Lebanon: AI calls for review of Yusef Cha'ban case
Amnesty International has written to the Lebanese authorities calling for an independent review of the case of Yusef
Cha'ban, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1994.
A Palestinian refugee resident in Lebanon, Yusef Cha'ban was convicted before the Justice Council of the January 1994
killing of Jordanian diplomat Na'ib 'Omran al-Ma'aita.
On 12 June 2007, the UN Working-Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Yusef Cha'ban's continuing detention to be
arbitrary and called for the Lebanese authorities to remedy the matter. The Working Group found that he had been denied
a fair trial, notably because he was denied the right to have his conviction and sentence reviewed by a higher tribunal.
The UN body found also that the violation he suffered was the more severe because a "confession" accepted by the court
as evidence against him, was allegedly extracted under torture and new information appears to support this claim.
Following his arrest, Yusef Cha'ban was held in secret, incommunicado detention for 10 days without access to a lawyer
and for a further month without contact with his family. He was initially held in secret by Syrian intelligence
officials at the Beau Rivage detention centre they then operated in Beirut before being handed over to the Lebanese
Criminal Investigations Police in Forn al-Shabak, Beirut. At his trial, he alleged that while detained he was tortured
and otherwise ill-treated to make him "confess," but the court failed adequately to investigate his allegations of
torture and other ill-treatment. He was also denied the opportunity to appeal against his conviction and sentence to a
higher tribunal, as required by recognised international standards on the right to fair trial.
During his detention, following his arrest on 5 February 1994, Yusef Cha'ban alleges that various torture methods were
used against him, including the "German Chair," where the victim is forced to sit in a metal chair with moving parts
that stretch the spine, suspension from his wrists while they were tied behind his back (the ballanco), electric shocks,
threats and denial of food, water and sleep. His family were not informed of his detention for 40 days.
Amnesty International has previously expressed concern that trials before the Justice Council fail to satisfy
international standards for fair trials and has documented a number of trials which were deficient.* In particular, it
is unclear on what criteria cases are selected by the Council of Ministers for referral to the Justice Council, and the
latter has failed to order independent investigations into allegations of torture during pre-trial detention made by
defendants at trial. Further, as the Human Rights Committee noted in 1997, "the fact that decisions passed by the
Justice Council are not subject to appeal" breaches the fair trial requirements of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, and Lebanon's obligations as a party to this treaty.
In the case of Yusef Cha'ban, new developments since 1994 have raised further questions about the safety of his
conviction and consequent imprisonment. On 3 December 2001 the Jordanian State Security Court convicted Yasser Muhammad
Ahmad Salameh Abu Shanaar, 'Aqaab Namer Suleiman Fuqhaa and Jamal Darwish Mustafa Fatayr of the same killing. The
prosecution made no reference to Yusef Cha'ban or to any part that he was alleged to have had in the assassination;
indeed, the only reference made to Yusef Cha'ban during this trial was by one of the accused who explicitly denied that
Yusef Cha'ban had participated in the assassination.
Also, the report of a ballistics expert appointed by Yusef Cha'ban's lawyer that was presented to the Justice Council on
23 October 2007, a copy of which Amnesty International has seen, casts serious doubt on the description of events as
portrayed at the trial before the Justice Council.
In view of these developments, Amnesty International is urging the Lebanese authorities to ensure that the conviction
and imprisonment of Yusef Cha'ban is made the subject of an urgent, thorough and independent review in order to ensure
that any miscarriage of justice is remedied at the earliest opportunity and that he is guaranteed a fair re-trial in
accordance with international standards or released.
(see Lebanon: Torture and unfair trial of the Dhinniyyah detainees [AI Index: MDE 18/005/2003]; Lebanon: Samir Gea'gea'
and Jirjis al-Khouri -- Torture and unfair trial [AI Index: MDE 18/003/2004])
ENDS