UAE to release 'more than a dozen' Lebanese prisoners: official

UAE to release 'more than a dozen' Lebanese prisoners: official
More than a dozen Lebanese citizens detained in the UAE are expected to be released soon, a senior Lebanese security official has revealed.
2 min read
30 January, 2021
Major General Abbas Ibrahim revealed that the UAE will be releasing Lebanese prisoners [Getty]

The UAE will release more than a dozen Lebanese prisoners "within the coming hours", a senior Lebanese security official revealed on Friday.

Emirati officials have been in talks with Lebanese counterparts during the past two years to resolve the cases of the Lebanese nationals detained in the UAE, Lebanon's Major General Abbas Ibrahim said in an interview on Friday with Al-Hurra TV.

"There is a number of [Lebanese] detainees in the UAE, and for the past two years we have been in contact with Emirati officials to resolve the issue," Ibrahim said.

"I will not reveal the details of the cases, of course, because we have not yet reached a final resolution, but we have received promises that a large number of those detained will be released and returned to Lebanon in the coming hours," he said.

There are currently 30 Lebanese nationals imprisoned in the UAE, Ibrahim confirmed, adding that "half of them will return within the coming hours".

In November, 14 Lebanese nationals living in the UAE were arrested while playing football, without any information given over the charges.

Following up on their case, Lebanese Ambassador to the UAE Fouad Dandan said in December that it remained unclear why the group was arrested.

Between December 2017 and February 2018, at least eight Lebanese nationals were detained by Emirati authorities. They had been residing and working in the UAE for over 15 years.

Rights group say they were held in solitary confinement, charged with terrorism-related offences, and denied access to legal representation. 

A number of them have reported having been tortured in order to sign "confessions", which they were not allowed to read, according to a 2019 report by London-based rights group Amnesty International.

The charges they face include "forming a terrorist cell" and planning "terrorist" attacks in the UAE on orders of Hezbollah, a Shia political party and armed group based in Lebanon.

New York-based Human Rights Watch had said their trial was marred with violations and irregularities, including brief hearings closed to the public and lack of access to defence lawyers.

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