Cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily are frequently referred to the CLDH.The aim of the CLDH, besides the release of the person arbitrarily detained, is to restore these detainees in their rights in order to improve the right to justice in Lebanon, both for the detainees and the victims. [Ar]

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Daily Star - 'Lebanese working for Mossad' may have played role, November 4, 2008 in Mughniyeh hit

The alleged leader of a Mossad spy network arrested by Lebanese authorities monitored the Kfar Sousa neighborhood in Damascus a few months before senior Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh was assassinated by a car bomb last February, according to a report published by As-Safir newspaper on Monday. As-Safir identified the spy leader as Ali Jarrah. It said the other suspect arrested was his brother, Youssef.

The daily said investigations into Ali Jarrah indicated that Israel's Mossad intelligence service had tasked him with carrying out surveillance in Kfar Sousa a few months before Mughniyeh's assassination. "Did Jarrah know why the survey was conducted? Or was he ordered to just monitor the area?" the newspaper asked. "And did he play a role in the summer 2006 war?" The Lebanese Army announced over the weekend that it had arrested two people in the Bekaa Valley linked to an Israeli espionage network. A senior Palestinian official in the Bekaa told As-Safir that Ali Jarrah has, since quitting Fatah al-Intifada and joining Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, obtained a special military pass that allowed him to cross the Syrian-Lebanese border without being searched by authorities. The Palestinian source added that Jarrah had moved freely in Damascus and frequently visited the homes of Palestinian officials and Palestinian centers. During the 34-day war in July and August of 2006, Jarrah was seen with a video camera moving at some sensitive areas that included relief centers known to be connected to parties supporting Hizbullah, As-Safir reported. "Was he pinpointing security targets at the Bekaa?" the daily asked. According to the newspaper, investigators working on the case are attempting to determine whether a video camera fixed inside his four-wheel drive was connected via satellite to his controllers in Israel - as a GPS navigational system in his vehicle reportedly was. As-Safir also asked whether the breaking up of the network would ultimately lead to the uncovering of other spy rings in the country. Security sources connected to the investigation told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that details could not be released because the investigation was sensitive and confidential. The sources stressed that the suspect had confessed to working for the Mossad, that he has monitored certain political party centers and the movements of certain party leaders for Israel.
They said that Jarrah, who is in his 50s, was previously detained in Damascus by elements of Syrian State Security, and accused with being a member of Fatah-Intifada, a group officially labeled as "terrorist" by Syrian authorities. In Syria, Jarrah was questioned for days concerning his relationship to Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi, who is wanted in Lebanon for his role in the 2007 fighting at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp. Sources added that Jarrah was subject to intensive interrogation by Syrian authorities in Damascus that went beyond his connection to Abssi and Fatah al-Intifada members. They said that Syrian authorities later released him. According to the Al-Hayat sources, Jarrah later returned to his hometown of Al-Marj in the western Bekaa and continued with his normal life up to his disappearance a month ago while on his way from the Bekaa to Beirut. Sources in his hometown refused to comment to Al-Hayat on news that a certain political party had placed Jarrah under intense watch and later detained him under suspicion of spying for Israel. Meanwhile, Jarrah's family sought the help of Lebanese police to locate him, according to the daily. Sources following up on the investigation told Al-Hayat that the political party that had arrested Jarrah soon delivered him to Lebanese Army Intelligence. Residents of al-Marj told As-Safir on Saturday that late in October an army unit raided Jarrah's home, confiscated his four-wheel-drive and arrested his brother. Residents said the army also searched his uncle's home without taking further action. - The Daily Star, with Naharnet

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