Roumieh prison, the largest in Lebanon. (Credit; Marwan Assaf/OLJ archive photo)
BEIRUT - Relatives of detainees in Lebanese prisons demanded that their incarcerated family members’ cases be processed and called for early release measures Wednesday, while Judge Tarek Bitar met with the families of those detained in the port blast probe.
Here’s what we know:
• About a dozen members of the Committee of the Families of Prisoners in Lebanon protested the delays in sentencing outside the Justice Palace on Wednesday and called for the passage of a general amnesty law and reduced sentences, local media reported.
• One speaker from the committee noted that “holding cells in police stations are at capacity, detainees are only supposed to remain in custody for 48 hours.” Another added that “if the government refuses to pass the general amnesty law, they could at least reduce the duration of the sentences.”
• There were “hundreds of individuals who remain behind bars because the judiciary isn’t processing their case in a timely manner” in April 2020, according to Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director Lynn Maalouf.
• Judge Tarek Bitar, having resumed his work as head of the port blast investigation on Wednesday, met with the relatives of suspects detained as part of the blast probe who asked for the release of their jailed family members, the state-run National News Agency reported.