fahmi-reza
Hundreds of detainees at Lebanon's largest prison have now been refusing food, water, and medication for more than two weeks, in a widening protest against the suspension of a general amnesty law that many had hoped would secure their release or shorten their sentences. According to a Lebanese legal campaigner, the health of dozens of striking inmates has deteriorated to the point where ambulances are arriving at the facility on a daily basis to carry them away for emergency treatment.
Mohammed Sablouh, a lawyer and director of the Prisoners' Rights Center at the Tripoli Bar Association, told Al Jazeera that roughly 400 prisoners at Roumieh prison have been participating in the hunger strike. He described the situation inside the facility as increasingly desperate, noting that those on strike have turned down food, water, and medical care as part of their protest.
The strike began on September 12, when inmates launched the action in response to the suspension of a general amnesty law that had been approved by Lebanon's parliament on August 12. That legislation was designed to address the country's severely overcrowded prison system, and it included a provision that would have allowed for the release of individuals jailed for petty crimes.
The amnesty law's implementation has been put on hold after the Free Patriotic Movement, one of Lebanon's largest political parties, lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Council. The party raised concerns that some of the prisoners who stood to benefit from the law had been charged with "terrorism" offenses. The Constitutional Council is now expected to deliver its verdict on the matter next month, leaving the fate of the amnesty — and of the prisoners covered by it — in limbo.
Among those participating in the hunger strike are many detainees who were arrested for expressing solidarity with the Syrian revolution against President Bashar al-Assad. Assad was ousted in December 2024, following more than a decade of devastating conflict in Syria, and the political aftershocks of that upheaval continue to reverberate across Lebanon's border and within its judicial system.
Protests over the suspension of the amnesty law have also broken out in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, where demonstrators have taken to the streets to demand that the legislation be upheld. The law's supporters argue that it represents a rare opportunity to relieve pressure on a prison system that has long been stretched far beyond its limits.
Sablouh painted a stark picture of conditions inside Lebanese detention facilities, saying that overcrowding now exceeds 330 percent of the institutions' actual capacity. With the country's prison population standing at approximately 8,500 inmates — nearly double the system's intended capacity — the lawyer warned that the facilities are on the verge of collapse and cannot withstand any further shocks, including the possibility that the amnesty law could be overturned altogether.
The overcrowding crisis is compounded by chronic delays in Lebanon's judicial system, which Sablouh identified as a primary driver of the large number of people held behind bars. He pointed out that many inmates are incarcerated for minor offenses, yet they remain in detention for extended periods while awaiting trial. According to the lawyer, the judiciary has failed to comply with Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which establishes clear limits on pre-trial detention: two months for misdemeanors, renewable for an equivalent period, and six months for felonies, also renewable up to a maximum of one year.
The human cost of these systemic failures has been severe. Sablouh said that more than 40 prisoners died in 2025 alone. While the causes varied, he attributed some deaths to medical neglect and others to torture. He also noted that some inmates took their own lives, driven to suicide by prolonged trials and repeated postponements that left them without any clear resolution to their cases.
Lebanon's prisons have earned a reputation over the years for being dangerously overcrowded and for holding thousands of people for years without bringing them to trial. The amnesty law passed in August was intended as a direct response to these conditions, offering a path toward reducing the inmate population and alleviating the strain on facilities that have long operated well beyond safe limits.
The appeal filed by the Free Patriotic Movement has effectively frozen the law's implementation, creating uncertainty for prisoners who believed they would soon be released or have their sentences reduced. The Constitutional Council's forthcoming decision will determine whether the amnesty moves forward or is struck down, a ruling with profound implications for thousands of detainees and their families.
For the inmates at Roumieh, the intervening weeks have been marked by a deteriorating physical toll. Sablouh's account of daily ambulance arrivals underscores the urgency of the situation, as hunger strikers—some of whom have already spent years in detention without trial—continue to refuse sustenance and medical attention in an effort to force action on the amnesty law.
The standoff highlights the broader tensions within Lebanon's political and judicial landscape, where efforts to reform a deeply strained prison system have become entangled in concerns over security and the handling of terrorism-related charges. With the Constitutional Council's verdict still weeks away, the prisoners' protest shows no sign of abating, and the medical consequences for those involved grow more serious with each passing day.
Should the amnesty law be upheld next month, it could lead to the release of numerous inmates convicted of petty crimes and ease the burden on facilities operating at more than triple their intended capacity. If the law is overturned, however, the prisoners' demands will have been rejected, and Lebanon's overcrowded prisons will remain a flashpoint for protests both inside and outside the country's detention centers.
Comments (0)