Jumblat Lauds Release of Maalula Nuns, Urges Security Agencies to Put an End to Abductions
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat praised on Monday the release of the Maalula nuns, hoping that security agencies will put an end to abductions in Lebanon.
He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “All security agencies should be on alert to end the phenomenon of kidnappings in Lebanon.”
“They should arrest the kidnapping gangs that are growing in numbers given the lax security measures in various regions,” he remarked, while hailing the release over the weekend of Michel al-Saqr, 10, who was kidnapped in the Bekaa.
Moreover, the MP said that abductions hamper freedom in Lebanon and tarnish the state's credibility.
“They widen the deep gap between the state and the people who are seeking stability,” continued Jumblat.
“Numerous instances have proven that the state can achieve several political, economic, and security accomplishments if it takes a decisive stand to do so,” he noted.
A group of nuns abducted from the Syrian town of Maalula in December were released on Sunday evening.
Jumblat wondered why “so few prisoners in Syrian jails were released in exchange for the nuns, knowing that thousands of political prisoners are being detained in Syria.”
The nuns, from both Syria and Lebanon, were kidnapped from a convent in Maalula in Syria in December, as regime and rebel forces battled for control in the surrounding Qalamoun region.
They were moved to Yabrud, a rebel stronghold that has become the last opposition holdout in the Qalamun region and now at the center of a fierce regime campaign.
They were released in exchange for 152 prisoners held in Syria.
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