May 30, 2009 - The Daily Star - Lebanon 20 Leb Prisoners released from Syria

BEIRUT: Conflicting reports emerged on Friday on the release of Lebanese prisoners jailed in Syria on criminal charges. An informed Syrian source was quoted in An-Nahar on Friday as saying that Syrian judicial authorities had released 20 Lebanese on Thursday, but denied other media reports that 300 Lebanese had been freed.
An-Nahar daily said that neither Lebanese nor Syrian official sources confirmed the report that 300 prisoners were released. Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar and head of the Higher Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council Nasri Khoury also denied that Lebanese authorities had been informed about such a move by Damascus.

"The number is much less. It doesn't exceed 20 prisoners," the Syrian source said, adding that three Lebanese detainees were released several days ago at the end of their sentence in Syria's central Adra jail.

"The number of Lebanese prisoners at Adra jail is less than 30." They are all serving criminal sentences, the source added.

Najjar, meanwhile, told Future News on Friday that, according to sources, 20 prisoners were released from Syrian prisons and are currently in the Bekaa Valley, "but we do not have any official information about this issue."

"If the news is correct, then Syria only released the prisoners who have served their sentence, not any others," he added.

The head of the Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile Organization in Lebanon (SOLIDE) Ghazi Aad said Friday he hoped that the report on the 20 Lebanese detainees' release in Syria would not instigate any "political noise" that might obstruct the release of the other 87.

The total number of those detained in Syria for committing felonies is 107. The remaining 87 are expected to be released at a later date.

In an interview with the Central News Agency on Friday, Aad said that the detainees had been released between April 22 and May 2.

He added that SOLIDE did not announce the news to the media, because those released were asked to maintain a low profile about the case in order to facilitate the release of the 87 others and to avoid any political exploitation of the matter.

Aad added that the organization called several times for releasing the 107 detainees, adding that it is committed to the enforced disappearance file, which he said should be resolved transparently.

"We should recognize the difference between those convicted and those who were arrested by Syrian authorities in Lebanon and then transferred to Syria without Damascus' knowledge," Aad said.

In other news, Syria's first-ever ambassador to Lebanon has presented his credentials to the Lebanese president on Friday in the latest sign of improving relations between the two neighbors after years of tensions.

Ali Abdel Karim Ali presented his credentials to Lebanese President Michel Sleiman at the Baabda palace.

The move came a month after Michel Khoury took up his post in Damascus as Lebanon's first ambassador to Syria.

The opening of embassies in both countries sealed the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the long-feuding rivals for the first time since they gained independence from France in the 1940s.

Diplomatic ties with Syria has been a pressing demand by Lebanon's anti-Syrian factions. - The Daily Star, with AP