In a post on the “X” platform, “Wilson” said: “I spoke with Syrian political prisoners inside Roumieh prison in Lebanon, imprisoned by Hezbollah simply for opposing the brutal Assad regime that collaborates with the party.”
He continued: “I call on the governments of Lebanon and Syria to work quickly on a mechanism to return Syrian political prisoners to their homeland,” stressing the need for “Lebanon to fulfill its promises to President Donald Trump, and disarm Hezbollah before the end of the year.”
This statement from “Wilson” comes a few weeks after an official visit by the Syrian Minister of Justice, “Mazhar Al-Awais,” to Beirut last October, at the head of a judicial delegation, to discuss the outstanding legal issues between the two countries, foremost among which is the file of Syrian detainees in Lebanese prisons.
During this visit, the Syrian minister asked the Lebanese authorities to allow him to visit Roumieh prison in the capital, hand over a number of officials in the former regime wanted in Damascus, and discuss the possibility of establishing a judicial mechanism to hand over some detainees who were arrested in Lebanon in recent years on charges related to their affiliation with opposition groups to the Syrian regime.
The meetings also addressed the possibility of expediting the trials of a number of detainees in preparation for their release, especially those whose cases are not related to any security issues inside Lebanese territory.
In return, the Lebanese judicial parties affirmed that any action in this regard will be in accordance with strict legal procedures and judicial standards, and that handing over detainees involved in clashes with the Lebanese army or in security operations inside Lebanon is unlikely at the present time.
Informed sources indicate that communication between Beirut and Damascus is still ongoing at the judicial and security levels, with differences in viewpoints between the two sides regarding this file, between the political dimension put forward by Damascus and the recent American call, and the internal Lebanese legal considerations.
