LEBANON: Relatives of Lebanese prisoners held in Syrian jails join protest tent encampment outside Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's office demanding the government resign and the release of loved ones

Amid hundreds of tents erected in central Beirut to try and topple the U.S.-backed government of Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, one tent calling for the release of Lebanese detainees in Syrian jails has become engulfed by the siege created by the other tents. Demonstrators have been holding a mass protest in Beirut since December 1, threatening to topple the government unless it gives the opposition a strong voice in the cabinet. The "Detainees Tent," as families of Lebanese prisoners call it, had been set up in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut since April 2005, and remained there until the Hezbollah-led opposition sit-in occupied the area, making it very difficult for the tent to be seen or recognised. Mirinda Karam, whose son has been held prisoner since the age of 16, called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to release her son, as it is the only case she cares for right now. "I saw my own son in jail (in Syria), I sat with him for an hour and then they took him away. They took him to Syria. Ok where is he now? I want Bashar al-Assad (Syrian President) to give me back my son, whether he is alive or dead. I want his bones, I want his ashes. If he is dead where is he? And if he is alive let him (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) send me my son, and all other (Lebanese) detainees," said Mirinda Karam. Ghazi Aad, Lebanese spokesman of SOLIDE, the Paris-based group for the 'Support Of the Lebanese Detainees In Detention and Exile', said that the current political crisis and the spread of all the opposition tents in the same area reduced the attention on the detainees' case. "All political parties are less interested now (in our case) because there is a political crisis in the country. This political crisis dictates all politicians to be interested in the current situation in Lebanon and this has surely impacted (on our case) because we feel ignored now. As you see amid all these tents no one will recognise that there is a tent for detainees," said Ghazi Aad. Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its main ally, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), headed by Christian leader Michel Aoun, have signed an agreement this year comprising the issue of the Lebanese detainees in Syrian jails. Lebanon's government officially recognised in 2005 the presence of Lebanese detainees in Syrian jails, and a Lebanese-Syrian committee was formed to finalise this case, however no big releases were scored. As the opposition protesters vowed to stay on the streets until Siniora's government resigns, families and relatives of Lebanese jailed in Syria also swore to never leave their encampment until the last Lebanese detainee is released. "We will not leave this tent. If I had only one second to live I won't leave the tent. We want our children, not only my children but children of my colleagues too. We want our children and we will stay here until the last minute," said Fatme Abdo. Syria released in December 2005 around 90 political prisoners, five of them were Lebanese, Aad said. He added that nearly 700 Lebanese families offered official documents saying that their loved ones are being detained in Syria.

ITN Source | December 20, 2006

Tags:. .spread. .scored. .saw. .mass. .wont