Persona non grata

Othe Forcible Transfers 
87 
 
 
 
 
87 
investigation [the term used to describe the interrogation 
process] for one month and three days. 
 
Rasmiya testified that her interrogators, who were always men, applied 
electricity under her fingernails, on her fingers, and on her breasts.    She said that 
she was beaten with thin electric wires that were tied together with metal. “They 
would start while I was on my knees. Then I would fall, and they would kick me,” 
she stated.  During these sessions, Rasmiya said that she was blindfolded and 
handcuffed, and sometimes her ankles were bound.  Sometimes, she said, she 
was also doused with hot water, followed    immediately by cold water. She added 
that she was threatened with rape, the demolition of her family’s house, and being 
tortured in front of her parents. She told Human Rights Watch that during this 
interrogation period she was held intermittently in solitary confinement. She said 
that she was also brought to the bathroom, handcuffed, where she was forced to 
kneel for long periods, “sometimes from the morning until the night.” Her food 
was placed on the floor and she was forced to eat it by bending down while in a 
kneeling position. “The Israelis came on a daily basis,” Rasmiya said. “They 
supervised what was going on. Some of the girls [the Lebanese women prisoners] 
who had to clean the rooms after the torture saw the Israelis.” She said that an 
Israeli officer named Ibrahim attended the interrogation sessions, and it was her 
impression that the interrogators had been given free rein to do anything to obtain 
information. 
Rasmiya said that her interrogators wanted information about her older 
brother, who had been imprisoned six weeks earlier, the names of residents of 
Mhaibib who worked with the resistance, and the location of places where 
weapons were hidden. Rasmiya was held in Khiam until June  28, 1991. Soon 
after her release, she said that she was approached by Zuhair Shuqair, the 
militiaman responsible for security in Mhaibib and the surrounding villages, who 
asked her to serve as an informer:   
 
The first time he came to the house, he talked to me alone    in a 
room. He was indirect.  He said that my friends in Khiam 
missed me. I told him okay, I’ll go [back to the prison]. He 
asked if I was afraid and I said no. He wanted me to tell him 
who was coming or going in the village, or to convince one of 
my brothers to do so.    He came back again after a few days and 
asked about my decision. I said that I had [already] given him 
my opinion.    
 

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Persona Non Grata: Expulsions of Civilians from Israeli-Occupied Lebanon 
 
 
 
 
88 
Rasmiya told Human Rights Watch that due to her treatment and the 
poor conditions in Khiam prison she was suffering at that time from anemia and 
other health problems, and sought an exit permit so that she could obtain medical 
care in Beirut. Shuqair said that she was not permitted to leave the occupied zone. 
She visited him at the security office in Meiss al-Jebel and again requested a 
permit.  “He said that I must collaborate and meet Israeli officers.  I told him 
that I would never do that,” Rasmiya recalled. Shuqair then told her that she could 
leave but never come back. He gave her a small yellow paper that was signed in 
red ink, which she used to depart from the zone in late July 1991. “Either you can 
live there and not use your head, or they force you to leave,” Rasmiya 
concluded.
121
 
   
                                                 
     121     
Human Rights Watch interview, Beirut, Lebanon, April 1999. 

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89 
VIII.  VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AND 
HUMAN RIGHTS LAW 
   
The treatment of the civilian residents of  occupied south Lebanon by 
Israeli and Lebanese military and security forces is governed by international 
humanitarian law standards codified in the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to 
the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 (the 
Convention). The civilians in the occupied zone are protected persons under the 
convention.
122
  Israel, as the Occupying Power, bears ultimate responsibility both 
for its own actions and the actions of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) that affect 
the civilian population.    Article 29 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to 
the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, sets out the responsibilities of 
an occupying force, declaring that "The Party to the conflict in whose hands 
protected persons may be, is responsible for the treatment accorded to them by its 
agents..." The official commentary by the International Committee of the Red 
Cross on article 29 explains why Israel cannot shirk responsibility for expulsions 
and other forcible transfers from the territory it occupies irrespective of whether 
such actions are undertaken by its own national forces or by its local auxiliaries:   
 
The term "agent" must be understood as embracing everyone 
who is in the service of a Contracting Party...It included civil 
servants, judges, members of the armed forces, members of 
para-military police organizations, etc. (...) 
 
