Amnesty: Mass Graves Exhumations Must Follow International Standards
The exhumation of bodies at newly discovered mass graves in Lebanon are not being carried out with the appropriate level of care and there are concerns that bodies may be damaged and potential evidence lost, Amnesty International said Monday.
The London-based rights group urged the Lebanese government to ensure that the evidence at the sites is properly preserved and said exhumations and investigations should be carried out in line with international standards.
Although the bodies' identities are unknown, suspicion immediately fell on Syria, which controlled Lebanon for almost three decades until it pulled out its troops from the country in April, following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
A Syrian Information Ministry official on Sunday denied his country's involvement in the mass graves, saying the accusations were a "new pretext" to harm Damascus.
One Lebanese security official said some of the bodies may belong to Lebanese soldiers killed during a Syrian military offensive at the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.
Amnesty, in its statement, urged the Lebanese government to take "immediate action to ensure that the evidence at the sites is properly preserved" and that the evidence is used to bring suspected perpetrators to justice in fair trials.
There are 17,000 Lebanese missing since the 1975-90 civil war, among them 61 soldiers. Around 176 Lebanese are also jailed in Syria, according to human rights groups.
Some 50 of their relatives staged a protest Monday near the United Nations building in downtown Beirut, where they have been camped out for months to draw attention to their plight.
While recognizing the efforts of the Lebanese authorities in exhuming the bodies, the protesters called in a statement for transparency and for the exhumation to be conducted in compliance with international norms.(AP photo shows Lebanese army forensic experts putting on their white gloves as they get ready to comb the earth in search of human remains)
The London-based rights group urged the Lebanese government to ensure that the evidence at the sites is properly preserved and said exhumations and investigations should be carried out in line with international standards.
Although the bodies' identities are unknown, suspicion immediately fell on Syria, which controlled Lebanon for almost three decades until it pulled out its troops from the country in April, following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
A Syrian Information Ministry official on Sunday denied his country's involvement in the mass graves, saying the accusations were a "new pretext" to harm Damascus.
One Lebanese security official said some of the bodies may belong to Lebanese soldiers killed during a Syrian military offensive at the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.
Amnesty, in its statement, urged the Lebanese government to take "immediate action to ensure that the evidence at the sites is properly preserved" and that the evidence is used to bring suspected perpetrators to justice in fair trials.
There are 17,000 Lebanese missing since the 1975-90 civil war, among them 61 soldiers. Around 176 Lebanese are also jailed in Syria, according to human rights groups.
Some 50 of their relatives staged a protest Monday near the United Nations building in downtown Beirut, where they have been camped out for months to draw attention to their plight.
While recognizing the efforts of the Lebanese authorities in exhuming the bodies, the protesters called in a statement for transparency and for the exhumation to be conducted in compliance with international norms.(AP photo shows Lebanese army forensic experts putting on their white gloves as they get ready to comb the earth in search of human remains)
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