Articles for Lebanon

On 3 May 2017, Lebanon extradited Iraqi refugee Zeyad Al Dolaee to his home country which he had fled in 2010 fearing persecution. Arrested in Lebanon in January 2016, he was subsequently sentenced by the Military Court under the pretext of “joining a terrorist group” on the sole basis of information provided by the Iraqi intelligence services, and detained for a lengthy period of time pending the Lebanese authorities’ decision on an extradition request sent by Iraq.

Today, 13 April 2017, Lebanon remembers for the 42^nd year the start of the Lebanese civil war. Lasting for 15 years, between 1975 and 1990, the conflict left around 200,000 people dead and an estimated 17,000 missing persons.

Iraqi refugee Zeyad Al Dolaee is currently detained pending final decision about an extradition request against him by the Iraqi authorities, who want him on the basis of alleged accusations of terrorism. Notwithstanding the Public Prosecutor’s view opposing it, Al Dolaee informally got to know that the Ministry of Justice was preparing a decree accepting his extradition request.

On 16 March 2017, Alkarama submitted its shadow report* on the use of torture in Lebanon to the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT), in view of the country's first review by the Committee during its 60^th session.

On 6 December 2016, Muawiya Harba and Sultan Harba, two Syrians from the same family living in refugee camps in the border city of Arsal, east Lebanon, will have their next trial session before the Military Court in Beirut. They are facing terrorism charges based solely on information extracted under torture during their secret detention at the premises of the Ministry of Defence in Yarzeh, Baabda.

On 19 October 2016, the Lebanese Parliament approved a law creating an independent National Commission for Human Rights, Lebanon's National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), which includes a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), an independent body mandated to improve the conditions of those deprived of liberty by visiting places of detention. The law, that followed several recommendations issued by UN human rights mechanisms in that regard, finally provides Lebanon with two essential independent bodies supposed to enhance the protection and promotion of human rights.

On 25 October 2016, Walid Diab, a 18-year-old Lebanese citizen from Tripoli, was released from the juvenile section of Roumieh prison where he was detained, following a release order issued the same day by the Juvenile Court in Tripoli.

On 22 September 2016, Mohamad Al Souki, a Syrian refugee arrested in late August in Sir El Danniyeh, north of Lebanon, by officers of the Military Intelligence for “not possessing a valid Lebanese residence permit”, reappeared after a month of disappearance. That day, upon information received by a former detainee, a notary public went to the premises of the military police at the Military Court in Beirut and received official confirmation by the authorities that Al Souki was held there.

On 12 September 2014, Walid Diab, 16 year old at the time, was arrested at a military checkpoint upon information of “secret informants”. Secretly detained for three months and severely tortured despite his young age, he is currently facing trial before the Military Court; his next hearing will be held on 26 September 2016.

On 22 August 2016, Layal Al Kayaje, a 31-year-old Palestinian veterinary residing in Saida, port city in South Lebanon, was sentenced to one month in prison by the Military Court of Beirut for "defamation and libel against the Lebanese army" because she publicly denounced her rape by military officers when she was detained in 2013.