BALADI NEWS
Lebanese security forces on Saturday denied accusations by rights groups that they had coerced Syrians who had landed at Beirut airport into signing forms to return to their war-torn country.
Human Rights Watch and four other groups Friday accused Lebanon of "summarily deporting" at least 16 Syrians on April 26, after forcing them to sign "voluntary repatriation forms".
Most of them had been sent back to Lebanon after they were barred from entering northern Cyprus via Turkey, quashing their plans to seek asylum, HRW said.
But Lebanon's General Security agency "categorically denies it forced any Syrian to sign any form", it said in a statement carried by state-run news agency NNA on Saturday.
"Any Syrian who arrives in Lebanon and does not meet entry requirements, and... wants to go to Syria because they do not wish to remain in their country of residence for a number of reasons, signs a declaration of responsibility for choosing to return voluntarily," it said.
The latest deportees said they were "pressured" by General Security officers at the airport, the rights group said.
Around 30 Syrians have been deported from Beirut airport this year by the General Security agency, the rights group said, citing local refugee organisations.
Source: Daily Mail Online.