More than a dozen Lebanese citizens, who have been detained in the UAE, will be released soon, a senior Lebanese security official has revealed.
Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the director-general of Lebanese General Security, said on Friday that he had been in contact with Emirati officials for nearly 2 years to resolve the files of Lebanese detainees in the UAE.
In an interview with Al-Hurra, Ibrahim confirmed that the case of some of those detainees would “witness a breakthrough in the coming hours.” He said that half of the 30 detainees would be out within hours.
He did not go into detail about the cases, because they “have not reached the endings.”
In November, local media reported that 14 Lebanese nationals had been arrested while playing football in the UAE, without further information being available.
In December, Lebanese Ambassador to the UAE Fouad Dandan said he had no information on the reason behind the arrest of Lebanese citizens by the Emirati authorities.
The case of the Lebanese detainees in the UAE has raised many questions and prompted calls for action by the families of the detained citizens. However, as Dandan has pointed out, the investigations into the incident have remained secretive.
