Relatives of Salafist fighters killed in Syria last year and Islamists detained in Lebanon called on supporters to protest near the Tripoli residence of Prime Minister Najib Mikati Friday. The protest aims at pressuring Mikati to work on releasing Hassan Srour and Mohammad Rifai. Their families claim the two survived an ambush set by the Syrian army last year for a group of Salafist fighters near the Syrian town of Tal Kalakh. General Security has said that Srour was detained by the Syrian regime but that it has received no information about Rifai. The demonstrators also will push for the release of over 150 Islamists detained, most of them without trial, since 2007 over links to the Fatah al-Islam militant group. “After a meeting between the 19 families of the Islamist detainees and relatives of the martyrs of Tal Kalakh Tuesday ... several escalatory moves were agreed,” said a statement by the families, adding that Friday’s demonstration would be the first step in a series.
