A new group of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon, consisting of 128 inmates, will be transferred to Syria as part of the implementation of a recent agreement between the two countries concerning the release of prisoners , Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais announced on Tuesday. The New Arab’s Lebanon-focused affiliate Al-Modon reported that the transfer would take place on Wednesday.
In a post on X, al-Wais said that this step comes within the ongoing judicial cooperation between Syria and Lebanon and reflects efforts to follow up on the situation of Syrians in Lebanon. On 18 March, a previous group of 132 Syrian detainees, many from the Roumieh Central Prison , were handed over by Lebanese authorities to Syria.
Additional transfers are expected in the coming period as the legal cases of the remaining Syrian detainees in Lebanese prisons continue to be processed. Al-Modon, however, reported that one of the 128 detainees due to be sent to Syria today had refused to be transferred, formally requesting to serve the remainder of his sentence in Lebanon.
It said the request was made in accordance with the legal and humanitarian standards followed in judicial exchange agreements. Al-Modon quoted a Lebanese judicial source as saying that a further batch comprising about 50 prisoners would be transferred in future, but this was not expected to be completed quickly, due to the complexity of the cases against them, which include civil penalties and financial compensation for the victims.
After this, the system would shift to “individual requests”, where any Syrian convict in Lebanon could make a request to be transferred to their country of origin. Trial of Assad’s cousin continues Separately in Syria, the fourth session of the trial of Atef Najib , the notorious cousin of former dictator, was held at the Palace of Justice in Damascus on Tuesday.
Najib previously headed the Political Security Branch in Daraa and is accused of presiding over the arrest and torture of children who wrote anti-Assad graffiti in Daraa in 2011, at the beginning of the Syrian uprising which led to the country’s 14-year conflict.
The torture of the children led to protests in Daraa which were met with brutal repression by Assad regime forces and soon spread to the rest of the country.
The Assad regime was eventually ousted in December 2024 by rebels led by current Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
The court session, which was closed to the public, was dedicated to hearing the testimony of prosecution witnesses.
Najib continues to deny the charges against him and has accused other Assad regime security bodies of being behind the repression in Daraa.
In a separate development, the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced that it had arrested Brigadier General Youssef Habib of the Assad regime’s Republican Guard for violations and crimes against civilians.
The ministry explained that investigations revealed Habib had previously held the rank of lieutenant colonel in Brigade 106 and was responsible for searching and arresting activists at checkpoints before handing them over to security agencies accused of carrying out executions of detainees.
It added that Habib later rose through the ranks until he became commander of the Republican Guard in the eastern region in 2023.