The Daily Star - STL resumes public hearings with alfa witness, January 30, 2016

Ned Whalley




After a week of closed sessions, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon resumed public proceedings Friday with testimony from a representative of the Alfa network. The prosecution has charged five members of Hezbollah with the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and contends the conspirators planned the bombing on dedicated groups of prepaid cell phones. The evidence relies heavily on decade-old telecommunications records, which the prosecution says it has used to identify the defendants, trace their movements and unravel their circles of contacts.

The anonymous witness was selected to represent Alfa, one of two mobile phone networks in Lebanon. He testified that he had extended knowledge of the technical aspects of its network, and provided details on cell towers, the automatic generation of call data records and the internal team who had handled requests for information from investigators.

But the witness was frequently interrupted by objections from defense counselors, who contended that he was effectively passing on evidence whose veracity he could not know, particularly given the years that have elapsed since the data was collected.

“The witness cannot speak to the facts,” charged defense attorney Eugene O’Sullivan, representing the interests of defendant Salim Ayyash. “I submit that questions should be put to him that are within his knowledge ... How can we cross-examine him on [this]?”

The witness readily admitted to the limits of his first-hand expertise, but said he trusted the current employees of the network with whom he works to verify data.

“The accuracy of the information we have inherited from the past, ... the accuracy of the information we are looking for, very honestly I cannot answer that question. The majority of the people working in the company at that time are not working today.”

Source & Link: The Daily Star

The Daily Star - UNRWA offices in Beirut,South Lebanon forced to shut down, January 28, 2016

Palestinian factions Thursday forced the closure of two offices for the U.N. Relief Works Agency in Beirut and south Lebanon to protest modifications to the agency's health care program.

The state-run National News Agency reported that a Palestinian delegation shut down UNRWA's office near Beirut's Cola intersection.

The agency’s office in the southern city of Sidon was also forced to close.

Hundreds of Palestinians blocked a vital road near the entrance to Beirut last week to protest aid cuts by the U.N. and the new applied hospitalization system that would reduce medical services for the refugees.

They have escalated their protests against the agency’s verdict.

The country director for UNRWA in Lebanon, Matthias Schmale, had clarified that the agency is not reducing its services, but merely implemented some amendments to expand coverage for tertiary health care which covers long term chronic issues and advanced medical conditions.

There are about 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon spread out across 12 official refugee camps.

Palestinians have warned of civil disobedience in all refugee camps if UNRWA fail to resume vital services critical to their livelihoods, including full medical coverage.

UNRWA has been struggling with severe financial setbacks for some time. Funding shortages put the school year at risk early September and a lack of money forced new rules concerning health care subsidies.

Under the new arrangement, which came into effect at the start of the new year, every Palestinian refugee receiving medical services or hospitalization through UNRWA must pay 5 percent of their bill at hospitals run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and 15 percent at government hospitals. Previously, UNRWA covered those expenses.

UNRWA has, however, increased coverage for surgeries undertaken at private hospitals, although numbers of those cases are low.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

The Daily Star - UK to take in some refugee children seperated from families, January 28, 2016

Britain will take in an unspecified number of migrant children who have been separated from their parents by conflicts in Syria and other countries, the government said Thursday.

Officials will work with U.N. refugee agency UNHCR to identify youngsters who will be eligible to take up residence in Britain, the Home Office announced.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced in September that 20,000 refugees from camps on Syria's borders would be brought in by 2020. More than 1,000, half of them children, have so far arrived.

But Britain has opted out of European Union quotas for taking migrants and dispersing them around the 28-nation bloc.

"The crisis in Syria and events in the Middle East, north Africa and beyond has separated a large number of refugee children from their families," Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said in a statement.

He added that while the "vast majority" of them were better off staying in the region and remaining with extended family members, "we have asked the UNHCR to identify the exceptional cases where a child's best interests are served by resettlement to the U.K. and help us to bring them here."

A Home Office spokeswoman said she could not confirm how many children would be affected by the scheme.

Pressure increased on Cameron to take more children after pictures appeared of Syrian three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, who drowned last year as his family tried to reach Greece.

Britain has committed over a billion pounds to helping refugees in Syria and the region, meaning it is the second-largest donor to efforts to ease the crisis after the U.S.

It also announced Thursday the creation of a new fund of up to £10 million (13 million euros, $14 million) to support refugee children within Europe.

Immigration is one of the most sensitive issues in British politics.

Annual net migration hit a record high of over 300,000 last year and Cameron has failed to deliver on a pledge to cut the figure to below 100,000.

