Lebanon: Respect UN Opinion, Release Nahr al Bared Detainees

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One year after the adoption by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of an Opinion recognising the arbitrary character of the detention of 72 persons arrested following the 2007 Nahr Al Bared crisis and calling for their immediate release, the majority of them remain detained. All were condemned to heavy sentences on the basis of confessions obtained under torture and after years of pre-trial detention. On the anniversary of this landmark Opinion, Alkarama calls upon the Lebanese authorities to respect their international obligations and release or review the detainees' sentences.

Following the fights that erupted between the Lebanese Army and members of the armed group Fatah Al Islam in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al Bared between May and September 2007, numerous people were arrested without any warrant by the military intelligence services and brought to the Ministry of Defence premises. There, they were subjected to torture before being transferred to Roumieh prison where they remained in pre-trial detention for years since their trials were systematically postponed.

Whereas international law demands that pre-trial detention be used as an exceptional measure and be as short as possible, some detainees remained in pre-trial detention for up to six years before being heard by a judge for the first time. During this time, they were subjected to torture again, with the aim to extract confessions from them which would later be used as evidence by the Court − the Judicial Council, a jurisdiction which lacks independence since its judges are appointed by the executive. As feared by Alkarama, their trials before the Judicial Council relied heavily on confessions extracted under torture and allowed for prison sentences of 2 to 15 years that could not be appealed.

Having documented 72 cases of such instances of arbitrary detention, Alkarama raised them with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) – a body of five independent experts with the mandate to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily and to ensure compliance with international standards. In light of the violations of fair trial rights reported, on 21 November 2014, the WGAD issued an Opinion recognising the arbitrary nature of these detentions and demanding the Lebanese authorities to “take all the necessary measures to remedy the situation,” and in particular “the immediate release of the detainees and the granting of reasonable and appropriate reparation.

As of today, however, the Lebanese authorities have refused to take any measure to remedy to their situation, as the great majority of these people remain detained. Commenting on the lack of implementation of the UN Opinion, Alkarama's Legal Director, Rachid Mesli stated: "What is particularly worrying is the extreme disregard of the Lebanese authorities for an Opinion issued by the UN. The Lebanese authorities have a duty to respect their international obligations under human rights law, in particular guarantees of physical integrity and fair trial procedures. On the first anniversary of this landmark Opinion, we must remind the authorities that security cannot be obtained at the expense of the most fundamental rights."

Alkarama therefore calls upon the Lebanese authorities to implement the WGAD Opinion without any delay and immediately release all the individuals arbitrarily detained or, at the very least, allow them to have their sentence reviewed before an independent and impartial jurisdiction. Alkarama renews its hope that the anniversary of this Opinion will also encourage the Lebanese authorities to duly investigate all allegations of torture raised in those cases, as requested by the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) in a 2014 report.

 

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