16 Survivors Return from Indonesia: Abu Saleh Threatened to Kill Us, We Prefer to Die outside Lebanon
Sixteen survivors of the boat incident in Indonesia arrived Tuesday evening at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, accompanied by the Lebanese official delegation that traveled to Jakarta to facilitate their return.
“We won't be able to know anything about the missing bodies before the end of this month,” State Minister Ahmed Karami, the head of the delegation, told reporters at the airport.
Meanwhile, one of the survivors said: “We went through difficult circumstances and we suffered while in the custody of Indonesia's security authorities, but we were released upon the arrival of the delegation.”
“If they don't give us jobs, we will repeat what we did once, twice, three time and even ten times. If death is inevitable here and there, we prefer to die there,” he added.
Another survivor revealed that Abou Saleh, the Iraqi people smuggler who is operating from a prison in Indonesia, had threatened to kill his son just because he disclosed that the boat was in a poor condition.
“Abou Saleh threatened to murder everyone and he forced the Lebanese to get on the boat so that his story doesn't become known in Lebanon,” added another survivor.
Ayda Awwad, one of the survivors, said she refused to mount the boat because it was “totally unsafe,” adding that Abou Saleh had threatened to kill anyone who tries to escape.
Awwad said those who managed to escape from the smuggler's grip sought refuge in the forests, where they stayed for “four days.”
She added that they lived “real terror” before they were offered help by a man called Abdullah Shdid and a girl called Maysa Abdullah.
Awwad said she had paid $12,000 to the people smugglers in order to illegally travel to Australia together with her kids.
Meanwhile, another survivor said “Abou Saleh was jailed because he had murdered someone in Indonesia.”
State-run National News Agency identified the 16 survivors as Ali Hasan, Mohammed Abdul Latif, Marj Mheish, Abdul Rahman Issa, Khodr Darwish, Nasseredine al-Youssef, Mohammed Darwish, Abdullah Hadid, Aya Hasan, Rima Taleb, Ayda Awwad, Douaa Hasan, Musaab al-Kik, Khaled Taleb, Jihad Aryamik and Aysha Taleb.
It said the High Relief Commission paid the fines slapped by Indonesia on the Lebanese whose visas had expired while in the country.
almost 12 years
nes bala sharaf weskh
almost 12 years
OK, now you're talking. If I might add, I would proposition the highest ranked Lebanese T.V. Station to cover the hanging in a special "Reality T.V. Show", sell advertisements and give the proceeds to the family of the victims.
almost 12 years
agreed bes ma khas
he took their money and put them in a non-boat unseaworthy piece of metal and sent them across the world to australia he's directly criminal while those in akkar could've found jobs somewhere anywhere
syrian refugees!
almost 12 years
lebcad... when you live in a village and most of your parliament is formed by villagers who made scams to become rich and reach this parliament and when you see yourself useless and unable to do the most simple things and unable to fulfill the basic needs of your family because of the economic situation and because of the infrastructure and when you get all of these promises from those cheap parliamentary members and from the Government and none are delivered then consciousness or unconsciousness is not an excuse. The Government and the leaders since 2006 have been stuck battling one another because of some secondary things and have forgotten on perpous all the primary work. So if there is anyone to blame is not them nor abou saleh but All of those who have formed the government and the parliament since 2006 and even before that.
almost 12 years
Really? These shortsighted oppressive billionaires who have membership in the Lebanese Parliament and government portfolios and who have failed the Lebanese people are responsible for much more than the direct consequences of Abou Saleh threatening to kill the son because the man disclosed the boat was in a poor condition and murder everyone who did not get on the boat. If we follow your logic, then the whole Parliament is liable and has a legal duty of care to every Lebanese no matter how remote and where they are, arising from the intentional acts of 3rd parties, create proximate causation and impose negligence for failure to exercise reasonable care arising from the acts of 3rd parties. Basically, manufacture liability.
almost 12 years
in short, Yes ... ins't this what a government owes to its people? but what Selassie is saying is deeper than your sarcasm, it is what led to this tragedy that should be looked at. The tragedy happend and Allah Yer7am amwet el 3alam, but in order to avoid more tragedies like this one has to look at the roots. No one would leave the country they are bonr in and take such drastic measures unless forced to do so. I am not saying that what they did is right, lebcad has a point there, but what I am saying is look at the state of mind they reached to voerlook all other solutions and risk their lives to go to a country where they might live in a better condition even as illegial aliens! Tfeh 3ala heik government that pushes its citizens to this extent.
almost 12 years
Haile, if they are capable of selling their properties and raise 10000 USD then they are also capable of understanding that what they did was dangerous. Allah yerhamhon. Those who put their families in that boat comitted error. People think they can go to the west and become rich when they in the most cases end up working in crappy jobs and being less happy then they were back home and curse the day they left.
almost 12 years
maybe they took debt and sold everything, not people you'd call 'smart' in the first place. Them being idiots does not excuse abu saleh for exploiting them and neither is it excusable for indonesia to request millions of dollars walla 3aib
abu saleh should be extradicted and hanged/sentenced to death/should be sentenced to death in absentia
almost 12 years
dear Vincent it is the responsibility of the government to build a powerful reliable ministry of foreign affairs which should appoint diplomats who will look after their citizens abroad no matter what. why is it when an american or a canadian gets in any kind of trouble in lebanon he calls the hotline of his embassy at any time and they will send someone directly to assist him and get him out of trouble?
almost 12 years
I always agree with your comments Phoenix, but I think we are missing the point here. Hanging Abou Saleh, though is fair, would not solve the problem. Some people looked at him as a last resoirt solution, sadly. The problem is in what is causing these innocent people to turn to Abou Saleh, and killing him will not let them live honorably inside their own country. Giving them jobs and equal opportunities would.
Sometime we agree regardless of politics.