A death as sad as it is suspicious. In the United Arab Emirates, a recently arrested Lebanese man finally died in custody on 4 May. Other Lebanese, mostly Shia Muslims, have been arrested and sometimes convicted in recent years for alleged links to the Shiite Hezbollah movement, considered "terrorist" by Gulf countries.

Ghazi Ezzeddine, in his fifties, was arrested on 22 March along with his two brothers, said Sima Watling of Amnesty International. Ten other Lebanese Shi'a were arrested in March alone without charge. According to Sima Watling, the authorities did not notify the family until five days after the death, when they asked her son to come and identify him.




The true cause of death concealed?

"It seems very suspicious that the UAE allowed his son to identify his father's body by showing him only his face. They refused to hand over the body to the family for repatriation, and buried it themselves," Watling said. She said Ghazi Ezzeddine, who had lived in the UAE for thirty years, was buried in the presence of her son and two brothers, who were later released but banned from travel.

The Amnesty activist said the UAE authorities were likely trying to "conceal the true cause of death" and "surround the case with mystery", stressing that there had been no autopsy. Sima Watling called on the UAE to "launch an independent and impartial investigation" into the detainee's death, and to release those arrested. UAE authorities did not issue a statement on the case and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A targeted people

Lebanese living in the Gulf monarchies have sometimes found themselves at the heart of regional tensions and the standoff between the Sunni Gulf monarchies and Shiite Iran.

In May 2019, Amnesty reported prison sentences for three Lebanese accused in the UAE of forming a "terrorist cell" and "planning attacks" on Hezbollah's orders. In February 2021, a dozen Lebanese detained in the Emirates were released thanks to mediation led by Lebanon.

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