Lebanon: Activist Lucien Bourjeily Injured by Security Forces Using Excessive Force During Peaceful Manifestation
On 14 September 2015, Alkarama and the Lebanese organisation March sent a communication to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association (SR FPAA), Maina Kiai, regarding the case of Lebanese writer, director and social activist, Lucien Bourjeily, injured by security forces during a peaceful protest in Beirut, on 25 August 2015.
Excessive Use of Force by Security Forces
On 25 August 2015, at about 1 pm, protesters, including Bourjeily, peacefully entered the Ministry of Environment to demand the resignation of Minister Mohammad Machnouk. After a few hours, the security forces started evacuating all journalists and media representatives from the building, as well as confiscating all communication and image recording devices. According to Bourjeily, "when the police decided to evacuate us [protesters], they expelled all journalists and even cut electric cables to prevent live broadcast. They wanted to hide the evidence of their crime."
After forcing the journalists outside, the police asked protesters to evacuate the Ministry and all those who refused to do so were beaten up. In this context, Bourjeily was strongly beaten when he refused to leave, having received hits on the face, neck and shoulders and being kicked down the stairs. Another protester, Hasan Sliq, tried to defend him, and was also severely hit by the police. Due to the violence used by the security forces, Bourjeily was injured and evacuated by the Red Cross to the American University Hospital, where he received medical care. He later gave a testimony to the Ministry of Interior, in which he mentioned that "the security forces were also insulting and attacking us with black iron sticks."
Alkarama recalls that, as a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since 1972, Lebanon must respect the right to peaceful assembly and can only impose limitations on demonstrations "in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."
Background
Protests in Lebanon began after 17 July 2015, when the government closed one the country's main landfills in the south of Beirut. Following the closure, the Lebanese authorities failed to find an alternative waste management plan and trash started to pile up on the streets. Demonstrators started protesting against the government's paralysis over the accumulation of waste and inability to find a solution for the trash crises. The protests, led by the "You Stink" movement, of which Lucien Bourjeily is a co-organiser, soon turned into a national movement against the government, corruption and water and power shortages. Protesters also demand parliamentary elections, affirming that the government's failure to address the crises shows how dysfunctional the current administration is.
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