Two men search for the entrance to an alleged underground prison in Saydnaya, Dec. 10, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Caretaker Justice Minister Henri Khoury assured Thursday evening that the country is working seriously on the case of the Lebanese detained in Syria under the Assad government, some of whom have resurfaced in recent days after the fall of the regime and the release of prisoners by the armed rebels of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
An emergency committee responsible for monitoring this case is working to obtain information on Lebanese detainees, particularly those incarcerated before 1992, and has even made contact with freed Lebanese, Khoury said in an intervention on MTV.
'Long-term work'
This commission is cooperating with the associations concerned to obtain the necessary data, the minister said, assuring that "the case has not been abandoned."
"Most of the prisons [in Syria] have been opened, unless there are secret prisons, which is being verified," he said. There are 725 Lebanese detainees in Syria, according to the commission.
However, Carmen Abou Jaoudeh, a member of the National Commission for the Disappeared and Enforced Disappearances, told L'Orient-Le Jour that it is not possible to "provide figures and results" of investigations into the number of Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons. She said that "it is a long-term job."
Many Lebanese have been languishing for years, sometimes even decades, in Syrian jails after being arrested during the civil war or the years of Syrian occupation of the country (1976-2005). Damascus has always refused to provide information on this case, and the Lebanese authorities have never really sought to shed light on these incarcerations.
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad last Sunday, there has been much information circulating about Lebanese people who have allegedly been released. Lists of prisoners' names have also been shared on social media. But, for the time being, few releases have been officially confirmed.
In addition, many prisoners, affected by years of incarceration and abuse, are unable to remember who they are or provide information about their origins. Many photos of these people circulate online, in the hope of helping them find their loved ones.
A prisoner in Saydnaya prison, who was mistakenly taken back to Jordan by a Jordanian family after mistaking him for their son, may be Sayed Shahid Batour, a Lebanese soldier from Zgharta who disappeared in 1990, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
In an attempt to determine the identity of the man whose photos were widely shared online, the caretaker information minister, Ziad Makary, contacted the Jordanian ambassador to Lebanon, Walid Hadid, after a report on the detainee was broadcast on Al Arabiya, the agency continued.
A few days ago, Souheil Hamaoui, a Lebanese man imprisoned for 33 years in Syria, returned home to North Lebanon. Another Lebanese man from Akkar, Ali Hassan al-Ali, was identified by his family in photos of prisoners released in Hama. Ali has still not returned to Lebanon, according to his relatives contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour.
The detainees' file was the subject of a meeting earlier this week between Khoury and members of the national commission for detainees in Syrian prisons, chaired by Beirut prosecutor Judge Ziad Abu Haidar. The participants decided to establish contacts with the Internal Security Forces (ISF), General Security and State Security, to check if they have any information, according to Ani. One of the members of the commission, General Ali Taha, was also tasked with gathering all available information on the released detainees.
Alongside these developments, there has been widespread criticism of Michel Aoun's handling of the Lebanese detainees' file, as Lebanon's president from October 2016 to October 2022. A hashtag accusing him of being a "traitor" is circulating on social media. In 2008, Aoun met with Assad, who told him that there were no Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.