Six Syrian nationals at risk of deportation from Lebanon to Syria
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Name(s):
Tawfiq Al Hajji, Ammar Qazzah, Mohammed Al Waked, Mohammed AbdulElah, Ibrahim Al Shammari, and Ahmad Al Eid
Status:
Free
Nationality:
Syrians
Date of arrest:
In late August 2021, six Syrian nationals were arrested near the Syrian embassy in Baabda where they were to be issued passports. The army detained them for “entering the country illegally” before the Lebanese General Security took over their cases. They were detained incommunicado until September 1, 2021, during which time they were subjected to torture and ill-treatment. They initially faced imminent deportation to Syria. Although Major General Abbas Ibrahim ordered their release on September 9, they remained detained in an immigration detention centre until October 12, 2021.
On August 24 and August 27, 2021, six Syrian nationals were arrested near the Syrian embassy in Baabda, where they were to be issued passports. They were first arrested by unidentified security forces who blindfolded the men, interrogated them and then handed them over to the Lebanese army.
On August 28, 2021, the Lebanese Army released a statement saying that the men were in its custody. The army confirmed that its intelligence directorate had, over the past four days, arrested the six men outside the embassy for “entering the country irregularly”, and that they had been handed over to the General Security directorate, which oversees the entry and exit of foreigners into the country.
The men were detained incommunicado until September 1, 2021, when they were finally able to meet their lawyers at the detention centre of the General Security in Beirut. The next day, one of the men’s counsels wrote a memo to the public prosecutor of the Court of Cassation invoking a possible violation of article 3 of the United Nations Convention against Torture, which provides that “no State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
On September 5, 2021, the General Security orally gave the six individuals a 24-hour ultimatum to either leave Lebanon to a third country or be deported to Syria, although none of them have been presented before a judicial authority in charge of ruling over their deportation.
Five of the six men are from the Daraa governorate, where violent clashes between Syrian government forces and armed groups have intensified in recent months. Hundreds have been killed or injured, and tens of thousands of civilians have fled the area. Government forces have also placed a deadly siege around the city of Daraa Al Balad. In addition to their geographical origins, there was a well-founded risk that they might be perceived by the Syrian government as former supporters or affiliates of the Free Syrian Army.
Invoking the existence of foreseeable, real and personal risks, MENA Rights Group submitted an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture on September 7, 2021.
Although Major General Abbas Ibrahim, general director of the General Directorate of General Security, ordered their release on September 9, they remained detained in an immigration detention centre until October 12, 2021.
| Name(s): |
Tawfiq Al Hajji, Ammar Qazzah, Mohammed Al Waked, Mohammed AbdulElah, Ibrahim Al Shammari, and Ahmad Al Eid
|
| Status: |
Free
|
| Nationality: |
Syrians
|
| Date of arrest: |
|
On August 24 and August 27, 2021, six Syrian nationals were arrested near the Syrian embassy in Baabda, where they were to be issued passports. They were first arrested by unidentified security forces who blindfolded the men, interrogated them and then handed them over to the Lebanese army.
On August 28, 2021, the Lebanese Army released a statement saying that the men were in its custody. The army confirmed that its intelligence directorate had, over the past four days, arrested the six men outside the embassy for “entering the country irregularly”, and that they had been handed over to the General Security directorate, which oversees the entry and exit of foreigners into the country.
The men were detained incommunicado until September 1, 2021, when they were finally able to meet their lawyers at the detention centre of the General Security in Beirut. The next day, one of the men’s counsels wrote a memo to the public prosecutor of the Court of Cassation invoking a possible violation of article 3 of the United Nations Convention against Torture, which provides that “no State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
On September 5, 2021, the General Security orally gave the six individuals a 24-hour ultimatum to either leave Lebanon to a third country or be deported to Syria, although none of them have been presented before a judicial authority in charge of ruling over their deportation.
Five of the six men are from the Daraa governorate, where violent clashes between Syrian government forces and armed groups have intensified in recent months. Hundreds have been killed or injured, and tens of thousands of civilians have fled the area. Government forces have also placed a deadly siege around the city of Daraa Al Balad. In addition to their geographical origins, there was a well-founded risk that they might be perceived by the Syrian government as former supporters or affiliates of the Free Syrian Army.
Invoking the existence of foreseeable, real and personal risks, MENA Rights Group submitted an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture on September 7, 2021.
Although Major General Abbas Ibrahim, general director of the General Directorate of General Security, ordered their release on September 9, they remained detained in an immigration detention centre until October 12, 2021.