Lebanon Develops Plan to Deport Syrian Prisoners

A photo released by the Lebanese Internal Security Forces shows prisoners performing Eid al-Fitr prayers in Roumieh jail. (ISF on Twitter)
A photo released by the Lebanese Internal Security Forces shows prisoners performing Eid al-Fitr prayers in Roumieh jail. (ISF on Twitter)
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Lebanon Develops Plan to Deport Syrian Prisoners

A photo released by the Lebanese Internal Security Forces shows prisoners performing Eid al-Fitr prayers in Roumieh jail. (ISF on Twitter)
A photo released by the Lebanese Internal Security Forces shows prisoners performing Eid al-Fitr prayers in Roumieh jail. (ISF on Twitter)

The Lebanese caretaker government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati has developed a plan to deport Syrian prisoners, despite faltering in developing political and legal mechanisms to return the displaced back to their home country.

The ministerial committee tasked with following up on the return of the displaced tasked Justice Minister Henry al-Khoury with discussing the possibility of turning over Syrian detainees to their country immediately, according to relevant laws and agreements.

Khoury told Asharq Al-Awsat that the return of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon to their country is a "sensitive issue and should not be dealt with hastily."

There are 1,800 Syrians, who have committed criminal offenses, in Lebanese prisons, 82 percent of whom have not completed their trials.

The Minister explained that the issue of Syrian prisoners requires careful legal consideration, and if the prisoner also has a pending judicial case in Syria, the procedures may be easier to transfer them and complete their trial in their country.

However, if the detainee does not have a case in Syria, once released, they might return to Lebanon illegally, warned Khoury.

He said a ministerial and technical delegation will visit Syria to discuss the return of the displaced, but the detainees and convicts' issue is still under consideration.

A source familiar with the prison issue told Asharq Al-Awsat that dozens of pre-trial detainees are awaiting judicial verdicts, including 143 Syrian minors, in Lebanese jails.

A security source concerned with the prison file admitted that thousands of Syrians in Lebanese prisons are deepening the prison crisis and are a burden on state resources.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, the source, who declined to be named, believed that the deportation of prisoners is usually linked to agreements signed between two countries.

He noted that it was a complex issue and difficult to resolve, questioning the process of returning convicts and detainees while the state has yet to come up with a mechanism to return the displaced.

Lawyer and human rights activist Diyala Shehadeh stressed that Lebanon is committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, she warned against violating the laws that must be followed in repatriating detainees, as it requires the concerned country to submit an extradition request.

Shehadeh cautioned that handing over these prisoners may expose them to persecution and physical and economic harm and the possibility of their involvement in the armed conflict, whether through forced conscription or by joining armed factions.



Tens of Thousands Go Hungry in Sudan after Trump Aid Freeze

(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Tens of Thousands Go Hungry in Sudan after Trump Aid Freeze

(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

For the first time in nearly two years of war, soup kitchens in famine-stricken Sudan are being forced to turn people away, with US President Donald Trump's aid freeze gutting the life-saving schemes.

"People will die because of these decisions," said a Sudanese fundraising volunteer, who has been scrambling to find money to feed tens of thousands of people in the capital Khartoum.

"We have 40 kitchens across the country feeding between 30,000 to 35,000 people every day," another Sudanese volunteer told AFP, saying all of them had closed after Trump announced the freezing of foreign assistance and the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"Women and children are being turned away and we can't promise them when we can feed them again," she said, requesting anonymity for fear that speaking publicly could jeopardize her work.

In much of Sudan, community-run soup kitchens are the only thing preventing mass starvation and many of them rely on US funding.

"The impact of the decision to withdraw funding in this abrupt manner has life-ending consequences," Javid Abdelmoneim, medical team leader at Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, told AFP.

"This is yet another disaster for people in Sudan, already suffering the consequences of violence, hunger, a collapse of the healthcare system and a woeful international humanitarian response," he added.

Shortly after his inauguration last month, Trump froze US foreign aid and announced the dismantling of USAID.

His administration then issued waivers for "life-saving humanitarian assistance", but there have so far been no signs of this taking effect in Sudan and aid workers said their efforts were already crippled.

In what the United Nations has decried as a global "state of confusion", agencies on the ground in Sudan have been forced to halt essential food, shelter and health operations.

"All official communications have gone dark," another Sudanese aid coordinator told AFP, after USAID workers were put on leave this week.

The kitchens that have survived "are stretching resources and sharing as much as they can", he said.

"But there's just not enough to go around."

As one of the few independent organizations still standing in Sudan, MSF said it had been fielding requests from local responders to quickly step in.

However, "MSF can't fill the gap left by the US funding withdrawal," Abdelmoneim said.

The United States was the largest single donor to Sudan last year, contributing $800 million or around 46 percent of funds to the UN's response plan.

The UN estimates it currently has less than 6 percent of the humanitarian funding needed for Sudan in 2025.

Over 8 million people are on the brink of famine in Sudan, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

Famine is expected to spread to at least five more areas of Sudan by May, before the upcoming rainy season is likely to make access to food all the more difficult across the country.