According to a source close to the municipality of Arsal, the Lebanese Army asked Basil al-Hujairi, the mayor, on Tuesday to receive the bodies of seven Syrian detainees who died under torture after being arrested by the Lebanese al-Majoqol Regiment on Friday June 30, 2017 during a massive offensive on al-Nour camp in Arsal.
According to the same source several of the deceased have been identified and among them are Mustafa Abdel Karim Absa from the town of Qarah west of al-Qalamoun, Khaled Hussein al-Mulais from Qarah and Anas Hussein al-Haseki from al-Qusayir.
Ammar Johmani received photographs of three bodies with clear and visible signs of torture. One image is of Khaldoun al-Halwa (click here to watch a video of his burial). Another is for Safwan al-Issa who was killed along with his brothers Marwan and Radwan, and a third for an unidentified person.
The families of the detainees communicated with the Association of Muslim Scholars in Lebanon for the Association to collect the bodies from the Lebanese authorities. However, the Association refused to receive and hand over the bodies of the detainees before forming a medical committee from forensic doctors in Lebanon to reveal the causes of death and provide detailed medical reports for follow-up by international organizations and civil society institutions.
On Monday, the Lebanese Army handed over the bodies of two Syrian men they had arrested on Friday, Marwan Mohammad al-Issa, 31, and Safwan Mohammad al-Issa, 25. The two brothers were arrested after the Lebanese Forces shot their brother Radwan, a double amputee, in al-Nour camp in Arsal on Friday.
The Lebanese Army handed over the bodies of the two brothers to their remaining relatives in the camp on condition that only 10 people may attend the brothers’ burial.
Activists in the Syrian Commission for the Liberating Detainees, headed by the lawyer Fahd al-Mousa, issued a statement expressing their support for the families of detainees in Lebanon.
In its statement, the Commission said that it adds its voice to that of the families of the Syrians detained in Syria and Lebanon. It demands that the Negotiating Delegation at the Astana Conference, the international community, the United Nations, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council, Staffan de Mistura (UN special envoy for Syria), Eva Svoboda (the special consultant for detainees in the Syrian file), and the Geneva Working Group on Syria assume their humanitarian responsibilities and take into account the Syrian detainees held and forgotten in Lebanon and those held by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, the Lebanese intelligence and the Lebanese Army. The Commission urges these concerned parties to work quickly to resolve the issue of detainees in Syria according to transparent and just standards where there is a real effort to build the Syrian people’s confidence in the international community, as Syrians have lost all their trust in the Astana and Geneva conferences, and resolving the issue of the detainees in Syria may be a key to the political solution in Syria.
According to leaked information from rights groups, the Lebanese military, intelligence, and the Hezbollah militia, are detaining more than 5,000 Syrian men and women in public and secret prisons.
The information leaked revealed that in Roumieh prison, and in the red building alone, 400 Syrian detainees are being held. With respect to dissident officers from the al-Assad regime and some Syrians who took refuge Lebanon, many were handed over to the Syrian regime in violation of international humanitarian law. These people were subsequently executed, tortured or forcefully disappeared between the Syrian intelligence, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, and the Lebanese intelligence. Among those executed are the dissident officer Jasser al-Mahamid and a dissident officer from the al-Antawi
