Statement

The history of arbitrary arrests conducted by the Syrian regime in Lebanon fluctuated between a denial that had become untenable in light of the latest events and allusions proving the truth of the information coming from within Syrian prisons. This even included several shy releases of a few political prisoners between 1984 and 2000, which corresponds to the year when former Minister of Justice Adnan Addoum formally revealed the existence of Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons. Ever since then, this issue represents a permanent source of concern for the Lebanese society in general, and for the detainees’ parents in particular, with regard to the fate of their sons and loved ones.

During the past period, joint Lebanese-Syrian committees did not succeed in achieving any tangible results in this respect. In the meantime, the equivocal declarations of the Syrian regime on the issue aimed at hiding the facts pertaining to the series of arrests. This attempt culminated in Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s latest declaration, as he denied that there were any judicial detainees in Syria and merely dubbed those criminals and terrorists. Foreign Minister Walid Moaullem’s latest declaration in Beirut, whereby he confirmed the existence of detainees, came as a genuine shock for the Lebanese public opinion as these events prove the extent of Syria’s blatant involvement in hiding the truth and committing repeated violations of human rights and freedom of expression.

Now that the issue of detainees in Israeli prisons has been settled with the return of Lebanese prisoners and Hezbollah’s recovering the bodies of martyrs, it is necessary to reactivate the issue of those detained arbitrarily in Syrian prisons and give it precedence over any other issue that has emerged as of late on the level of relations between the two countries.

Accordingly,

The Regional Office of the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights in Beirut calls on the governments of free countries, international institutions and all human rights associations and activists to:
1. Exert pressure on the Syrian government so that it announces the names of all Lebanese detainees regardless of how they are categorized according to Syria’s classification.
2. Allow the International Red Cross to form a fact-finding commission to look into the situation of prisons and prisoners, and draft a detailed report in this respect.
3. Link the relation between the two countries, including diplomatic representation and other issues, to the results of the investigation.
4. Invite the Lebanese president to abide totally by the content of his inaugural address on the detainees’ issue.
5. Ask the Lebanese government to give former prisoners who are released as well as the victims’ parents the importance they are due, especially with regard to the indemnities they should obtain, and to their being treated the same as the detainees released from Israeli prisons.

Amin Nehme
ME Regional Coordinator