Syrian refugee child exhumed from 'Lebanese only' cemetery

A Syrian child was exhumed from a cemetery on the grounds that the burial plot was for 'Lebanese only'.

1 min read

23 September, 2019

Syrian refugees face dire conditions in Lebanon (Getty)

A Syrian refugee child's body was exhumed in a Lebanese village because the cemetery is reserved "only for Lebanese", according to the satellite television station al-Hurra.

On Friday a four-year-old Syrian child was removed from the Assouns town cemetery in north Lebanon, as the district's mayor, Roula al-Baya, had reportedly demanded.

The distrct reversed its decision following an outcry in the town and on social media, however the family re-buried the child in another town.

The head of the religious endowments department in Tripoli Sheikh Firas Ballout condemned the exhumation of the child, saying it was unacceptable.

Lebanon, a country of some four million people, hosts an estimated 1.5 to two million refugees who have fled the conflict that erupted in neighbouring Syria in 2011.

Lebanon's economic and other woes are routinely blamed on Syrian refugees by local politicians and the government has ratcheted up the pressure to send them back to Syria.

Keen not to encourage Syrians to settle permanently, authorities allow only informal camps for refugees.

A strong anti-refugee backlash has also gripped some sections of Lebanese society and there has been pressure on Syrian refugees to leave Lebanon.

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