03 Sep 2021; MEMO: Six Syrian refugees arrested and detained by the Lebanese authorities must be released "unless they are charged with a recognisable offence," Amnesty International has urged. The six were arrested last week as they went to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut to collect their passports.
The Lebanese army confirmed on 28 August that its intelligence officers apprehended the six men and handed them over to the General Security Directorate.
According to the brother of one of the refugees, he received a message to say that the passport had been collected successfully. At that stage, said Amnesty, communications were cut and further messages did not get through.
There are concerns that the men entered the country through irregular means and are thus at risk of being sent back to Syria, as other refugees have been. Such deportations began two years ago after Lebanon's Higher Defence Council agreed on the move.
There is also a risk that they could be tortured, both in Lebanon and in Syria. It was revealed earlier this year that those detained by Lebanese security forces face significant physical torture and abuse. Torture at the hands of the Syrian regime is an accepted fact; refugees are regularly subjected to arrest and extensive torture upon their return.
Five of the men arrested last week are reported to be from the southern Syrian province of Daraa. Some parts of the province, such as Daraa Al-Balad, have been subjected to siege and intense bombardment by the Assad regime and its allied Iran-backed militias in recent months.
Due to the ongoing fighting there, the five men are technically fleeing a conflict zone which, according to Amnesty, makes them genuine refugees who should be taken in by surrounding countries. The human rights organisation called on the Lebanese and Jordanian governments in particular to allow entry and safe refuge to those fleeing conflict in Syria.
Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, Lynn Maalouf, said that Lebanon's General Security directorate must ensure that these men are not forcibly returned to Syria. "Deporting these men would be a serious violation of Lebanon's international obligations, including those under the UN Torture Convention," she explained.
Maalouf also warned of the ongoing threat to refugees and dissidents in Syria, where arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and torture remain rife. "Armed hostilities in some parts of the country have intensified significantly in recent months. No part of Syria is safe for returns, and these men must be protected."
