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Lebanon Frees 11 Political Prisoners Repatriated From Syria
BEIRUT (AFP) - Ten Lebanese and a Palestinian among the political prisoners repatriated earlier this week from Syria were released late Friday, judicial sources said, as Lebanon agreed to reopen the file on Lebanese held by Syria.
"Nobody can understand the way we are feeling. I am still here at the Judicial Palace and I feel ecstatic," Ali Abu Dehen of the mostly Druze Hasbaya district in southern Lebanon said.
"I spent 13 years in jail in Syria. I had three very young children when I was jailed and I am terrified at the idea of not being able to recognize them. I don't know what to do," he said, breaking into tears.
The release, ordered by Lebanese prosecutors, came just after President Emile Lahoud decided that Beirut would look into the fate of Lebanese still missing in Syria.
"The president is satisfied by the closure of the file on people arrested in Syria [but] understands the reactions of the parents of the missing, who had been kidnapped by the militias during the war," said a source close to Lahoud.
"At the next cabinet session, the president intends to propose setting up a mechanism to determine the fate of those missing in light of information provided by their relatives to the relevant security services," the source said.
On Monday, 46 Lebanese and eight Palestinians holding Lebanese travel documents were repatriated in an attempt to close the controversial case of Lebanese held by neighboring Syria.
Lebanese Prosecutor Adnan Addum declared Thursday that the file on the prisoners was closed after releasing the names of 93 Lebanese still imprisoned by Damascus for non-political crimes.
But that claim is bitterly disputed by Lebanese family associations, who say hundreds of Lebanese are still being held in Syria and have called for a commission to investigate the fate of those they say are unaccounted for.
Addum decided earlier Friday in accordance with Lebanese law to release the 10 Lebanese because more than a decade had passed on the crimes they are accused of, judicial sources said.
A Palestinian who has Lebanese travel documents was released because of lack of evidence, they said.
The prisoners had been facing charges of spying for Israel, killing Syrian troops deployed in Lebanon, carrying out explosions and falsifying documents, the sources said.
The 10 Lebanese had been serving jail sentences in Syria, ranging between 10 years and life imprisonment, while the Palestinian had not been tried there.
Addum also referred eight Lebanese to the military court for prosecution on charges of collaboration with Israeli intelligence services and the now-disbanded Israeli-allied South Lebanon Army militia, as well as having undergone training courses in Israel, the sources said.
Two more Lebanese were referred to a civilian court in northern Lebanon for trial on charges of killing Syrian servicemen in Lebanon, they said.
According to Lebanese law, repatriated prisoners should be retried at home, but if found guilty, the time served in jails abroad count toward the sentences ordered by Lebanese courts.
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