Ibrahim: General Security Didn’t Hand Dissidents to Syrian Authorities
General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim affirmed on Thursday that the Directorate “has not handed any Syrian dissident to the Syrian authorities,” stressing that Lebanese laws ban illegal entry and will deport to Syria anyone trying to enter “illegitimately,” the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Thursday.
“Those who were returned to Syria, have entered Lebanon surreptitiously in the last few days and have no security files in their country,” Ibrahim told the daily in an interview.
Media reports have claimed that the “security agency last week, handed over 30 people, including women, to the Syrian security at the Lebanese-Syrian border, and were transferred by the intelligence security forces to Damascus,” a claim strongly denied by the Lebanese General Security chief.
Reports also said the General Security allegedly arrested three Syrian dissident recruits in the area of Qob Elias in the Bekaa region. They were reportedly summoned as part of a security campaign against illegal foreign workers.
These reports were categorically denied by Ibrahim, who told Asharq al-Awsat that the general security "has not handed any dissident to Syria over the past eight years, so why now?” he said.
He explained saying: “There is a decision by the Higher Council of Defense in Lebanon on April 24, 2019 to prevent the illegal entry of any Syrian, and demanding the return to Syria of all those who enter surreptitiously. We are applying this decision no more and no less.”
Ibrahim emphasized that authorities in Lebanon will deport any Syrian national who enters illegally into Lebanon, “state decisions must be applied,” he affirmed.
For his part, Head of the Syrian Negotiations Commission Nasr al-Hariri “condemned” the move describing it as "immoral.” He said: “Lebanese authorities can not invoke frail legal reasons to justify this immoral act which is inconsistent with the rules of human rights and international law.”
Source: Naharnet
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