A movement in Tariq al-Jadideh calls for a general amnesty… and appeals to Mohammed bin Salman and Ahmad al-Sharaa to intervene

The courtyard of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jadideh district witnessed a gathering after Friday prayers, attended by hundreds of young men demanding that Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and his fellow Islamist detainees be included in any anticipated general amnesty law, while rejecting any attempt to exclude them from this process.

During the gathering, the mosque’s imam, Sheikh Hassan Merheb, stressed that members of the Sunni community “have given a great deal to Lebanon,” calling on President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to intervene to address the file of al-Assir and the Islamist detainees “far from ظلم and marginalization,” as he put it.

Merheb also underscored the Sunni community’s rejection of “strife and bloodshed,” affirming their commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty, the unity of its territory, and their refusal to allow it to become an arena for external conflicts and projects.

He also appealed to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to intervene politically with the Lebanese state in order to issue an amnesty for the Islamist detainees and secure their release.

For his part, Ziad al-Ajouz, head of the Lebanese Arab Center for Political Affairs, quoted Grand Mufti of the Republic Abdel Latif Derian as saying that the issue of al-Assir’s release “has become at the top of his priorities,” noting that members of the Sunni community were among the first to resist Israel in Lebanon, and that their primary reference remains the state and its institutions.

Al-Ajouz called for closing the Abra file, which he described as “fabricated,” and for holding those actually involved in the events accountable.