The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization in Beirut that was established by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) in 2006. SOLIDA has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human violations.

Search This Blog

May 29, 2012

The Daily Star - Lebanese hostages alive in Syria: Free Syrian Army official


BEIRUT: Free Syrian Army deputy commander Malek al-Kurdi said in remarks published Tuesday that the 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria last week are alive and still in the country.
"The kidnapped Lebanese are in Syria and have not entered Turkish territory," Kurdi told pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, denying reports that they had been executed.
Negotiations intensified Monday in a bid to secure the release of 11 Lebanese hostages held by Syrian rebels, a political source told The Daily Star, as Lebanon called on the Arab League to take part in efforts to free them.
The 11 male pilgrims were kidnapped in the Syrian province of Aleppo last Tuesday shortly after crossing the border from Turkey. Their release had been scheduled for Friday, according to Turkish officials, but for reasons that are still unknown, they are still held captive. A day later, three Lebanese pilgrims were killed and several others wounded in Iraq in a bomb blast targeting their bus.
In an interview with As-Safir newspaper published Monday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said contacts were continuing with all sides and “what we can say and tell the parents is that their sons are safe and sound.”
Asked about the outcome of contacts in the matters, Mikati said: “There is nothing tangible up till now but, God willing, things will progress.”
Mikati issued Monday a directive temporarily banning overland pilgrimages in light of the attacks. Pilgrims may now travel only by air. The committee of Hajj and Umrah affairs was tasked with coordinating with relevant groups to ensure the implementation of the decision, the statement added.
Sheikh Ibrahim Zoabi, head of the Party of Free Syrians, said Monday the party had stopped mediating the release of the Lebanese hostages for several reasons, including the “negative” way the Lebanese Cabinet was handling the matter.
Meanwhile Nabil Halabi, head of the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, told a local radio station Monday evening that the hostages were in Turkey.
He said he had received a photo of one of the kidnapped sitting on a cement bench, blindfolded but in apparent good health. He added that the authenticity of the photo had to be determined before it could be published.
The activist said the biggest obstacle hindering the pilgrims release was the kidnappers’ interest in hostage Abbas Shuaib, whom they maintain is a member of Hezbollah.
Halabi also said that the captors were not part of any of the Syrian opposition groups.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/May-29/174977-lebanese-hostages-alive-in-syria-free-syrian-army-official.ashx#axzz1wFjVYzRg

No comments:

Post a Comment

Archives