Who abducted Syrian poet Anas Al Abbas in Beirut?

(Zaman al-Wasl)- The fate of the Syrian poet Anas al-Abbas is still unknown after 40 days of his abduction in Lebanon’s beirut, according to his friend and journalist Amer Matar.

The 37-year-old al-Abbas was kidnapped from a hostel in Ain Mraiseh district in central Beirut when a group of men entered the hotel and led him to an unknown location.

According to Matar, no information revealed about al-Abbas by the owners of the hotel or even the roomers. Some believed that he might be in Verdun police station, but the news is unconfirmed, he added.

A Lebanese lawyer assured to Matar three weeks ago that Anas was not in police custody.

The poet’s family, who were not aware of his abduction and were surprised by the news, tried to communicate with many influential people and officials in Lebanon, to no avail.

The cases of the abduction of Syrians in Lebanon have become quite frequent recently, with the absence of intervention by Lebanese authorities and the silence of media in Lebanon.

Activists called on the Lebanese government to take responsibility and to disclose Abbas’ fate whether he is detained by one of the security services, to be presented to the judiciary in accordance with the law and the minimum humanitarian standards; or if he is kidnapped by a political party that owns an intelligence service and prisons. They also appealed to all human rights institutions such asThe United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and civil rights activists.

Al-Abbas, who was born in Raqqa and studied Arabic literature, has been writing poetry for a long time and has been published in a large number of newspapers and magazines. He worked in more than one publishing houses in Beirut over the past years, reviewing and editing manuscripts and that he has a lot of research.

Before being kidnapped, al-Abbas was preparing to travel to Germany through a scholarship from the German PEN Center. He, also, was preparing to print a book that was due to be published before his abduction.

The UNHCR claims 948,849 Syrian refugees are registered in Lebanon, however, actual figures from municipalities and central government report that figure is closer towards 1.8 million refugees.

(Reporting by Faris al-Rifai)

Zaman Al Wasl