Suha Bechara on a visit to al-Khiam prison two years after her release. (Credit: AFP/File photo)
BEIRUT — Suha Bechara, a Lebanese communist activist and former prisoner at the Khiam detention center for attempting to assassinate the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA) leader Antoine Lahad in 1988, was briefly detained by Greek authorities on Tuesday night at Athens airport, the Lebanese Communist Party confirmed to L'Orient Today.
Bechara was told that she was deemed as “persona non grata” and “poses a threat to Greek national security” during a transit on her way to Switzerland, where she is a citizen, the party's political office head Omar Deb said. He added that the part was in contact with Suha and knew immediately of her arrest.
The Greek embassy in Lebanon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We immediately contacted the Lebanese embassy in Greece, Swiss authorities, and lawyers. We have many friends who were keen on helping Suha get released,” Adnan Bechara, Suha’s brother, told L’Orient Today on Wednesday.
“Eventually they told us that they can’t allow her to leave directly to Geneva, Switzerland where she was heading because that would be a violation of the decision to not allow her into Greece, so she was sent back to Lebanon for a transit before flying back to Switzerland,” he said.
“We will follow up on what happened to get to the bottom of who initiated this move. We want to know whether this is a mistake or whether it’s an attack on the left or on us personally. We have many friends within the European Union’s parliament, and many European politicians who are friends and we will not be silent,” he concluded.
In a statement, the political bureau of the Lebanese Communist Party Wednesday condemned Bechara’s arrest, describing it as a “dangerous precedent which constitutes a flagrant attack against a Lebanese national heroine who contributed to achieving liberation and freedom for the Lebanese, and spent 10 years in captivity in the Khiam detention camp, which is famous for its inhumane torture practices that were documented by international organizations, including the International Red Cross.”
The statement also called on the “Greek government to arrest the Zionist officials who established the Khiam detention center and supervised the torture of Suha Bishara and thousands of Lebanese, instead of arresting patriots.”
Originally a French military barracks, the Khiam detention center later came under the control of the SLA during the Lebanese Civil War. Rights groups have reported widespread torture in the facility.
The Communist Party statement on Wednesday concluded by calling on the Foreign Affairs Ministry to “summon the Greek ambassador immediately and take strict measures, and to consider the arrest an attack on Lebanon's national sovereignty and the freedom and security of its citizens.”
In 1988, Suha was only 21 years old when she shot Antoine Lahad twice with a 5.45 mm revolver: once in the chest and once in the shoulder. Bechara threw the gun away before his bodyguards arrested her. Lahad’s left arm was paralyzed but he survived the attack.
She was allegedly detained by the security guards and taken to Israel briefly, where she was interrogated and beaten. She was then taken to Khiam prison for 10 years, without being charged or tried, and alleges electric shock torture and six years of solitary confinement in a tiny cell. She was released on Sept. 3, 1998, following an intense campaign by Lebanese and European figures to free her.
