A Lebanese man coming to visit an inmate at Roumieh prison, northeast of Beirut, on April 7, 2006. (Ramzi Haidar/AFP)
Following the suicide of a minor last Monday at the juvenile rehabilitation center in Warwar, Baabda, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) provided details Wednesday about the circumstances of the tragedy, assuring that the boy showed "no signs of violence on his body."
In a statement, the ISF explained that the 14-year-old detainee, a Syrian national, took his own life at around 3 p.m. on September 29 in "the bathroom of a room," using "a bed sheet that he wrapped around his neck and attached to the window, while the other inmates were in the yard."
Officers intervened immediately and found the young man unconscious. He was taken to Al-Hayat Hospital, where he received first aid, but died shortly afterward. According to the medical examiner's report, the cause of death was cardiac arrest following asphyxiation by hanging, with no signs of violence detected.
The ISF also stated that the minor had already attempted to take his own life on September 5 and had since been monitored by a neurologist, who "prescribed him medication that he took regularly." He had been incarcerated since August 1 and was transferred on September 3, along with other teenagers, from the juvenile center at Roumieh Prison to the rehabilitation center in the Warwar area.
More than 25 years after the project's launch, Lebanon's first rehabilitation center for minors opened its doors a few months ago and aims to accommodate more than one hundred youth who had previously been held at Roumieh Prison (Metn), the country's largest and most overcrowded facility.
Implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), this project, designed to provide a dedicated facility for children in conflict with the law, dates back to 1999 and was initiated by then Justice Minister Bahige Tabbara.
