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Beirut — A Lebanese man UAE Hosting It sparked controversy in Beirut earlier this month as his family tried to retrieve the body, while United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials denied any wrongdoing in the case.
The spat led to a weekend phone call between the foreign ministers of Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.
In March, UAE authorities arrested Ghazi Ezzedine, a 55-year-old Lebanese citizen, and eight others, including his two brothers, on unknown charges, according to human rights group Amnesty International.
Local reports said Ezzedine died in police custody on May 4 and was buried in the UAE. It was days before his son Fadel notified the family, He was asked to identify his body at a cemetery in the UAE. He can only see his father’s face, while the body is covered.
The case of Ezzedine, a Shia who worked in real estate for 30 years in the Gulf state, has raised questions about the circumstances of his death. In a statement last week, a committee of family members of Lebanese citizens detained in the UAE claimed that Ezzeddin died of torture.
“If it is found that his death was indeed illegal, they must ensure that all those involved in the torture and unlawful killing, including those with command responsibility, are held accountable,” Sima Watling, a researcher at Amnesty International, finally told the United States. Associated Press. Friday.
For its part, Euro-Mediterranean human rights monitoring has called for an “immediate and transparent investigation” into Ezzedine’s death.
“UAE authorities have previously been involved in illegally detaining foreigners, investigating them and detaining them in inhumane conditions, subjecting them to psychological and sometimes physical torture, and deporting them under widespread and unfair security pretexts,” Euro- Med Monitor added in a press statement issued last Thursday.
Families of citizens detained in the UAE staged a protest in front of the Lebanese Foreign Ministry in Beirut on Monday, calling on the Lebanese government to intervene and release all those detained in the UAE. They also demanded disclosure of the circumstances surrounding Ezzedine’s death.
Family sit-in of Lebanese detainees #UAEin front of the diplomatic service #beirutdemand their release and make public the circumstances of the killing #Ghazi_Ezzedine May 4 in a UAE prison.
Ezzedine is believed to have been tortured, not least because UAE authorities refused to hand over his body to his family
from page @mazehalii pic.twitter.com/xNcXb07fTA– Saha News (@Akhbaralsaha) May 15, 2023
Lebanon’s ambassador to Abu Dhabi, Fouad Dandan, had received a signed letter from Ezdin’s family saying he had died due to health problems, the Lebanese foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
In a phone call on Saturday, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan told his Lebanese counterpart Abdullah Bouhabib that Ezddin’s Family members can leave or stay in the UAE.
However, the whereabouts of his remains are unknown due to reports that UAE authorities have refused to release him to his family.
Dozens of Lebanese nationals, most of them Shia Muslims, have been detained in the UAE over the past few years over their alleged links to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been designated a terrorist organisation.
In 2019, a UAE court sentenced four Lebanese men to life in prison and sentenced two others to 10 years in prison for forming a Hezbollah-linked terrorist cell to carry out attacks on key Gulf state installations, according to UAE authorities.
Amnesty International said at the time that “the absence of basic requirements for a fair trial – such as access to a lawyer – deprives today’s judgment of any reliability or credibility.”
In March 2016, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) listed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization for its “incitement in Syria, Yemen and Iraq”. gulf countries has long been a major donor to Lebanon.But over the past few years, this Gulf support has waned Hezbollah’s influence rises In a small Mediterranean country.
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