BEIRUT: Religious and political leaders from the northern city
of Akkar have warned the Lebanese government against withholding medical
treatment to Syrian refugees and leaving them to die.
A statement issued at the end of a lengthy meeting held Monday
at the residence of Future bloc MP Mouin Merhebi accused Prime Minister Najib
Mikati of denying medical care for Syrian nationals fleeing an eight-month
crackdown by the Syrian regime.
The meeting comprised of Akkar Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rifai, Azem
Ayoubi, head of a local Islamic group; Khaled Taha, lawyer and coordinator of
the Future Movement in Tripoli and Zakaria Abdullah, head of the Union of
Municipalities for the area.
The group said Mikati had ordered the government-run Higher
Relief Council to freeze medical care to Syrian refugees.
While acknowledging that the government-run Higher Relief Council
had “to some extent” fulfilled its duties toward Syrian refugees in terms of
hospitalization and health care for the sick and wounded, the participants said
they were “surprised” by Mikati’s decision to halt medical assistance.
“This decision is a violation of all rules of treatment of
refugees provided by the human rights charter and the laws of the United
Nations, putting dozens of [Syrian] refugees at risk of death from medical
conditions, and their inability to return home to seek the necessary treatment,”
the group said in its statement.
“We hold the prime minister, who heads the Higher Relief
Council, fully responsible for the outcome of this unjust and arbitrary
decision ... and we hold the government and the relevant institutions
[responsible for] the consequences of their support for the Syrian regime for
the sake of implementing its bloody and criminal schemes,” the statement added.
The group, which said it stood in solidarity with the Syrian
people, hailed the protesters as determined heroes in the face of “killing and
terrorizing the people for more than four decades.”
“It is the duty of the government and the head of the government
to deal with these refugees in line with international law and the human rights
charter, especially with the entire world knowing they’re being killed,
arrested, intimidated and tortured if they return to their homeland of Syria,”
the group said in the statement.
It said that providing assistance and attention for the Syrian
refugees was a religious, humanitarian, legal and national duty.
The participants also accused the Lebanese military of imposing
a “media blockade” in the Wadi Khaled border area.
“The Syrian people are exposed to a campaign of intimidation by
the Assad regime, seeking to keep them from freedom and dignity,” read the
statement.
In its latest report on the refugee situation in the region, the
U.N. Higher Commission for Refugees states that there are now 3,505 Syrians
registered with the agency and with Lebanon’s High Relief Commission.
Protests against
the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad have raged since earlier this year.
The U.N. says over 3,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the
crackdown by Damascus. Syrian authorities deny targeting civilians, blaming the
deaths on "armed gangs" who are part of a conspiracy targeting the
country.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Nov-08/153353-north-gathering-says-government-neglecting-syrian-refugees-medical-needs.ashx#axzz1dCrFWX7J
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