Photos: Khiam Detention Center
- photo essay on Khaim prison, southern Lebanon.
- Photo: Benjamin Aronoff. “A Solitary Confinement” at Khiam.
A striking symbol for the twenty-two year Israeli military occupation in southern Lebanon is the Khiam detention center. Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian political prisoners were detained for years at Khiam, living in squalor conditions, at times in solitary confinement and all without trial.
Multiple accounts from former prisoners at Khiam and reports issued by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International illustrate that torture was widely practiced against prisoners at Khiam. Israel’s proxy army in Southern Lebanon, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), maintained Khiam as a detention and interrogation center from 1985 until 2000 when the Israeli military was forced from southern Lebanon, leading to the collapse of the SLA.
After Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon, Khiam was preserved in the condition as it was abandoned and converted into a museum by Hezbollah. In 2006 the Khiam detention center was destroyed by the Israeli military during the massive bombardment of Lebanon, a military move by Israel clearly aimed at erasing a monument to the brutality of the Israeli military occupation in south Lebanon.
Soha Bechara, the celebrated Lebanese resistance fighter and author was a political prisoner at Khiam detention center for 10 years. Tadamon! presents a series of striking photos from Khiam detention center in the lead-up to a Montreal lecture by Soha Bechara, photographs taken both prior to and after the Israeli military destroyed the prison in 2006.
- Photo: Bissane. A door at the destroyed Khiam prison August 2008.
- Photo: Benjamin Aronoff. A prison cell at Khiam detention center.
- Photo: Bissane. Destroyed walls at Khiam in August 2008.
- Photo: Bissane. Military rubble at Khiam, August 2008.
- Photo: Bissane. Billboards depicting victims at Khiam, August 2008.
photos presented in this photo essay are from two independent photographers:
Bissane and Benjamin Aronoff.
for additional information on the Khiam detention center, below are information links:
Amnesty International report on-line.
Human Rights Watch article on-line.
BBC news report on Khiam on-line.
I highly suggest everyone see the movie, “Under the Bombs”. It brings a human face to the tragedy of just one of countless conflicts in the troubled paradise of Southern Lebanon…this one concerns the 06 invasion by Israel…wage peace with passion!!!
Commentaire par Benjamin Aronoff — 28 février 2009 @ 14:00