BEIRUT: With the second anniversary of the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanese territories to be marked this weekend, the Free Patriotic Movement’s (FPM) youth club at the American University of Beirut (AUB), in collaboration with detainee advocacy group SOLIDE, hosted a conference on Wednesday calling for attention to the plight of Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons. "We consider the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon to be incomplete if our compatriots are still being held over there," Bassam Karam, vice president of the youth club, told The Daily Star. "The message from today is that we will continue to press forward with this, and we want the United Nations to extend its mandate on the Hariri  investigation to include an investigation into the detained in Syria."

The club circulated a petition prior to the conference calling for such an expansion to the role of the UN commission investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Attending the conference was FPM MP Gibran Bassil, SOLIDE founder and activist Ghazi Aad, FPM youth club members and some of the parents of inmates held in Syria.  Karam questioned the priorities of the international community. "Why do the assassination of a high-ranking official and the assassination attempt of another official deserve an international investigation, while a crime committed every day by Syrian authorities against the families of the detainees and their children does not deserve an international investigation committee? Are the missing second-class citizens?" he said.

"The truth that you should know is there are Lebanese parties involved in the crime. Society should be liberated from this ruling class which is incapable whether because it is incompetent or because justice, which it pretends to look for, harms it as it will harm the criminal."

According to a documentary aired on CNN in 2006, Lebanese that disappeared during and after the Civil War number some 17,000. Some are in Syria, others in Israel and still others in Lebanon. Little, if any, information is available on their whereabouts, and family members are left to hope for their safety, or, if they are lucky, get news from recently released detainees.

SOLIDE, which stands for Support of Lebanese In Detention and Exile, has conducted a sit-in for the last two years outside the United Nations building in Beirut in hopes of winning attention for their decades-long campaign.

To this day, their presence is still visible in posters, tents and pictures positioned around the square.

"We have made progress over the years, the most recent following our trip to Italy to visit the Senate in March 2007," Aad told The Daily Star. "After our trip, the Italian Senate issued a decree that compels the Italian government to address through international channels the issue of Lebanese citizens illegally detained in Syrian prisons.

"They are asking to extend the mandate of the Hariri commission to investigate the issue of those being detained in Syria, as well as asking the Syrian authorities to reveal any information they have about the existence of the detainees, and mass graves."

To show its gratitude to the Italian government for its efforts on the issue, the FPM youth club presented an award to a representative of the Italian government present at Wednesday’s conference.

A number of the relatives of the missing and detained gave testimonies and accounts of their stories. Some have been wondering for over 25 years about what happened to a loved one. Through tears, they described the years of pain and suffering they have endured from not knowing the fate of the missing.

"I have to commend the families and what they have been through," said Aad. "They have been very strong, and have stuck through the two years [outside the UN] despite all weather conditions. They should be commended for their courage, perseverance and faith."

The youth club and Aad both insisted that information and the release of the detainees was important to secure good relations with Syria. "There will be no normal relations between Lebanon and Syrian until this situation is resolved," said Aad. "Unfortunately, despite the creation of the Lebanese-Syrian Council, Syria does not take this seriously, they are not cooperative and they are still denying that there are Lebanese detained in their jails."