April 9,2010 - Lebanon: Mustafa Sayw and Kamal Al-Na'san trial adjourned to 18 June 2010

Today, 9 April 2010, the Justice Council Court concluded the trials of Mustafa Sayw and Kamal Al-Na'san; two of four persons whose cases Alkarama brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur on Torture on 27 October 2009. It is feared that confessions extracted under torture were used against them in the trial. Among the four individuals whose cases Alkarama sent to the Special Rapporteur on Torture there was also Kamal Al-Na'san's brother, Malik Al-Na'san, who was freed after nine months in detention.
Mustafa Sayw and Kamal Al-Na'san were tried with other individuals on terrorism-related charges. They were suspected of involvement in terrorist activities resulting in the explosion of two buses in the 'Ayn 'Alaq area on 13 February 2007, in which a number of people were injured and killed.
Justice Council court session started at 3pm after months of disruption, due to the Councils governing body remaining incomplete. The court completed the interrogation of Kamal Al-Na'san regarding his role in the incident, and his connection with the other defendants. The court was then adjourned until 18 June 2010, when the interrogation of the suspects will continue.
During the interrogation, Kamal Al-Na'san confirmed part of what he said in his initial testimony to the Interior Security, and negated parts of that testimony which he claimed were coerced from him under pressure. He said he was innocent and that he had never heard of the Fatah Al-Islam organisation, which is responsible for the events that occurred in the Nahr Al-Bared refugee camp in the summer of 2007 and the bus bombings of 'Ayn 'Alaq.
Before the court session ended, the President of the Justice Council, in reply to the demands of the suspects, insisted that the rights of suspects be respected during their detention - Mustafa Sayw asked for "the death penalty to be swiftly carried out on him" and that "he is the victim", and Yasir Al-Shaqiri who stated that "everything they said during interrogation was a result of beating and torture". Mr Al-Shaqiri pointed to stains on his shirt, saying that they are five month old blood stains, and asked 'is it not a prisoner's right to eat, sleep, see sunlight and carry out religious obligations'? He added that ten persons from among the defendants were sleeping in a single room measuring two square meters, and that everything was denied to them 'except beatings and insults - even Guantanamo prison is better than this; if only some other country would offer to put us into its prisons, we would go there instead'.
Background
Agents from Interior Security arrested Mr. Sayw in an arbitrary fashion on March 20, 2007, under suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities. During detention, he was subjected to ill-treatment and serious acts of torture by the Lebanese Intelligence Branch in Beirut. He was detained in secret and put in solitary confinement for 26 months in the centre of the Intelligence Branch in Beirut. In addition to this, he was kept in various other places in Roumieh prison, where he was repeatedly transferred from one location to another. He spent three and a half months in the basements of buildings under the authority of the Intelligence Branch. In May 2009, he was transferred to the second floor of the Juvenile Section in Roumieh prison. He was then moved to the third floor of the same building, where he was again subjected to beatings and ill-treatment by the Lebanese authorities.
Kamal Al-Na'san was arrested on February 26, 2007, in his house in Mount Lebanon. He was taken to the centre of the Intelligence Branch in Beirut, where he was tortured. Mr. Al-Na'san remained in secret imprisonment and solitary confinement for a period of nine months in the centre of the Intelligence Branch in Beirut, and the buildings of this Branch in the Roumieh prison. He was detained for 47 days in an underground floor in the centre of the Intelligence Branch, where he was repeatedly subjected to torture sessions, lasting for hours at a time. Acts of torture that Mr. Al-Na'san was subjected to resemble to a large degree, with regards to the degree of horror, those suffered by Mr. Sayw.
Special Courts and Torture in Lebanon
The Justice Council was established by resolution No. 1905 on 12 May 1923, and is counted, together with military courts, among Lebanese special courts. It has continued to exercise wide powers until now. The Council's jurisdiction includes, in particular, cases concerning external and internal matters of state security, such as offences of treason or spying, as well as crimes concerning the authority of the State, the nation's morale, national unity, the State's financial situation, etc. Cases are referred to the court on the basis of an official decree issued by the Cabinet of Ministers, which constitutes a violation of the principles of separation of judicial and executive authorities, and judicial independence. In addition to this, the decisions of the Council cannot be appealed to before any other judicial body, which is a basic right of legal defence.
The ill-treatment that Mr. Al-Na'san and Mr. Sayw suffered may be considered as the typical kind of torture that the brutal treatment suffered by Lebanese prisoners. In October 2009, Alkarama issued a report titled "Torture in Lebanon: Time to Break the Pattern", in which our organisation documented similar cases, shedding light on the systematic practice of torture in Lebanon.
Alkarama would like to remind Lebanese authorities of their obligations in accordance with the Convention Against Torture, ratified in October 1989. Alkarama also appeals to judges to ensure that any statements made under torture are not taken into account and used as proof in any proceedings.