The nationality of the agents does not affect the issue. That is of 
particular importance in occupied territories, as it means that 
the occupying authorities are responsible for acts committed by 
their locally recruited agents of the nationality of the occupied 
country. 
 
The SLA, as an auxiliary force to a party to the conflict, is also obliged to respect 
the laws and customs of war, including those that protect the civilian population. 
                                                 
     122     
Article 4 states in its pertinent part: “Persons protected by the Convention are 
those who, at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case 
of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power 
of which they are not nationals.” 

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Persona Non Grata: Expulsions of Civilians from Israeli-Occupied Lebanon 
 
 
 
The convention categorically prohibits deportations, forcible transfers, 
collective punishment, intimidation and coercion, and forced military service in 
the armed forces of the Occupying Power or its auxiliary forces. Israel and the 
South Lebanon Army have violated these international standards with impunity. 
Unlawful deportation, forcible transfers, and forced conscription of protected 
persons are grave breaches of the convention.
123
 
 
Deportations and Forcible Transfers 
The expulsions described in this report violate the categorical 
prohibition of such actions in article 49 of the Convention:     
 
Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of 
protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the 
Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or 
not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive. 
 
Deportation and forcible transfer are grave breaches of the laws and customs of 
war.  
 
Collective Punishment   
Collective punishment is a term used in international humanitarian law 
to describe any form of punitive sanctions and harassment, including but not 
limited to judicial penalties, that are imposed on families or other targeted groups 
for actions that they themselves did not personally commit.
124
  As the testimony 
presented in this report makes clear, individuals and families have been 
summarily expelled from the occupied zone as punishment for the known or 
suspected actions of others, most typically family members. Others have been 
denied the right to leave the occupied territory or have been detained, threatened, 
or tortured in retaliation for the actions or omissions of family members. This 
practice is a violation of article 33 of the Convention, which states in pertinent 
part: 
                                                 
     123     
Article 147. 
     124     
"The concept of collective punishment must be understood in the broadest 
sense: it covers not only legal sentences but sanctions and harassment of any sort, 
administrative, by police action or otherwise.” International Committee of the Red 
Cross,  Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva 
Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Geneva, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1987), p. 874. 

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No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she 
has not personally committed.  Collective penalties and 
likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are 
prohibited.   
 
Intimidation and Coercion 
The intimidation and coercion of civilian residents of the occupied zone, 
particularly for the purpose of collecting information for the security and 
intelligence apparatus of either the SLA or Israel, is a violation of international 
humanitarian law. Article 31 of the Convention prohibits coercion: 
 
No physical or moral coercion shall be exercised against 
protected persons, in particular to obtain information from them 
or from third parties. 
 
Torture 
International humanitarian law and international human rights law both 
absolutely prohibit torture.  Article 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 
prohibits High Contracting Parties from taking any measure of such a character as 
to cause the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons in their 
hands.  Torture is specifically  included in this category.  Article 147 further 
specifies that "torture or inhuman treatment"  is a grave breach   of  the 
Convention.  
The prohibition against torture also appears in the Convention against 
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) 
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), both of 
which Israel ratified in 1991. Both treaties prohibit torture under all 
circumstances, even during a state of war or other public emergency. Both treaties 
also require states to take effective legislative, administrative, or judicial 
measures to ensure that this prohibition is enforced. Article 1 of the CAT provides 
the authoritative definition of the term torture: 
   
any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or 
mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes 
as obtaining from him or a third person information or a 
confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has 
committed, or for any reason based on discrimination of any 

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Persona Non Grata: Expulsions of Civilians from Israeli-Occupied Lebanon 
 
 
 
 
92 
kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the 
instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence    of a public 
official or  other person acting in an official capacity. It does 
not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or 
incidental to lawful sanctions. 
 
