ILoubnan - 52% of women arrested in Lebanon in 2013 - 2014 were severely tortured by security forces, April 18, 2015

The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) found in a report published today that 52% of women arrested in Lebanon in 2013 and 2014 were severely tortured by the security forces during investigations.

Beatings, deprivation and delays - humiliation, threats and insults - violations of privacy by male investigators or guards; these are the main methods of torture and ill-treatment suffered by the majority of women interviewed by CLDH and documented in a report published today during a press conference at the organization’s premises.

The provisions of article 47 of the Criminal Procedure Code are insufficient to protect people in custody from torture, especially because the defendant cannot speak confidentially with a lawyer, and therefore possibly denounce torture. Moreover, the duration of custody can be exceeded by the police without any judiciary intervention.

Investigating judges have continued during the studied period to endorse confessions extracted under torture, without revoking them or ordering investigations into the allegations.

Women also continued to suffer prolonged pretrial detention in the prisons or illegal detention and torture at the hands of General Security in violation of Lebanese law and Lebanon's international commitments.

"Men and women continue to face systematic and widespread torture during investigations" said Wadih Al-Asmar, Secretary General of CLDH, adding, "we hoped, in preparing this report, that women would be less affected than men by arbitrary detention and torture, but it is not so. "

Since 2009, CLDH permanently monitors the practice of torture in all Lebanese prisons, based on interviews of random samples of people arrested by different services during specific periods, on individuals’ testimonies, and on information of other national and international organizations and the United Nations.

Unfortunately, CLDH findings are invariably the same and from 2009 to 2014, or 5 years, the rate of torture of all persons arrested in Lebanon remains unchanged at around 60%.

Source & Link: Iloubnan