UAE frees 10 Lebanese detainees who were arrested 2 months ago

BEIRUT (AP) — A group of Lebanese citizens detained in the United Arab Emirates have been released, Lebanon’s foreign ministry said Saturday.

Lebanon’s ambassador to the UAE notified the ministry of the release of 10 Lebanese detainees who had been arrested there about two months ago, the ministry said in a statement.

The release comes after the death earlier this month of a Lebanese man who was detained in the UAE on unknown charges.

A committee of family members of Lebanese citizens detained in the UAE alleged in a statement that Ghazi Ezzedine, 55, a Shiite Muslim who had been living in the Gulf state for some three decades, was arrested on unknown charges on March 22 along with his two brothers

Amnesty’s Sima Watling said he had died under torture, and rights groups raised concerns about the Emirati government’s lack of transparency regarding Ezzedine’s case and the linked detentions.

Emirati authorities have not commented on the case or on the release of the other detainees.

Afif Shouman, head of a group of Lebanese families with relatives detained in the Gulf country, said seven Lebanese citizens remain detained in the UAE, none of whom have been convicted of a crime, and called for their release.