BEIRUT: Lebanese security authorities have released Syrian refugees who had been detained for not having proper identification documents, several sources told The Daily Star Tuesday.
Although there were conflicting reports Tuesday over the number of detainees released, sources said recently mounting local and international pressure on the security forces led to the release of Syrian detainees.
The sources said that at least 15 detainees were set free Monday: Mohammad Khaled Ali, Ahmad Sleiman, Ahmad Youssef, Mahmoud Youssef, Khaled Youssef, Shehade Youssef, Alaa Omar, Alaa Basha, Moustafa Ayyash, Abd al-Latif Dandashi, Berri al-Khalaf, Hael Hamed, Wiam Kdalm, Mohammad Khodr and Mustafa al-Kurdi.
“The detainees were released after firm diplomatic pressure, headed by the United Kingdom, was put on the Lebanese government,” said the official spokesperson of the Syrian opposition’s Local Coordinating Committees, Omar Edelbi.
In a phone call with The Daily Star Tuesday, Edelbi said that despite the release of the detainees, there are daily threats from local Lebanese parties.
“Threats against Syrian opposition activists have increased and have forced us to limit our movement in the country,” said Edelbi.
Most of the refugees had been arrested when Syrians were fleeing en masse from border towns that were being targeted by Syrian forces.
More than 1,400 protesters have been killed in Syria since the start of popular demonstrations calling for the end of President Bashar Assad’s rule, according to human rights groups. Assad has accused the opposition of inciting strife and resorting to violence against the state.
According to Edelbi, British officials warned the Lebanese government against continuing to hand over Syrian activists and soldiers to the Syrian army, saying that such behavior would make the Lebanese government an accomplice in crimes against humanity.
In May, the Lebanese Army handed three wounded Syrian soldiers back to the Syrian Army as more than 5,000 refugees fled through the border crossing of Wadi Khaled in north Lebanon.
A source also said that the decision to release Syrian detainees was a political one. “The decision came following coordination between General Security and the Interior Ministry,” the source added.
The move also came a week after five months of political vacuum was replaced by a new 30-member government headed by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who has continuously reiterated that Lebanon would remain committed to U.N. resolutions, which includes the U.N. Convention against Torture, ratified by Lebanon in 2000.