PRESS RELEASE FROM SOLIDA
Paris: 24/10/1999 (Support of Lebanese in Detention)
Adel Khalaf Ajouri, is another Lebanese to be added to the list of civilian-victims who have paid the highest price during their illegal and inhumane detention in Syrian prisons. Adel Ajouri died in his Syrian prison a month ago (late September) of unknown causes. No medical report on his condition prior to death was presented nor a postmortem examination was performed on the body to identify the reason(s) behind his death. Friday morning, October 22nd, 99, the authorities of Saidnaya prison in Syria, called his family to break the news of his death. His body was delivered in an ambulance that belongs to Saidnaya hospital and carried him to Hayek hospital in Sin al-Fil and later to his family on Friday night, October 22nd, 99. His funeral took place at 14:00 PM, Saturday, October 23rd, 99. We have a strong belief that he died under very severe conditions, most probably from torture, which is a common practice inside the Syrian prisons. The distressing fate of Adel Ajouri is not different from the fate of a large score of Lebanese citizens who died on the hands of Syrian security forces inside the Syrian detention centers without knowing the true causes of their ill-fate. They are completely denied medical care and access and they die from unknown causes, no questions asked. Out of fear, the families cannot speak nor ask and they bury their love-ones quietly. The same scenario, happened in 1996 to Joseph Zgeib. His parents brought him home from Al-Masna’a (on the Lebanese-Syrian border) in a coffin on top of a taxi car. Neither the Lebanese authorities nor the International Red Cross paid attention to the appeals of his family. The parents brought their son’s body home in a humiliating way to be buried in a quiet and unnoticed atmosphere. Adel Ajouri, born Ashrafieh 1947, married and has 3 children, was kidnapped May 5, 1990 while on his way to his house in Dekwaneh from Beirut International Airport. His family could not identify his whereabouts at first, and later discovered that he was detained in Saidnaya prison in Syria. While in prison, and like the rest of his fellow Lebanese inmates, Adel was very sick and did not receive the proper medical treatment. Now, Adel Ajouri is a new forgotten name in a long list of Lebanese citizens who are completely abandoned by their government and left deliberately to their unfortunate fate. We bring to the attention of the concerned governments and human rights organizations, the dire consequences of the unlawful and prolonged detention of Lebanese citizens in Syrian prisons and our deep concern and worries to their wellbeing and fate.
S.O.L.I.D Support of Lebanese in Detention
October 24th, 1999
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