Sleiman’s call for arrest of kidnappers draws Meqdad ire

President Michel Sleiman called Tuesday for the arrest of the perpetrators of a recent spate of abductions, drawing the ire of the kidnappers, who argued that the state’s neglect had pushed them to take matters into their own hands. Responding to Sleiman’s call for the judiciary to issue arrest warrants for the kidnappers, the Meqdad clan’s spokesperson, Maher Meqdad, said authorities could not detain suspects without knowing their names. “Is Sleiman calling for arrest warrants for the entire Meqdad family?” asked Meqdad. “Before talking about arrests, let him [Sleiman] go build a state as he vowed he would when he was sworn in as president,” Meqdad told The Daily Star. “I think the president can do better,” Meqdad said. “Had he won the freedom of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims in the past three months, we wouldn’t have reached this point.” He also said the Meqdad family would meet Wednesday to decide on the future steps the clan would take in retaliation for the kidnapping of their relative, Hasan Meqdad, in Damascus. Meqdad added that no Lebanese political party had so far offered the family assistance in freeing their relative in Syria. “Even Hezbollah has not been of any help ... There have been no contacts between us and Hezbollah over this issue,” Meqdad said. “We agree with Hezbollah on many things but we also disagree with them,” he added. A statement from Sleiman’s press office said the president had made several phone calls to judicial and security officials, stressing the need to free all the Syrian and Turkish hostages and issue “the necessary arrest warrants” for the perpetrators. Meanwhile, the opposition Syrian National Council accused the Lebanese authorities of failing to act in response to the wave of kidnappings and said some political parties in the country were complicit in the abductions of Syrians in Lebanon. “Syrians in Lebanon have been abducted by political parties and subjected to arbitrary arrests by security agents, and the authorities have not lifted a finger,” the council told AFP. The SNC claimed that some 36 Syrians had been kidnapped in Lebanon over the past few days, adding that the Lebanese Army intelligence Monday had raided the home of a Syrian humanitarian activist and arrested two of his colleagues as well as a Syrian lawyer. The recent string of abductions has evoked memories of Lebanon’s Civil War, during which kidnappings were a daily affair. Hundreds of Lebanese and foreigners kidnapped during the Civil War remain missing to this day. Sleiman criticized the retaliatory abductions carried out by the Meqdad clan and “Al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi Brigades” in response to the kidnappings of Lebanese in Syria. He said such retaliatory kidnappings would not contribute to the resolution of the case. Rather, he said, the actions would only complicate the issue further and obstruct diplomatic efforts aimed at releasing the hostages, as well as damage Lebanon’s reputation and image. “Lebanese groups’ kidnappings of Syrians and Turks to make swaps won’t help solve the problem, but it will complicate it further,” said the statement quoting Sleiman. Meanwhile, the president’s press office added that “Sleiman rejected the events witnessed by Lebanese in the last few days, saying they acted as a provocation, a challenge to the state and as harmful to Lebanon’s relationship with its sisterly and friendly states.” Many countries, including the United States, have called on their citizens to take extra precautionary measures while traveling in Lebanon, while some Gulf countries have issued travel advisories. Last Friday, Kuwait evacuated most of its nationals from Lebanon. Sleiman also asked the National Audiovisual Council to carry out its duty in controlling what he described as the “media chaos” surrounding conflicting reports last week about the fate of the 11 Shiite pilgrims. Some reports indicated that four of the hostages had been killed in Syrian army airstrikes in Aleppo, where the 11 were being held. However, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius informed Speaker Nabih Berri Saturday that all 11 are alive and well. Expressing regret that the Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria were not able to spend Eid al-Fitr with their relatives, Sleiman urged leaders of friendly countries to exert efforts to ensure the pilgrims’ safe release from Syria. Also Tuesday, Turkey’s Ambassador to Beirut Inan Ozyildiz met with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel to follow up on the case of the two Turkish nationals kidnapped in Lebanon last week. Turkish businessman Aydin Tufan was abducted by the Meqdad clan shortly after arriving in Beirut last week. Another Turkish citizen, Abdul-Basset Arslan, was kidnapped by an unknown group a day after Tufan’s abduction. Charbel also met with the Cabinet crisis committee formed to follow up on the case of the Lebanese kidnapped in Syria and briefed them on his ongoing talks with Turkish officials to reach a solution to the problem. (daily star)