Forced Conscription 
It is accepted internationally that the SLA serves as Israel’s auxiliary 
force in occupied south Lebanon, and that Israel finances its operations, provides 
it with military and other equipment, and pays the salaries of its personnel. The 
practice of forcing male residents of the occupied zone to serve in the SLA is in 
violation of the requirements of international humanitarian law. Article 51 of the 
Convention states in pertinent part: 
 
The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons to 
serve in its armed or auxiliary forces.  No pressure or 
propaganda which aims at securing voluntary enlistment is 
permitted .   
 
Human Rights Watch does not have evidence that Israel as the occupying power 
has instructed the SLA to forcibly recruit Lebanese conscripts, including children. 
Nevertheless, it is Israel’s responsibility as the occupying power to investigate 
this grave breach of the Geneva conventions and bring this practice by its 
auxiliary force to an immediate halt. 
 
Conscription and Forced Conscription of Children 
International law prohibits the recruitment of children under the age of 
fifteenor their participation in hostilities. The Convention on the Rights of the 
Child, which has been ratified by both Lebanon and Israel,  requires states to 
"take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained theage of 
fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities. States Parties shall refrain from 
recruiting any person who has not attained the age of fifteen years into their armed 
forces. In recruiting among those persons who have not attained the age of 
eighteen years, States Parties shall endeavor to give priority to those who 
areoldest." Article 77 (2,3) Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions sets forth the 
same requirements.
125
 
                                                 
 
125
     "The parties to the conflict shall take all feasible measures in order that 
children  who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in 

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Violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law 
93 
 
 
 
 
93 
                                                                                                             
hostilities and, in particular, they shall refrain from recruiting them into their armed 
forces." (Article 77 (2)) In recruiting persons between fifteen and eighteen years, 
parties must give priority to recruiting those who are oldest.   
 

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Persona Non Grata: Expulsions of Civilians from Israeli-Occupied Lebanon 
 
 
 
 
94 
An international effort is underway to raise the minimum age for 
recruitment and participation in armed conflict from age fifteen to  eighteen 
through an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The 
early conclusion of such a protocol was recommended by the 1996 United 
Nations Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, and is supported by 
the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, UNICEF, the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and a growing number of 
States, intergovernmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations. 
International labor law protects children up to the age of eighteen from 
forced recruitment for use in armed conflicts. The ILO Convention Concerning 
the Prohibition and Immediate Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
prohibits "forced or compulsory  recruitment of children for use in armed 
conflicts." (Article 3 (a)) Adopted June 17, 1999 by the International 
LaborConference, the convention has not yet entered into force.   
It is Human Rights Watch's position that no one under the age of 
eighteen should be recruited (either voluntarily or involuntarily) into any armed 
forces, whether governmental or nongovernmental in nature.   
 
. 

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95 
IX. APPENDICES 
Appendix A 
 
 

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Ap
ppendix B: NameAppendix 
96 
 
 
B: Names and
d Ages of the R
Residents of S
Sheba’  

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97 
Expelled in January 1999 
Aziza Musa, 60 
(the mother of Qassem, Ahmad, Hassan, Muhamed, and Ismail)   
Qassem Naba’, 25 
Nawal Naba’, 20 (his wife) 
Their children: 
Muhamed, twenty months 
Clara, six months 
 
Ahmad Naba’, 28 
Rima Zahra, 25 (his wife) 
Their children: 
Ghusoon, 5 
Anout, 3 
Diana, nine months 
 
Rania Daher, 23 (the wife of Hassan Naba’, imprisoned in Khiam) 
Her children: 
Ayat, 3 
Muhamed, 2 
(Note: Rania was four months pregnant at the time of her interview with Human 
Rights Watch.) 
Muhamed Naba’, 31 
Khadija Sa’ab, 33 (his wife) 
Their children: 
Khalil, 10 
Khudor, 8 
Ala, 7 
Shehnaz, eighteen months 
Nuhad Naba’, 31 (the wife of Ismail Naba’, imprisoned in Khiam) 
Her children: 
Iman, 13 

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Persona Non Grata: Expulsions of Civilians from Israeli-Occupied Lebanon 
 
 
 
 
98 
Muhamed, 11 
Riham, 8 
Rawiya, 5 
Hanin,3 
*** 
These were the ages of the expelled family members at the time of their interview 
with Human Rights Watch in April 1999. 
 

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