An American Jewish organization is accusing the federal government of "callous indifference" over the fate of seven former members of Israel's proxy army in Lebanon who have been ordered out of Canada as soon as possible.

The men have been denied refugee status here but, as veterans of the Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army (SLA), would face certain imprisonment, torture or even death if deported back to Lebanon, they and their defenders claim.

The Lebanese expatriates point to the case of a Canadian citizen who used to belong to the SLA and says he was jailed and tortured after visiting Lebanon this summer. He has since been freed and is back in Canada. But another SLA veteran deported to Lebanon last month is still in prison and has been tortured, according to a letter from his lawyer there and representatives of the American Jewish Committee.

"I ask the [Immigration] Minister if, in Canada, we have humanity for people like us?" said Joseph Semman, another SLA veteran who came to Canada with his wife, Nagham Rizk, in 2000 and now faces removal.

"He must leave us here. He must make a new life for us. We come here to work, to make a new life, to make a good life for me and my kids. We don't come to Canada to fight or to do something wrong."

The men are being denied refugee status on the basis of being members of a group that committed crimes against humanity. But they argue that they were small cogs in the organization and had nothing to do with any human rights violations, which watchdogs reported on both sides of the conflict in Israeli-occupied south Lebanon.

Mr. Semman, who has had two children in Canada, said he worked in an army body shop.

Supporters say the men especially risk retribution from Hezbollah, the fundamentalist Islamic group that has been banned as a terrorist organization by Canada and now all but controls southern Lebanon.

Canada may also be violating international law by sending them back to a country where they could face torture, said Yehudit Barsky of the American Jewish Committee.

A background paper prepared by a member of the committee accused Canada of "callous indifference" in the case.

Two of the seven, all of whom live in Montreal, are to be deported to the United States, since they came through there on their way to Canada, but the rest are slated to be sent to Lebanon. Hugette Shouldice, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency, said the men have exhausted all avenues of appeal in a "very generous" refugee system and have been deemed inadmissible. If someone was part of a group considered to have committed war crimes, it doesn't matter whether the person held a senior position in the organization or not, she said. "Organizations cannot function, and commit those kinds of atrocities, without everyone playing a part. You don't have to be the ones making the decisions, you don't have to be the one pulling the trigger. If you are driving everyone there, you are complicit."

Department officials and judges have also concluded they do not face undue risk if returned, she said.

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The South Lebanese Army was created in the 1980s and made up mainly of Maronite Christians, as well as a smaller number of Shia Muslims. With backing from the Israeli government, it helped battle Hezbollah members determined to attack Israeli military positions and settlements across the border.

Most of the 6,000 SLA members fled when the Israeli Defence Force pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, although many later returned and were jailed as "collaborators."

Watchdogs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported abuses by the SLA when they held sway in the region, including torture at the army's Al-Khiam prison. The army veterans maintain that those reports are exaggerated. But even the U.S. State Department reported in 1999 that the SLA "arbitrarily arrested, mistreated and detained persons."

Human rights monitors have also raised red flags about SLA veterans who have returned to Lebanon. There are persistent reports of alleged collaborators being tortured by such methods as beating and hanging by the wrists.