President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) Nasr Al-Hariri, called on the United Nations to launch a serious investigation into the violations against Syrian refugees detained in Lebanon following a report Amnesty International has recently published and which talked about gross violations against Syrian prisoners.
Al-Hariri called for holding perpetrators of these abuses accountable and dispatching rights groups to ascertain the conditions of the Syrian prisoners in Lebanon.
In a damning new report published on Tuesday, Amnesty International said that Lebanese security forces have committed shocking violations against Syrian refugees who have been arrested, often arbitrarily, on terrorism-related charges, employing some of the same atrocious torture techniques that are used in Syria’s most notorious prisons.
Amnesty’s report, “I wish I would die”: Syrian refugees detained on terrorism-related charges and tortured in Lebanon, documents an array of violations committed by primarily Lebanese military intelligence against 26 detainees, including fair trial violations as well as torture – including beatings with metal sticks, electric cables, and plastic pipes. Detainees also described being hung upside down or forced into stress positions for prolonged periods of time.
“In many cases refugees who escaped war, ruthless repression and widespread torture have found themselves arbitrarily detained and held incommunicado in Lebanon, where they face many of the same horrors employed in Syrian prisons,” said Marie Forestier, Researcher on Refugee and Migrants Rights at Amnesty International.
“The Lebanese authorities must immediately implement their own anti-torture law and respect their obligations under international human rights law. They must ensure that torture allegations are effectively investigated and that those responsible for these horrendous abuses are held accountable,” said Marie Forestier.
Amnesty’s report correspond with the findings of a report that the National Commission for Detainees and Missing Persons issued six months ago on detention and trial of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Lebanon hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, one million of whom are registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. They are subject to repeated attacks by the terrorist Hezbollah militia and other allies of the Assad regime in Lebanon. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)