Eleven Iraqis turned back by Saidi Arabia briefly detained in Lebanon leading to outcry in Iraq

Last week, eleven Iraqis transiting through Beirut International Airport were turned back by Saudi authorities and briefly detained in Lebanon. An incident that angered Iraqi politicians. What happened?

The eleven Iraqi passengers flew to Riyadh on May 10 via BIA, aboard a Middle East Airlines flight. On arrival, Saudi General Security decided to send them back to Beirut on another MEA flight, due to a lack of appropriate visas, according to the Lebanese press. This information was confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour by a source within the Lebanese airline. The Saudi authorities turned back the 11 Iraqis “because they had said that they wanted to go to Arabia to perform the hajj pilgrimage, even though they had an electronic tourist visa. To perform this pilgrimage, a specific visa is required. The tourist visa only works for residents of the Gulf," they explained.

Arriving in Beirut the following day, the Iraqi passengers were detained by Lebanese General Security, on judicial orders. “This story doesn't concern Lebanon, because it was Arabia that decided to send them back,” a source within General Security told L'Orient-Le Jour. “In every country in the world, when individuals are sent back to a third country, the latter is obliged to open an investigation. The courts have asked us to arrest these passengers. All we did was apply the court's decision," added the source.

The Lebanese courts released them less than 48 hours after their detention, but confiscated their passports while the investigation was underway, a judicial source told L'Orient-Le Jour. They added that the Iraqis had been turned back by Saudi Arabia because of “false visas.” “Following the investigation, it turned out that the visas were not forged. It was the documents presented to obtain them that were,” said the source, who pointed out that these passengers had provided forged residence permits that did not, however, originate in Lebanon. “As the Lebanese courts have no jurisdiction in this matter, they decided on Wednesday to deport these individuals to Iraq,” the source said.

'Dangerous precedent'

This affair did not go unnoticed in Iraq, where some members of parliament have expressed their anger at the Lebanese authorities. This was the case of Youssef al-Kalabi from the Badr Organization, a Shiite militia and political movement in Iraq close to Iran, who threatened to “stop” Iraqi aid to Lebanon. “What these Iraqi citizens have suffered, including elderly men and women who have been treated like criminals and imprisoned for more than four days, is a dangerous precedent and something unacceptable,” he wrote on X on May 13. “This will have many consequences, including the reconsideration of aid and agreements between the two countries.”

In July 2021, an agreement was reached between Beirut and Baghdad to meet part of Lebanon's fuel needs for its public electricity. It has been renewed several times.

Iraqi MP Suzanne Mansour called on her country's authorities to mobilize to obtain the release of the detained travelers.

The next day, al-Kilabi announced that the detainees “are free and in a hotel in Beirut.” “Their rights and those of Iraq will not be lost,” he warned. In Lebanon, the magnitude of the affair is tempered by the fact that “it is not political,” according to a diplomatic source contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour. “Relations between Lebanon and Iraq are always excellent,” they assured. The Iraqi embassy in Lebanon could not immediately be reached for comment.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.