Authorities uncover alleged scheme to secure Lebanese citizenship for two children: The details

Report by Maroun Nassif, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

Has Lebanese citizenship become so valuable that some people are willing to commit fraud to obtain it? 

Two boys have been living with their biological parents in the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood of Tripoli. Yet, in Lebanon's civil registry, they were registered under the names of two different people. 

A Syrian man has lived in Jabal Mohsen for the past 20 years. During that time, he married a Palestinian woman, and the couple had two sons. In an attempt to obtain Lebanese citizenship for the children, they were registered under the name of the man's brother-in-law.

Both children were born at Our Lady Hospital in Zgharta. On each occasion, the mother, in coordination with her husband and his brother-in-law, was admitted to the hospital using the identity of the brother-in-law's wife, who is also the children's paternal aunt.

Because the identification document used during admission carried an outdated photograph, the hospital staff did not detect the deception.

The hospital subsequently issued birth records identifying the children as Lebanese and listing the brother-in-law as their father, even though their biological parents were the Syrian father and the Palestinian mother.

Using the hospital-issued birth records, the brother-in-law obtained birth certificates from the local mukhtar before registering the boys with Lebanon's civil registry and obtaining official civil status records in their names.

After receiving a tip from an informant, the Tripoli branch of the State Security Directorate launched an investigation.

The investigation led to the arrest of the children's biological father and the brother-in-law on the instructions of North Lebanon's duty appellate public prosecutor, Judge Katia Andary.

Once the investigation and trial are completed, the two boys are expected to be removed from Lebanon's civil registry following DNA testing and re-registered under the names of their biological parents, who are Syrian nationals.