval boats, stormed a number of residential neighborhoods in Nahr Al-Bared camp,
causing panic and fear among children, women and the elderly while they were
asleep. This was accompanied by breaking doors and destroying house contents
while invading them in a community considered to be a conservative one.
Witness’s concern is because the Lebanese
Army has considered Nahr al-Bared camp a military zone since 2007 although it
is demilitarized and its military units can easily reach any house. There are
also coordination and cooperation mechanisms between the Army Command in the
North and the Popular Committee in the camp to report wanted people to security
services or judiciary, follow up the needs of the residents in general, and
complete the reconstruction of the old camp.
(Witness) wonders about the reason behind
this act or if it stems from a military necessity, and whether the rights of
the civilians have been respected.
The raiding of Nahr Al-Bared by Lebanese Army on the
25th of October exceeded the main goal which is arresting the wanted
people for several issues and rather resulted in a great fear and panic among
the camp’s demilitarized residents. This led to a state of outrage that was
manifested by declaring a general strike and closing schools that include seven
thousand children and health centers of UNRWA, Palestinian Red Crescent, and
others.
The Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness)
emphasizes that taking wanted people into custody serves the benefit of the
camp before it being a target for military and other security forces. Thus,
Army Command is called to humanize the measures taken at the entrance and
around the camp and fairly achieve their main goal of arresting while taking
into consideration the residents’ dignity.
Beirut on 25 October 2022
Palestinian Association for Human Rights
(witness)