Mustafa Dirani ( ar, مصطفى الديراني; born 1951) is a former head of security in the Amal Movement in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. In 1987, he started reaching out to pro-

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

sources, and eventually established contact between them and the rest of the Amal leadership. He was eventually expelled from Amal and established his own organization, the "Believing Resistance". Captured by

Israeli forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

in 1994, Dirani was held until a 2004 prisoner swap.

Biography

Dirani was taken from his home in

Kasarnaba Kasarnaba ( ar, قصرنبا) is a town in Baalbek District, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon famous for its hilly terrain and Traditional Agricultural practices. Geography The town is located at the shoulder of The Western Lebanese Mountain ...

in the eastern Beqaa by Israeli airborne commandos on 27 May 1994. He was held in

administrative detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

and was offered in exchange for Israeli servicemen held by

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

. At the time, Israeli forces were in control of the southern-Lebanon security buffer, in order to prevent the region from being used as a launching ground for attacks on Israel's

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

region. Israel believed that Dirani had exclusive knowledge concerning the whereabouts of

Israel Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

navigator Ron Arad, who was captured by Dirani's armed men in 1986, and has been unheard of since then. During his interrogation by military officers, Dirani reportedly disclosed that Arad had been turned over first to a Hezbollah's unit and then to Iranian

Revolutionary Guards The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

, who were in Lebanon at the time aiding Hezbollah guerrillas. Neither Iran nor any guerrilla group has ever offered any useful information about Arad's fate. Allegedly, Dirani received $300,000 for transferring Ron Arad to the Iranians. Dirani alleges that he was sodomized and tortured by his Israeli captors. He testified in an Israeli court to this abuse. The allegations were reported by the ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'', ''

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

'', and ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

''. Initially, the

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

was denied permission to see Dirani, but a court order forced Israeli prison authorities to comply with legal rules. In January 2004, in a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

-mediated prisoner swap, Dirani, along with 22 other Lebanese detainees, about 400 Palestinians, and 12 Israeli-Arab prisoners, was released in exchange for the bodies of three Israeli soldiers and captured

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

Colonel (res.)

Elchanan Tannenbaum Elhanan Tannenbaum, ( he, אלחנן טננבוים, born 12 August 1946) is an Israeli colonel (res.), who was kidnapped in 2000 and held for more than three years by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. He was released in a prisoner exchange ...

References

External links

Mustafa Dirani v. Israel, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2002/77/Add.1 at 8 (2000). 13 April 2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dirani, Mustafa 1951 births Amal Movement politicians Living people Hezbollah–Israel conflict Lebanese torture victims