From the Daily Star Newspaper:
Canadian photojournalist hailed as honorary resistance fighterLambert says book is a gift to the lebanese people
Images in 'They Called Them Terrorists' were inspired by suffering in South
By Elie Hourani
Daily Star staff
Monday, October 29, 2004
BEIRUT:
A Canadian photojournalist, who recently published a collection of
pictures of individuals that endured the
Israeli occupation of the South, has been hailed here as an honorary
resistance fighter.
Marie-Jose
Lambert has returned from Canada to release her book, titled "They
Called Them Terrorists," at the Lire en
Francais et en Musique book fair being held at the Beirut International
Exhibition and Leisure center (BIEL).
Speaking
at a news conference presided over by Canadian Embassy media adviser
Helene La Fortune,
Lambert said she could not imagine the release of her book taking place in
Beirut without her being present.
She is scheduled to sign copies of her book at BIEL, in downtown Beirut, on Friday.
Lambert
said the photographs contained in her book were inspired by the suffering
of those in the South whom she has
met during her stay in 1995, particularly those that were tortured by the
Israelis or their agents, and those who were driven to
leave the country altogether.
"This book is a gift to the Lebanese people, who have suffered for 22
years in order to preserve their pride and their freedom," she said.
The book is a collection of pictures of men, women and children, who were
caught and tortured at concentration camps,
specifically the Khiam concentration camp; the largest camp in the South
at the time.
"The book was written in defense of justice and in protest at the
violation of human rights, which were going on at large
scale in the concentration camps.
The
president of the Follow-Up Committee for the Support of Lebanese Detainees
in Israeli Prisons, Mohammed Safa, said that
Lambert was the first journalist to have visited the concentration camp on
Aug. 12, 1997.
"She
stood up to all the Israeli measures banning visits to the camp in order
to get first-hand information on the treatment of inmates,"
Safa said.
He called for awarding Lambert a Lebanese Medal of Honor in appreciation of her humanitarian work.