Nearly six months after a committee advocating the
rights of detainees imprisoned by Israel announced
plans to establish a rehabilitation center for those
released, founding members held their first follow-up
meeting on Thursday.
During the meeting at the office of Minister of Post
and Telecommunications Issam Naaman, a committee member,
the five founders discussed ways to speed up establishing
the center. "It wasn’t until this month that we finished
the registration process and the legal requirements needed
to set up the center," said Western Bekaa-Rashaya MP
Robert Ghanem.
Founding members include Ghanem, Naaman and Mohammed Safa,
secretary-general of the Follow-Up Committee for the
Support of Lebanese Detainees in Israeli Prisons.
The members said they intended to begin contacting
organizations that could help them meet their goal faster.
The Khiam Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of
Torture pledged to support former detainees by helping
them cope with the trauma they experienced. The group also
said it would organize conferences and seminars on
rehabilitation.

DS 21/01/00
               Copyright© 2000 The Daily Star. All rights reserved.