The United States has asked Lebanon to extradite the chief of Syria's Air Force Intelligence Directorate to Germany.
Washington “would welcome” any decision by the Lebanese government that “would facilitate the lawful extradition of Syrian General Jamil Hassan to Germany,” in compliance with Berlin’s extradition request, the State Department said in a statement earlier this week.
Hassan is “notorious for his alleged involvement in the extensive use of torture in Syrian detention centers. The German federal prosecutor issued an arrest warrant against the general in June 2018 for committing crimes against humanity based on a complaint filed by Syrian refugees residing in Germany,” it said.
Hassan has reportedly visited Lebanon several times in the past few months to receive medical care.
Last month, German authorities arrested two suspected former members of Syria's secret police on suspicion of carrying out or aiding in crimes against humanity.
The arrests took place in Berlin and the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Prosecutors said that a 56-year-old high-ranking member of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, identified only as Anwar R., is accused of participating in the abuse of detainees at a prison he oversaw in Damascus. As lead investigator, he allegedly ordered the use of systematic and brutal torture of anti-regime activists between July 2011 and January 2012.
According to prosecutors, the second man, Eyad A., aged 42, was part of a unit that arrested hundreds of activists and brought them to the prison run by the other suspect.
