ISF: Pilots Case Detainees in Good Health, Can be Visited upon Permission

The Directorate General of Internal Security Forces on Sunday announced that the detainees held in connection with the case of the two abducted Turkish pilots are in “good health,” noting that their relatives are allowed to visit them after obtaining a permission from the public prosecution.

“Some media outlets are still publishing news obtained from non-credible sources about the health of one of the detainees, whom they claimed Roumieh Prison's physician had refused to examine due to multiple fractures allegedly sustained from abuse during interrogation,” the ISF said in a statement.

“These lies are baseless and the detainees are in good health and have not suffered any harm,” the statement added.

The ISF noted that the relatives of the detainees can visit them at the Roumieh Prison anytime they want “after obtaining a permission from Mount Lebanon's public prosecution, according to the norms of the prison law.”

Earlier on Sunday, al-Jadeed television said it had received phone calls from Roumieh inmates who confirmed that the detainee Mohammed Saleh “is wounded and he slept in the prisoner transport vehicle after Roumieh Prison's doctor refused to examine him.”

Meanwhile, Hayat Awali, a spokeswoman for the families of the Aazaz abductees, told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that “the next steps will depend on the ruling that will be issued by the judiciary tomorrow (Monday) concerning the three detainees, and we will then act accordingly.”

On Saturday, three people were arrested over their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of the Turkish pilot and copilot last week in Beirut, state-run National News Agency reported.

The suspects, whose identity was not revealed, underwent an initial round of interrogation and their case has been referred to the prosecutor general, a judicial source told Agence France Presse.

They "have been charged and were interrogated by a deputy prosecutor who issued arrest warrants against them," the source added, without giving further details.

On Thursday, four people were summoned for investigation over their links to the abduction.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel had told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the individuals are relatives and friends of the Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz region.

He revealed that their names were divulged by Mohammed Saleh, another relative of the pilgrims who was arrested on Sunday over his links to the pilots' kidnapping.

Meanwhile, the families of the Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's Aazaz staged a sit-in on Saturday to protest the “arbitrary” arrests of their relatives suspected of taking part in the abduction of the Turkish pilots.

Following the Turkish pilots' kidnapping, the relatives of the pilgrims were quick to deny having any links to the abduction although they have repeatedly accused Turkey of being responsible for the release of their loved ones.

In May 2012, eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo region as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage from Iran. Two of them have since been released, while the rest remain held in Aazaz.