Terrorism Convict Omar Hayssam In Syrian Prison – Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad

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The Syrian President insisted that the issue is not political, but judicial.

Romania and Syria signed an extradition treaty Wednesday evening, President Traian Basescu said Thursday. The treaty was signed by Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu and Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem, the president's office said in a press release issued after the president's announcement.

Also Wednesday, Romania and Syria signed a treaty allowing the mutual transfer of people sentenced to prison.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is on a two-day official visit to Romania until Thursday.

On October 6, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi told MEDIAFAX that the two countries will sign several bilateral agreements, including a treaty on extradition, on the occasion of the Syrian President's visit.

On November 16, 2009, President Traian Basescu said the goal of his 2008 visit to Syria was to amend the extradition agreement between the two countries, so that terrorism convict Omar Hayssam would be extradited to Romania. On January 8, 2010, the Romanian Foreign Ministry confirmed it had sent the Syrian authorities a draft treaty on extradition and said the draft is being analyzed by 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.