Lebanon prison tensions flare after amnesty law suspended

Tensions exploded inside Lebanon's prisons after the country's parliament suspended an amnesty law it had passed just weeks prior. Prisoners at Roumieh, the nation's largest jail, cheered their expected release upon the bill's approval on August 12, with supporters celebrating fireworks elsewhere. However, the situation quickly turned sour when the Free Patriotic Movement, one of Lebanon's largest parties, filed an appeal against the law with the Constitutional Council, leading to its suspension pending its verdict.

The move has left many prisoners still behind bars, unable to benefit from what should have been an immediate release or reduced sentence. Despite conflicting reports on the exact number of inmates on hunger strike, it is widely acknowledged that tensions are escalating in Lebanon's overcrowded and grim prisons. At Roumieh, over 400 inmates are refusing food and medicine, with more than 40 in critical condition.

While the judicial source claims there may only be a handful of individuals in hunger strike, the Committee of Prisoners' Families warns of an "escalating crisis" for the prisoners' health within the prison housing thousands of inmates. The Sunni Islamist detainees, accused of shedding Lebanese Army blood and convicted on terrorism charges, have emerged as the primary focus of the protest at Roumieh's Building B. The protest has spilled over into the streets, with hundreds of protesters holding a sit-in in Tripoli, a city with a majority Sunni population.

This follows similar demonstrations earlier this year when it appeared the Sunni detainees would not be included in the amnesty.