Roumieh Prison, the largest in Lebanon, near Beirut. (Credit: Marwan Assaf.)
BEIRUT — The Ministry of Justice indicated in a statement that the first trial sessions were launched on Tuesday in the Roumieh prison, according to the state-run National News Agency.
“In a qualitative step towards accelerating justice and relieving overcrowding, and after the field visit made by Ministers of Justice Adel Nassar and Interior and Municipalities Ahmed Hajjar to the trial hall in Roumieh Prison, and within the framework of efforts to ... guarantee the rights of detainees, the first trial sessions were launched today in the designated hall inside the prison", reads the statement.
The ministry added that 20 sessions were held on the first day, and the trial was concluded in seven of them, in a practical step that contributes to "alleviating overcrowding and facilitating the course of justice.”
Nassar thanked “the Minister of Interior, judges, lawyers and the Internal Security Forces for their cooperation and commitment,” stressing that “this achievement is the result of joint coordination between the various concerned parties and reflects a common will to serve the interest of Lebanon, justice and human rights.”
The Roumieh court was created under the mandate of former ministers of Justice and Interior, Shaqib Qortbawi and Marwan Charbel, five years after the arrest of around 115 Islamists following the battle of Nahr al-Bared between the army and Islamists in 2007.