The Lebanese judiciary received on Monday a legal request from France demanding assistance in tracking down officials from the ousted Syrian regime and their arrest should they be found in Lebanon.
A prominent Lebanese judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the request was received by Chief Public Prosecutor Judge Jamal Hajjar.
It called for assistance to track down Syria’s former Director of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate Jamil al-Hassan, former Director of the National Security Ali Mamlouk, and former head of the investigation branch in the Air Intelligence Abdelsalam Mahmoud.
The request urged Lebanon to probe whether they are in the country and to arrest them if found so that they can be turned over to French authorities.
The request is part of an ongoing case against ousted President Bashar al-Assad and members of his regime for war crimes and crimes against humanity that claimed the lives of French citizens.
Three French citizens of Syrian descent had died under torture while held by the Air Intelligence and interrogated by Mahmoud, said Monday’s legal filing.
The source revealed that Hajjar tasked the information branch in the Internal Security Forces to carry out the necessary investigations and verify whether the wanted officials were in Lebanon.
Moreover, the source said the request also included Lebanese telephone numbers that are in regular contact with the suspects.
French this summer issued a new arrest warrant against Assad over deadly chemical attacks in 2013. France has now put out three separate arrest warrants against the former president exiled in Russia.
Lebanon had previously received a notice from Interpol, demanding that it implement an arrest warrant issued by the US to detain al-Hassan and Mamlouk.
