Families of Abducted Pilgrims Threaten to Escalate if Men Not Released
The families of the nine pilgrims abducted in Syria's Aazaz threatened on Tuesday to escalate their measures at beginning of April if the case wasn't resolved.
Protesters held banners criticizing Lebanese authorities for failing to release the men.
They held a protest near the Arab Justice Ministers headquarters in the Sami Solh region before briefly blocking the road near the Justice Palace, causing bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Adham Zgheib, the son of one of the abducted pilgrims, read a statement issued by the families demanding officials to end the charade.
He called on President Michel Suleiman to end the crisis ahead of his return to Lebanon.
Suleiman traveled to the Qatari capital on Monday to attend the Arab League summit.
The president discussed the case with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Doha.
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo district in May 2012 as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage in Iran.
Since then, two of them have been released, while the remaining nine are being held in Syria's Aazaz region.
Awad Ibrahim, one of the abducted pilgrims who were released, threatened that the families would go on a kidnapping spree in retaliation.
“Turkish and Syrian national will not be safe,” Ibrahim said.
The families of the pilgrims have repeatedly accused the government of failing to exert enough efforts to ensure their release.
They also held Turkey and Qatar responsible for the ongoing abduction.
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