The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization in Beirut that was established by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) in 2006. SOLIDA has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human violations.

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April 8, 2011

The Daily Star - Delegation allowed entry to Roumieh Prison - April 8, 2011


Relatives of inmates protested outside of Roumieh Prison
Relatives of inmates protested outside of Roumieh Prison

BEIRUT: State Prosecutor Said Mirza assigned Friday attorney Charbel Abou Samra to head a delegation of families of prisoners and journalists to visit Roumieh prison to check on the inmates’ well being. 
Furious families of convicts and detainees in Lebanese prisons hurled stones and rocks at Beirut’s Justice Palace Thursday as a woman attempted to set herself on fire to demand the release of all the inmates.
The long day of protests Thursday also saw prisoners at Roumieh hold two policemen and three workers hostage for several hours after the start of rehabilitation work at the prison, the scene of mutinies and protests by families since the weekend.  Police, backed by Lebanese Army Special Forces, freed the captured policemen and the workers several hours later.
Protesters also blocked the highway leading to Beirut airport Thursday evening, but security forces managed to reopen the road a short while later.  Similar protests took place Thursday in the eastern town of Baalbek.
Relatives of prisoners from across the country gathered outside the Justice Palace to demand easing jail conditions.
According to a security source, inmates were in contact with their family members through landline telephones within the prison.
Three days of riots within the Roumieh complex resulted in the death of two inmates during an overnight raid by security forces.  While riot police guarded the Justice Palace entrance Thursday, family members fought hard to get inside to meet Justice Ministry officials. The protesters then formed a 10-member committee, headed by human rights activist Ali Akil Khalil, and held a meeting with Omar Natour, the ministry’s director general.
Following the meeting, Natour promised the protesters that he would convey their demands to Najjar. They are demanding the formation of an investigative committee made of family members and journalists to examine the situation at Roumieh prison.
During the stand-off, Fatima Allaw attempted to set herself on fire, but was quickly stopped by security men.
Allaw, the mother of a Roumieh inmate, blamed the judiciary for rampant bribery and graft, and pledged that family members would fight until their children were released from the prisons. 

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