Three soldiers who defected after protecting refugees risk being returned to face summary justice in Syria, say activists
The Guardian
"Three Syrian soldiers who defected to Lebanon after protecting refugees from the regime's militia have been arrested by Lebanese authorities and risk being returned to face summary justice in Syria, say activists.
The soldiers were manning a border checkpoint on Sunday when a group of refugees seeking to escape the violence that has gripped the country for two months tried to cross into Lebanon. The refugees came under fire from an armed gang loyal to President Bashar al-Assad known as the Shabiha. The soldiers returned fire, and one was killed in a firefight. The other three escaped into Lebanon with the refugees.
Wissam Tarif, of human rights organisation Insan, told the Guardian: "The Lebanese military intelligence has detained those soldiers and they run the risk of being deported back to Syria.
"If those soldiers are deported to Syria then there is a serious risk of torture and execution," he said, adding that sending them back to Syria would send the wrong message to other soldiers who may be tempted to defect because they don't want to kill civilians. The human rights group Avaaz called on Lebanon to grant refugee status to the soldiers.
Tarif said that defections at the conscript level were not uncommon, but few higher level officers had shown signs of changing sides...."
The Guardian
"Three Syrian soldiers who defected to Lebanon after protecting refugees from the regime's militia have been arrested by Lebanese authorities and risk being returned to face summary justice in Syria, say activists.
The soldiers were manning a border checkpoint on Sunday when a group of refugees seeking to escape the violence that has gripped the country for two months tried to cross into Lebanon. The refugees came under fire from an armed gang loyal to President Bashar al-Assad known as the Shabiha. The soldiers returned fire, and one was killed in a firefight. The other three escaped into Lebanon with the refugees.
Wissam Tarif, of human rights organisation Insan, told the Guardian: "The Lebanese military intelligence has detained those soldiers and they run the risk of being deported back to Syria.
"If those soldiers are deported to Syria then there is a serious risk of torture and execution," he said, adding that sending them back to Syria would send the wrong message to other soldiers who may be tempted to defect because they don't want to kill civilians. The human rights group Avaaz called on Lebanon to grant refugee status to the soldiers.
Tarif said that defections at the conscript level were not uncommon, but few higher level officers had shown signs of changing sides...."
No comments:
Post a Comment