Khiam detention center

rdf:langString Khiam detention center

rdf:langString The Khiam detention center was an army barracks complex originally used by the French military in the 1930s in Khiam, French Lebanon. Following the establishment of independent Lebanon in 1946, it was used by the Lebanese military until the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, during which time it came under the control of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Christian-majority militia allied with Israel. With the beginning of the South Lebanon conflict in 1985, the base was converted into a prisoner-of-war camp and used to hold captured fighters, mostly those associated with Hezbollah. The facility remained in use in this capacity until Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000 and the subsequent collapse of the SLA. After the Israeli withdrawal, the camp was preserved in the condition it was abandoned in, and converted into a museum by the Lebanese government. During the 2006 Lebanon War, the Israeli Air Force bombed and destroyed the museum, alleged by locals to have been carried out in an attempt to hide the evidence of torture and mistreatment used there. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported the use of torture and other serious human rights abuses at the facility.