Najjar Doubts Assad”s Pledge to Aoun
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar was asked about the Hayat report that suggested 50 convicted prisoners would be released from Syrian jails and said that, “If there were any promises to hand in convicted Lebanese in Syria, surely the number is more than 50.
The Lebanese committee received from its Syrian counterpart a list of around 140 persons convicted in Syria. We know, unlike what has been said, the names and accusations against them and their sentences, and we have files on them.”
In an interview with ANB television, Najjar said that efforts were underway to prepare a legal procedure to return to Lebanon citizens convicted in Syria. He said the issue was being tackled by President Michel Sleiman and the Syrian Justice Minister Nizar al-Assassi, who participated in the Arab Justice Ministers meeting in Beirut two weeks ago. Najjar said that a draft of a bilateral agreement on the exchange of criminals between Lebanon and Syria and applying sentences since such an agreement does not yet exist.
Therefore, Najjar said, no convicted Lebanese could be released due to political promises.
“It is clear that the news about releasing 50 persons has more political than legal background, and it is totally imprecise,” he said.
Najjar called for separating legal and judicial work between Lebanon and Syria from the issue of detainees and missing persons in Syria.
“I know that those [detainees and missing persons] are more than 700, and all statements issued here and there are only political statements,” he said.
Najjar also said that reports that the Justice Ministry had failed to hand Syria a list of names of Lebanese missing persons in Syria were imprecise and contradicted all legal information from the last three years.
Najjar said that the issue of Lebanese detainees in Syria was being handled by the presidency and was a basic point in the joint statement issued by President Sleiman and President Assad on August 14, 2008. He said the Syrian promise was clear in this regard.