(Zaman Al Wasl)- Lebanon’s military judicial investigation authorities on Thursday have referred 19 Syrians, including former jihadists, to the country’s military court.
In the first indictment, examining military magistrate Fadi Sawan accused four Syrians of belonging to the in the Jaish al-Islam group.
The second indictment accused three Syrian defendants of monitoring the mobility of the Lebanese army near the border town of Arsal.
The third indictment accused 12 Syrians of involving in the Southern Beirut bombing that targeted the stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah militia in August.
A legal report issued two months ago shed light on the mounting abuses against the Syrian detainees inside the Lebanese prisons.
The sentences issued by the Lebanese Military Court against Syrian detainees are clearly and unequivocally violates the most basic conditions and standards of trials according to international laws and conventions.
The report was prepared by Moutasem Haj Ibrahim, the lawyer of legal sector of “ National Liberation Movement”.
The report mentioned that the torture and humiliation of Syrians in Lebanese prisons is a violation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Of 1989, which brought torture to the point of a crime against humanity when practiced in general and in a systematic and clear violation.
Article 3 states that "Any person arrested or imprisoned under the conditions specified in paragraph (c) of paragraph (1) of this article shall be promptly brought to a judge or a member of the judicial body that empowered by law to exercise judicial functions."
“This person is entitled to be tried within a reasonable period of time or to be released during the judicial proceedings, and his release may be subject to a guarantee of appearance before the Court.
According to the report, "Syrian Detainees in Lebanese Prisons have been subjected to injustice and repression of the security and intelligence services. They have arrested thousands, under baseless and false arguments such as" belonging to Terrorist organizations, dealing with Israel and violating Lebanese laws, "and put them in prison for long periods of time.”
“In some cases, they reached four years and then brought them to military courts and children under the age of 15 may sentenced to the death. These provisions have violated Human rights and international laws, including the Lebanese Military Justice Act of 1968, article 24 of which prohibits the prosecution of civilians and all children before military courts.
The report stressed that it is due to the support of the Assad regime and sectarian incitement from its ally Hezbollah with the aim of punishing everyone who revolted against him, and forcing the rest of the refugees to return.
The report pointed out to the criminality practiced by the Lebanese security forces against the Syrian refugees and detainees.
The Movement of National Liberation prepared a report and submitted it to international bodies and institutions in an effort to try and release these detainees.
According to the report, the file included lists of prisoners and detainees in the Lebanese prisons, in addition to reports of the brutal practices against them and testimonies of activists and rights activists and detainees from inside Roumieh prison, and a voice appeal from them to release etc..
The report considered that there is “almost complete legal absence in the legitimate rights of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and that all provisions against Syrians in Lebanese courts violate the laws of 1951, of the Universal Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol that called for the protection of all refugees in all the countries that turn to it under compelling or exceptional circumstances and to provide a safe place for them”.
“The sentences against children under the age of 15 are a serious violation by the Lebanese government of international law of 1989 and other International Convention of child’s Rights, which insist on the rights of the child as human and universal rights”.
The Mediterranean country of around 4.5 million people says it hosts some 1.5 million Syrians, of which nearly a million are UN-registered refugees.
Lebanese politicians routinely blame the country's economic and other woes on Syrian refugees and the government has ratcheted up the pressure to send them back.
Rights groups have decried measures to make the lives of refugees increasingly difficult.
Eight years of war in Syria have killed 560,000 people and driven half the pre-war population of 22 million from their homes, including more than 6 million as refugees to neighboring countries.
(Zaman Al Wasl with Agencies)
Zaman Al Wasl
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