Terrorism Convict Omar Hayssam In Syrian Prison Since 2008 - Lawyer

Omar Hayssam, convicted of terrorism in Romania, has been in a Syrian prison since 2008, carrying out a four-year sentence for crimes against national security, said Ion Cazacu, his lawyer in another case, adding that he has an official Syrian document to prove this.

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Cazacu is Hayssam's defense lawyer against charges that the Syrian businessman defrauded several leasing firms, by illicitly exporting Volvo tractor heads to Syria and Egypt.

Before the Bucharest Court of Appeals, Cazacu said he has a document from the Syrian prosecutor general, whereby Hayssam is serving a four-year sentence in Syria.

In 2007, a Romanian court found Hayssam guilty of masterminding the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005, and sentenced him in absentia to 20 years in prison. Hayssam fled Romania in the first half of 2006, while under a terrorism inquiry for his role in the kidnapping.

Last November, Romania and Syria signed an extradition treaty and a treaty allowing the mutual transfer of people sentenced to prison. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said, in an interview at the time, that two states will discuss a further course of action once Hayssam has served his sentence.

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