{"id":257,"date":"2011-05-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/?p=257","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon: Stop Detaining Syrian Refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nFor Immediate Release<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nLebanon: Stop Detaining Syrian Refugees <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt least Ten Fleeing Violence and Persecution detained
\nsince Sunday, Fear of Refoulement<\/em><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n(Beirut, May 20, 2011) – Lebanon’s security forces should
\nstop detaining Syrian refugees who cross the border into Lebanon to escape
\nviolence and persecution in their country, Human Rights Watch said today.\n<\/p>\n

\nLebanese authorities should instead provide them with at
\nleast temporary asylum, and above all refrain from deporting them back to
\nSyria.\n<\/p>\n

\nHuman Rights Watch documented the detention by Lebanon’s
\nsecurity forces of nine Syrian men and one child since May 15, allegedly for
\ncrossing illegally into Lebanon. Relatives and friends of the ten told Human
\nRights Watch that the detained Syrians had fled out of fear of being arrested
\nor shot at by Syria’s army and border police. At least seven of them are
\ncurrently in the custody of General Security, Lebanon’s security agency
\nresponsible for foreigners, according to relatives and friends. The men have
\ncommitted no recognizable crimes in Syria that would justify their detention or
\nrepatriation, to Human Rights Watch’s knowledge.\n<\/p>\n

\n“Syria welcomed many Lebanese fleeing civil war back in
\n2006,” said Nadim Houry, director of the Beirut office at Human Rights Watch.
\n“Now it’s time to return the favor. Lebanon should be offering immediate refuge
\nto Syrians fleeing death or torture in their country.”\n<\/p>\n

\nSending asylum seekers and refugees back to Syria is
\nrefoulement, Houry added, and would make Lebanon complicit with any harm
\nsuffered at the hands of Syria’s security services.\n<\/p>\n

\nSyrians fleeing the towns of Tal Kalakh and Arida started
\narriving to Lebanon in early May but their numbers have increased since May 14,
\nwhen Syria’s army and security forces intensified their attack on Tal Kalakh.
\nLebanese mukhtars<\/em>, locally elected officials, in the border area known
\nas Wadi Khaled estimate that 3,500 Syrians refugees are currently present in
\ntheir communities.\n<\/p>\n

\nOn May 15, the Lebanese army detained Khaled Shuwaity and
\nhis son Muhammad, two Syrian nationals, at a checkpoint near the coastal town
\nof Deir Ammar, a friend of theirs told Human Rights Watch. “They had women and
\nchildren relatives with them, but the military only detained the two men,” he
\nsaid, basing his information on what the family members had told him. According
\nto the source, the military at the checkpoint transferred the two detainees to
\nthe Military Intelligence center near Tripoli, which in turn referred them to
\nthe Military Police in Qubba. The Military Police later transferred them to the
\nTaatour Police station in Baddawi, where one the detained men’s friend was able
\nto visit them. They remain in detention.\n<\/p>\n

\nOn May 16, the Lebanese Army detained six Syrian nationals
\nin the village of Buqay`a, in Wadi Khaled.  The six are Mahmud al-Yusef,
\nAhmad al-Yusef, Shehadeh al-Yusef (who is, sources tell Human Rights Watch, a
\n13-year old child), Khaled al-Yusef, Muhammad al-Ali, and Ahmad Sulayman.
\nAccording to a Lebanese with whom they had stayed in Buqay`a, the six had
\nescaped Tal Kalakh on May 14. The army detained with them at least four
\nLebanese nationals who were released on May 18 without charge. One of the
\nreleased Lebanese told us that the Lebanese army had transferred the Syrians to
\nGeneral Security on May 18. He described the arrests:\n<\/p>\n

\nAt around 11pm at night, the army came and entered a number
\nof homes in Buqay`a. I don’t know what prompted the house raids. They arrested
\nthe six Syrians and four Lebanese. They released all of us Lebanese on May 18
\nbut transferred the Syrians to General Security. I worry that they will deport
\nthem back to Syria.\n<\/p>\n

\nOn May 17, the Lebanese police in Halba, a large town near
\nLebanon’s border, detained `Ala’ Jihad al-Omar, a young man from Tal Kalakh, at
\nthe Yusef Medical Center where he was getting treatment for a bullet wound to
\none of his feet that he had suffered in Syria. Al-Omar had crossed into Lebanon
\nillegally on May 14, a relative told Human Rights Watch. “The Lebanese police
\ncame for him specifically. I sent someone to see him at the Tripoli General
\nSecurity yesterday [May 17], but they did not allow anyone to see him. The
\nGeneral Security called me this morning [May 18] and asked me to bring them
\n`Ala’s ID. When I asked why, they said because they wanted to deliver him to
\nSyria.”\n<\/p>\n

\nLebanon is party to the Convention against Torture and
\nOther Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against
\nTorture) and is bound under Article 3 of that instrument not to return or expel
\nany persons to states where they would be in danger of being tortured. Human
\nRights Watch has documented rampant torture by Syria’s security services of
\ndetained males from towns that have seen large anti-government protests, such
\nas Tal Kalakh.\n<\/p>\n

\nLebanon is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its
\n1967 Protocol, but is nevertheless bound by customary international law not to
\nreturn refugees to a place where their lives or freedom would be threatened. 
\nThe Refugee Convention also establishes the principle that refugees who come
\ndirectly from a territory where their lives or freedom are threatened should
\nnot be penalized for their illegal entry or presence.\n<\/p>\n

\nOn May 19 at 7 am, the Lebanese army raided a house in the
\nborder village of Debabiya, near the Syrian border, an eyewitness who was just
\noutside the house told Human Rights Watch. The witness said the army arrested
\nHael Hamed, a Syrian from the neighboring village of Halat. When asked by bystanders
\nabout the reason for the arrest, the army reportedly responded that it was
\nbecause he had crossed the border illegally. \n<\/p>\n

\n“Lebanon’s authorities have international obligations
\ntowards these refugees. And these obligations cannot be trumped by bilateral
\nsecurity ties between Lebanon and Syria’s security forces,” Houry said.\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nLebanon: Stop Detaining Syrian Refugees <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt least Ten Fleeing Violence and Persecution detained
\nsince Sunday, Fear of Refoulement<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n(Beirut, May 20, 2011) – Lebanon’s security forces should
\nstop detaining Syrian refugees who cross the border into Lebanon to escape
\nviolence and persecution in their country, Human Rights Watch said today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}