The recent release of a
Lebanese man who had been detained in Syria in the past 27 years brought back
to the spotlight the issue of the Lebanese who went missing during Lebanon’s
1975-90 Civil War.
The media identified the
man as 49-year-old Yaacoub Chamoun, who was seized in the eastern city of
Zahle, and later moved to several Syrian prisons during his incarceration,
including the notorious Mezze, Saydnaya and Tadmor prisons.
Chamoun was also placed
in solitary confinement for four years.
He was later transferred
to a civilian prison and was able to secure his release by paying millions in
cash through a powerful Syrian lawyer.
The release of Chamoun
in July proved that Syrian authorities were still detaining Lebanese political
prisoners despite claims that they had set all of them free.
The Assad regime has
long denied holding any prisoners of conscience, but on four different occasions
between 1976 and 2000 has released Lebanese who had been held in Syrian
prisons.
The man confirmed to
LBCI TV network that there are Lebanese political prisoners in Syrian jails and
said he had encountered five of them but he refused to name them for fears that
the revelation would do them harm.
The head of the
committee of Lebanese political detainees in Syrian jails, Ali Abu Dehen, told
An Nahar daily that a former prisoner had been sent to meet Chamoun and inquire
him about other Lebanese.
But the committee failed
in getting any additional information , Abu Dehen said.
The civil war has claimed
the lives of at least 150,000 people. For over 21 years, more than 600 families
-- Lebanese and Palestinian -- have demanded authorities reveal the fate of the
thousands believed to have disappeared at the hands of Syrian troops who
entered Lebanon shortly after the outbreak of the war.http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/51473
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