Lebanon: Hearing on 24 April 2009 for 5 Syrians threatened with extradition

Al-Karama questioned the Lebanese authorities on 3 April 2009 in letters sent to Said Merza, the Prosecutor-General; Dr. Ibrahim Najjar, the Minister of Interior; Mr. Saqr Saqr, the Commissioner of the Government at the Military Court; and Tawfiq Jazzin, the Director-General General Security Brigadier General, reminding them of the commitments made by the Lebanese government when they ratified the Convention Against Torture on 11 October 1989. 

Article 3 of the treaty explicitly states that "no State Party shall expel, return or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing the risk of being subjected to torture ". 

List of five Syrian nationals involved: 

1. Bora Mohammed Fouad, 32, Syrian entrepreneur residing in Syria and Lebanon. He was arrested on 3 January 2006 in a public place in Beirut and held incommunicado by the local intelligence services for five months in a basement and in isolation before being transferred to prison Roumieh. 

2. Moaz Abdelghani Shousha, 26 years, a Syrian residing in Syria, clothing salesman. He was arrested on 4 January 2006 in Tripoli. He was detained at the Al-Bastah police station before being transferred to the local intelligence services in Beirut where he was kept in isolation in a basement for a period of five months. He was then transferred to the Roumieh prison. 

3. Mohammed Al-Wafaei Abderrazzak, 23, a Syrian student residing in Syria He was arrested on 3 January 2006 in Beirut and held incommunicado by local intelligence services for five months in isolation in a basement before being transferred to Roumieh prison. 

4. Mohammed Ahmed Qoja, 22, a Syrian student residing in Syria, arrested on 3 January 2006 in Beirut and held incommunicado by local intelligence services for five months in isolation in a basement before being transferred to Roumieh prison. 

5. Rajaa Tareq Nasser, 30, a Syrian residing in Syria, arrested on 3 January 2006 in Beirut and held incommunicado by local intelligence services for five months in isolation in the basement before being transferred to prison Roumieh. 

These five persons were accused of links with other terrorist groups who support the resistance in Iraq and who maintain relations with Al-Qaeda. However, all reported having been detained incommunicado for five months, tortured and forced to sign statements under torture. 

All have been prosecuted before the military court in Beirut when they do not qualify as military. In addition, the charges against them do not constitute a military offense. 

The concerned and their families fear that at the outcome of their trial, they will be deported to Syria where they risk being tortured. They are afraid of suffering the same fate as Hamad Turkey Al-Reda, 33, a Syrian residing in Beirut, who was arrested on 16 January 2006 and detained incommunicado in solitary confinement for five months at the premises of the intelligence services before being transferred to Roumieh prison. He was extradited to Syria and has since disappeared. 

Al-Karama had submitted a communication on 15 January 2009 to the Special Rapporteur on torture asking him to intervene in the case of 12 persons, including five as Syrian nationals (see communiqué).