Has the deportation of Syrian prisoners turned into an impossible dream?

Youssef Diab wrote in “Al-Anbaa Al-Kuwaiti”:

The Lebanese authorities have begun procedures for deporting Syrian prisoners and handing them over to Damascus to complete their sentence in their country, but this desire still collides with a reality that prevents implementation, as a source following this file revealed to Al-Anbaa “the impossibility of implementing this plan due to logistical, legal, and even political obstacles.” .

Pursuant to the decision to assign him this arduous task, the Director General of Public Security, Major General Elias Al-Bisari, is preparing the file and preparing his “data”, before heading to Damascus to discuss the issue with the Syrian side, in implementation of the official Lebanese decision and the verbal agreement between Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his Syrian counterpart. Hussein Arnous.

This measure aims to reduce overcrowding in Lebanese prisons, especially since the latest statistics indicate that the number of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon exceeds 30%, or a third of the inmates in Lebanese prisons, which is increasing on a daily basis.

Some see the government push as an exaggeration or over-optimism, as an official source concerned with the prison file confirmed to Al-Anbaa that “there are about 350 Syrian prisoners who have been sentenced, and these alone can be discussed regarding the possibility of being deported to serve the remainder of their sentences in Syrian prisons,” indicating that this The number “does not change anything in the reality of prison overcrowding,” stressing that “the real problem lies in the Syrian detainees, whose number exceeds 1,800 people, and if the number of detainees in prisons and temporary detention centers is added to them, the number will definitely rise to 2,500.”

The official source, who declined to be named, asserts that “simply considering deporting detainees against whom final and final rulings have not been issued is a violation of the rule of law and the right of the Lebanese judiciary to complete their trial.” He asks, “If there are detainees who are being pursued for crimes of theft, murder, or kidnapping, or who are involved in drug trafficking gangs, how can they be deported?” Did the state realize that deporting these people would disrupt the trial of the rest of their accomplices in these crimes, whether they were Lebanese, Palestinians, or other nationalities?

The same source continued, “If the person detained in violation of the law is removed from the ongoing trial in Lebanon, who will compensate the person harmed by the crimes referred to, and how will the latter preserve his rights?”, considering that this attempt “is nothing more than political propaganda.”