Suha Beshara was born in 1967 in Alshayah, Beirut. She spent her childhood years between her village Deir Mimas, in Marjeyoun South Lebanon, and Alshayah.

As a child she was a courageous and smart student, but she was also known to be a trouble maker. She completed the first year of Civil Engineering at the Lebanese University, but in the following year she converted to the faculty of Applied Sciences. Beshara was an active member of the Lebanese Communist Party.

At the end of 1987, and before completing her second year at university, she moved from Beirut to Marjeyoun. Here she became a member of the "Al-Marj" organisation, a social and sports organisation, where she taught dance and physical education. The president of the "Al-Marj" organisation was the wife of Antoine Lahad, the commander of the so-called Israeli allied South Lebanon Army (SLA) Militia. Then Suha started private tutoring for the two children of Antoine Lahad.

In November 7, 1988, under instructions from the Lebanese Resistant Movement, Beshara attempted the assassination of Antoine Lahad by opening fire on him in his house. He was seriously wounded in the shoulder and chest.

At the age of 21, Beshara was arrested by the SLA militia. Right after the arrest, Beshara's lawyer Lea Tsemel has stated that her client was brought into Israel for interrogation. Since then Beshara has been held without trial. Beshara was later transferred to al-Khiam detention center in Southern Lebanon, where she remained for nearly a decade. Beshara confessed to the assassination attempt, saying it was a decision made by the National Lebanese Resistance.

Beshara was kept in total isolation during most of her imprisonment. For the first seven years, she was not permitted any visitors and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross were denied permission to see her. In 1995, her mother was granted permission to visit every 3 months for thirty minutes.

During her imprisonment, Beshara enjoyed reading. Some of those included biographies of the Egyptian writer Taha Hussein, and Imam El-Husssein. One of her favourite pastimes in her prison cell was playing basketball. She made a hoop and a ball from her old clothing for this purpose.

Beshara in the Khiam Detention Center

In 1997, Amnesty International named Beshara "prisoner of conscience and a hostage" and stated that her arrest contravened international laws and the Geneva Conventions. Amnesty International has consistently called on the Israeli government to release hostages in the al-Khiam detention center, including Suha Beshara, and to abide by the international human rights instruments it has ratified which state within a reasonable time or released.

Back in the beginning of 1997, an international committee for the release of Suha Beshara was set up comprising of civil rights activists, lawyers and politicians from Europe. The committee had approached the Israeli Prime Minister and Attorney General asking for Beshara's release. Their requests too were rejected.

All appeals to the Israeli judicial system, including the High Court, have led to nowhere since Israel claimed in all those cases that the al-Khiam prison was beyond Israel's control and that the SLA were in charge of the lockup center in South Lebanon. Israeli left wing lawyer Lea Tzemel, who filed one of those petitions to the High Court, argued that Israel was the chief security controller of South Lebanon. The Israeli government had no grounds to hide behind a screen of inaccurate claims of not being in charge of South Lebanon, she said.

September 3, 1998, Israel and the SLA released Suha Beshara after nearly a decade of imprisonment without trial in al-Khiam detention centre. Beshara was turned over to officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross and reunited with her parents in Beirut.

Behsara's mother Najat, who has long campaigned for her daughters release, was overcome with emotion, telling reporters "I am happy. I cannot express my feelings". Her father, Fawaz, thanked French mediators for securing her release. "I can tell you the joy, my happiness will not be completed before I see all the Lebanese prisoners in Israeli prisons liberated and before I see all our occupied land liberated" he said.

In December 1998, Beshara, who was visiting Morocco at the invitation of two Moroccan human rights organisations and the Moroccan Press Club, called the international community to sue Israeli officials, as is the case now with former Chilean dictator Agusto Pinochet. The atrocities committed by Israel against Arabs are no less cruel than the atrocities committed by Pinochet, Beshara said. She added that human rights are blatantly violated in al-Khiam detention center, where Arab inmates are mere hostages whose detention lasts according to the whims of the jailers. She also described the forms of physical and moral torture the inmates are submitted to, in addition to the harassment directed against their relatives.

Suha Beshara is currently continuing her education. Beshara has no doubt been a hero to the Lebanese and she has given Lebanon and her people those years of her life, which could have completed this biography.

On May 24 2000, following the recent withdrawals of Israeli troops from Southern Lebanon, all detainees of the al-Khiam prison were released. Now, Suha Beshara can return to South Lebanon, the place she loved and given 10 years of her life for its independence, and celebrate the release of her colleagues.

Compiled by: Maha Jomaa

References from:
http://www.amnesty-usa.org/news/1998/51507998.htm
http://www.aflnet.com/dac/reports/980903.html
http://www.aflnet.com/dac/israel/beshara_suha.html
http://www.idrel.com.lb/lgppa/shuf0998.htm#SLA releases Suha Beshara
http://www.amnesty.org/news/1997/51502997.htm
http://www.salam.org/palestine/hostages.html
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/981212/1998121226.html
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/980904/1998090413.html
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/980209/1998020906.html

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