JERUSALEM, May 26 (AFP) - Israel's high court heard an appeal Wednesday against the military's detention of 21 Lebanese men held as "bargaining chips" in negotiations over Israeli MIAs in Lebanon. An expanded nine-justice panel convened to deliberate the case for the second time this year. It was the last hearing before a final ruling on the matter. The 21 men, all imprisoned in Israel, include a senior figure from the Shiite Moslem Hezbollah guerrilla group, Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid, and another well known Islamic militant, Mustafa Dirani. Ten of the 21 detainees were brought to Wednesday's hearing in Jerusalem, but they were kept away from the media. Lawyers for the defendants and the state all declined to comment on why the other 11 detainees were not present at the hearing, which was held behind closed doors. The men were abducted over the past 13 years by Israeli troops in Lebanon. Two of the defendants were only 16 at the time of their abduction. In February 1998, a three-judge high court panel acknowledged that the 21 had committed no crimes and were being held as "bargaining chips" in efforts to recover four Israeli soldiers missing in action in Lebanon. At the time the court ruled that the detention of the 21 "in an effort to recover soldiers captured or missing in action serves the vital interests of the state." "Their release could deal a fatal blow to negotiations aimed at obtaining the return of our troops," it said. The ruling sparked protests by human rights groups and Israeli jurists and led to Wednesday's unusual second appeal to the high court by a civil rights attorney, Tzvi Rish. Wednesday's hearing focussed on the question of whether the detention of the 21 men was achieving its aim, the return of MIAs. "Different alternatives were discussed including diplomatic and political options," a lawyer present in the courtroom during the hearing who asked not to be named told AFP. Lawyers for the state defending the detention of the Lebanese refused to speak to the press. Rish said he argued in court that "the means don't justify the end." "There have been no criminal charges against the detainees, it is illegal to hold them here and it makes no sense," he added. "Either you indict them and try them, or you release them," he said. Rish has been representing the 21 men since early 1993 and visits them regularly. He is prohibited by Israel's internal security agency, Shin Beth, from revealing any details about his clients' detention. But Rish did say Wednesday that one of the detainees, Ghassan Dirani, 34, cousin of Mustafa Dirani, was in terrible physical and mental shape. The Tel Aviv district court, citing Dirani's condition, has ordered him released but the state appealed the ruling and his case in now included in the petition before the high court. "It's high time for the high court to release Ghassan Dirani," Rish said.  