Lebanese officials urge visa extension for Syrian activist

Jul 14, 2010, 19:25 GMT

Beirut - Two members of the western-backed Lebanese March 14 alliance, who are known to be outspoken critics of Syria, called Wednesday on Lebanese Interior Minister Ziad Baroud to extend the residency permit of Syrian opposition activist Mamoun al-Homsi.

Fares Souied and Samir Franjiyeh said in a joint statement that the Lebanese General Security Directorate's decision not to extend Homis' permit 'contradicts the principles of human rights.'

The decision came as Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri prepares to visit the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday, in a bid to further normalize Lebanese-Syrian ties.

'Normalizing ties between Lebanon and Syria ... demands protecting Lebanon's characteristics as a nation that respects human rights,' Souied and Franjiyeh argued.

Homsi, a 55-year-old former Syrian lawmaker, was granted refugee status on May 26, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon said.

Under international refugee law, a refugee is someone who seeks refuge in a foreign country because of war and violence, or out of fear of persecution, like Homsi.

In Homsi's case he was given a residency permit which should be renewed every six months by the Lebanese authorities.

But Homsi said he was told on Wednesday by General Security officials that he now has to leave the country by July 20.

'If I return to Syria, I will certainly be jailed,' he said.

Homsi has spent time in a Syrian jail before, serving a five-year jail term after being convicted in 2001 of plotting 'to change the Syrian constitution through illegal means.'

He was released in January 2006 and has since lived in Lebanon with his wife and his two sons.

Homsi believes that the improvement in ties between Lebanon and Syria is behind the residency permit decision.

Syrian-Lebanese relations had soured after the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in 2005. Hariri's allies blamed Syria for plotting the murder, a charge Damascus has so far denied.

In 2009, Saad Hariri, the son of the late Rafik Hariri, made a landmark visit to Syria, during which ties between the two neighboring countries improved.