US BACKS EXTRADITION OF SYRIAN GENERAL

▶ Germany wants to prosecute Jamil Hassan for torture and war crimes

Until this week, Germany and Beirut had refused to confirm reports that Berlin was seeking the extradition of Syria’s air force intelligence head.

Then, the State Department publicly called on Lebanon to follow through the request and hand over the man who has presided over one of Syria’s most feared security agencies through a long, bloody war.

The 66-year-old is thought to be undergoing treatment at a hospital in Lebanon.

The US Department of State said it “would welcome any decision by the Government of Lebanon that would facilitate the lawful extradition of Syrian General Jamil Hassan to Germany”. The press release on Tuesday said Gen Hassan was “notorious for his alleged involvement in the extensive use of torture in Syrian detention centres”.

The German federal prosecutor and the Lebanese public prosecutor refused to comment on media reports alleging that Germany had requested Gen Hassan’s extradition.

“The Federal Prosecutor’s office ... does not state whether it is investigating an individual, has issued an arrest warrant, or requested extradition,” German authorities told The National by email.

The request is very sensitive in Lebanon where Hezbollah, a strong ally of the Syrian regime, is a central player in local politics.

Gen Hassan has been targeted since 2011 by US and EU sanctions for his role in the violent crackdown against anti-government protests. In an interview with The Independent news website in late 2016, Gen Hassan said he regretted the regime had not been tough enough against protesters.

The Syrian government is believed to have executed more than 10,000 people in military prisons since the start of the war and thousands more were brutally tortured, including at sites run by Gen Hassan’s Air Force Intelligence.

Lebanon’s general prosecutor, Samir Hamoud, declined to answer questions about Gen Hassan.

Lebanon never extradited the four Hezbollah-linked suspects in Rafiq Hariri’s killing IBRAHIM AL KASEM Lawyer

But Lebanese Interior Minister Raya Hassan said she was aware of the case when she told reporters on February 21 that there was no “Interpol request regarding the head of Syrian air force intelligence”, state-run National News Agency reported.

The reason Germany’s arrest warrant has not been made public by Interpol is because this would require the consent of the Syrian government, said Ibrahim Al Kasem, a Syrian lawyer based in Germany.

Germany’s case would have been stronger if an extradition agreement existed between both countries.

But this does not stop Germany from asking for extradition through the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, he said. Mr Al Kasem is also the executive director of the Caesar file group, named after a military defector who smuggled tens of thousands of photos of killed and tortured detainees in Syrian prisons.

Should Lebanon allow Gen Hassan’s extradition, certain conditions would have to be met, such as recognising that what he is accused of in Germany is also punishable by law in Lebanon, Mr Al Kasem said.

In June last year, German prosecutors had already issued an international arrest warrant for Gen Hassan on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The warrant was issued under universal jurisdiction, which allows a limited number of countries such as Germany, Norway and Sweden to prosecute and try crimes committed abroad.

German prosecutors accused Gen Hassan of overseeing some of the most horrific crimes committed by Syrian intelligence agencies, including torture, rape and murder of “at least hundreds of people between 2011 and 2013”, reported German magazine Der Spiegel.

A few months later, French prosecutors followed suit when they issued arrest warrants for three Syrian officials, including Gen Hassan, for collusion in acts of torture, forced disappearances, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The other two Syrian officials targeted were Ali Mamluk, National Security Bureau director, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, in charge of the air force intelligence’s investigative branch at the Mezzeh military airport in Damascus.

Activists believe there is little chance that Lebanon will extradite Gen Hassan, judging by previous high-profile requests.

“Lebanon never extradited the four Hezbollah-linked suspects in Rafiq Hariri’s killing,” said Mr Al Kasem, referring to the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister in 2005.

But Germany has made headway with the arrests recently of two former Syrian secret service officers on German soil.