HRW accuses Lebanon of deporting Syrian at risk of torture

BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch Friday accused Lebanon of forcibly returning a Syrian who was recently released from prison to his home country where his relatives said the man was at risk of torture and execution.

In a statement, the group said Mahmoud Abdul Rahman was returned on Sept. 28 to Syria and was currently in the custody of the Syrian Army in a base close to the border with Lebanon.

“There is no justification for sending anyone into the hands of a government that is likely to torture them,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Lebanon’s efforts to promote security and stability must respect basic human rights. Deporting someone at risk of torture shows a total disregard for their rights and safety.”

HRW said Hamdan's relatives told the group that he entered Lebanon illegally 18 months go after fleeing Syria because he is wanted for allegedly participating in anti-regime protests in Zabadani, a Damascus suburb.

Lebanese Military Intelligence arrested Hamdan on March 7, 2014, and he was subsequently convicted in a court and sentenced to six months in prison for “transporting weapons,” the relatives said.

After his release on Sept. 8, Hamdan was transferred from Roumieh Prison to a General Security post on the Masnaa border.

The report said General Security allowed one of Hamdan's relatives to briefly visit him at the post where "Hamdan expressed fear that he would be tortured and killed if he was forcibly returned to Syria."

General Security officials reportedly refused to tell the relatives why Hamdan was being deported and later told relatives “he was not in their custody and that they did not know his whereabouts.”

The group said that it contacted General Security twice inquiring about Hamdan's case but that the state agency had no comment on the matter.

Relatives told HRW that a former detainee called them alleging to have seen Hamdan in the custody of the Syrian Army’s 18th Brigade in Jdaydet Yabous in Syria, close to the Lebanese border.

HRW accused Lebanon of violating article three of the Convention against Torture, saying Lebanon cannot send anyone including a convicted criminal, to a country where the person would face a real risk of torture.