Heated Debate at Human Rights Committee over Syrian Opposition Members Abduction
The Parliamentary human rights committee session on Monday witnessed a heated debate over the discussion of a report written by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi about the alleged involvement of the Syrian embassy in the disappearance of Syrian opposition members in Lebanon.
Voice of Lebanon radio reported that the voices were heard at the press room in the parliament.
“The session will be crowded by the members of the two political teams,” al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc sources told al-Liwaa newspaper.
The sources said that the session is set to hear General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza’s testimony about the kidnapping of four Syrian brothers from al-Jassem family, Syrian opposition member Shebli al- Aisamy and Middle East Airlines engineer Joseph Sader.
The daily noted that a conflict in the timing between the human rights committee session and the defense committee, led defense committee president MP Samir al-Jisr to postpone the session until next week.
An Nahar newspaper quoted Speaker Nabih Berri as saying in comments on the issue: “Let the judiciary take its course of action… Not more.”
Rifi told the parliamentary human rights committee earlier this month that the ISF had "dangerous information" linking the Syrian embassy to al-Aisamy’s disappearance.
Al-Aisamy, 86, is a co-founder of Syria's ruling Baath party who fled his native country in 1966 over political differences. He was last seen in May in the eastern region of Aley.
Sader, an official at Middle East Airline's IT department, was kidnapped in February 2009 near Rafik Hariri international airport by unidentified assailants who sped away in a Sports Utility Vehicle.
The report also drew similarities between the abduction of al-Jassem brothers and the alleged kidnapping of al-Aisamy.
However, Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali has denied that his embassy was behind the disappearance of Syrian opposition members in Lebanon, calling such accusations "unfounded."
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