The prime minister was criticized by opponents as crass Wednesday for referring to "a bunch of migrants" at camps in Calais, northern France, during Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

L'orient le jour - Aux saboteurs de la republique afin que le dossier des dechets ne tombe pas dans l'oubli, January 28, 2016

197e jour du scandale des déchets

Depuis plusieurs années, ils se livrent à une entreprise délibérée et minutieuse de noyautage et de torpillage de l'appareil de l'État. Depuis plusieurs mois, ils entreprennent, sans sourciller et sous des prétextes fallacieux, de paralyser l'une après l'autre les institutions politiques. Loin de se contenter de cette opération de sape, ils s'en prennent désormais à la santé même des Libanais, leur droit de bénéficier d'un minimum de bien-être, de vivre tout simplement dans un environnement salubre. En utilisant « l'arme » des déchets comme instrument de manœuvre, de pression et de manigances politiques, en faisant sciemment obstruction, par acteurs civils interposés, à toutes les solutions avancées par le gouvernement pour sortir les Libanais de ce cauchemar quotidien des ordures ménagères, ces saboteurs de la République ont dépassé par leur action maléfique tout entendement.

Dans le but d'illustrer l'ampleur de ce crime national commis à l'égard des Libanais, et afin, surtout, que ce dossier ne tombe pas dans l'oubli ou soit banalisé, L'Orient-Le Jour publiera dans chacune de ses éditions une photo des monticules d'ordures qui se développent et s'agrandissent à chaque coin de rue. Puisse ce geste médiatique symbolique secouer certaines consciences. Si tant est qu'elles existent...

Source & Link: L'orient le jour

L'orient le jour - L'emergence d'ume mouvelle entreprise relancera-t-elle le debat en conseil des ministres, January 28, 2016

Cela est sur toutes les lèvres depuis quelque temps : le processus du choix des sociétés chargées de l'exportation des déchets ménagers est entaché de nombreuses irrégularités, notamment en raison de l'absence d'appels d'offres et de la non-publication de critères précis et de cahier des charges. Mais, dans ce cadre, une surprise de taille a subitement émergé au cours des dernières vingt-quatre heures et a bouleversé la donne, deux jours avant l'expiration du délai de présentation des documents requis par la seule compagnie qui reste en lice, Chinook. En effet, une nouvelle entreprise, NewBoxer, a indiqué aux médias qu'elle a présenté une offre tardive pour exporter les déchets du Liban à quarante dollars moins cher, par tonne, que le prix présenté par Chinook. En d'autres termes, alors que l'offre de Chinook compte la tonne à 193 dollars (chiffres officiels), dont il faut compter 123 dollars pour le transport par la compagnie (le reste étant des frais de préparation avant l'embarquement), la nouvelle société propose de facturer le transport à 85 dollars, soit près de 40 dollars en moins.




L'émoi a aussitôt gagné une opinion publique déjà consternée par le coût élevé de l'exportation des déchets et les dessous d'un processus qui s'est avéré particulièrement opaque de bout en bout. De nombreux observateurs se demandent pourquoi cet accord a été conclu avec une seule société alors qu'il semble, sur base de la nouvelle offre, qu'un prix plus favorable aurait pu être négocié. D'un autre côté, qu'indique le timing de l'apparition de cette société, à deux jours de l'expiration du délai accordé à Chinook pour présenter les documents nécessaires au Conseil du développement et de la reconstruction (CDR), entre autres les preuves de l'approbation du pays destinataire ?




Un rapide coup d'œil sur la page Internet de NewBoxer montre que cette compagnie, fondée en 1987, a plusieurs domaines d'intervention, notamment l'industrie du vêtement, le secteur bancaire, l'assurance, le développement immobilier, le secteur hôtelier ou encore l'exploitation agricole. Aucune mention de déchets ménagers, donc, sachant que la compagnie Chinook aussi ne fait pas mention d'une quelconque expérience dans le transport des déchets, mais seulement d'une expertise dans la gazification (sorte d'incinération).

Aux médias, Marwan Jaber, président de NewBoxer, a précisé que c'est l'expérience de sa compagnie dans le transport qui l'a poussé à faire cette offre, ce qui rend secondaire une expérience dans la gestion des déchets en tant que telle. Il a justifié le retard à présenter son dossier par l'absence d'appels d'offres et la rapidité avec laquelle le gouvernement a expédié cette affaire. Quant au prix par tonne, il a affirmé qu'il avait été bien calculé et qu'il correspond aux capacités d'investissement de la compagnie, assurant même qu'un certain pourcentage serait reversé à des ministères et d'autres institutions.

Pour sa part, le ministre des Finances Ali Hassan Khalil a déclaré à notre confrère al-Akhbar que, « abstraction faite du sérieux de cette nouvelle offre, il est possible que ce dossier soit rouvert, étant donné les sommes considérables que va coûter à l'État l'exportation des déchets ». Il a souligné dans ce cadre que « cette question pourrait être soulevée en Conseil des ministres ». Il s'est dit favorable à un retour à une solution interne, fondée sur la création de décharges et de centres de tri.




De son côté, le ministre Akram Chehayeb (en charge du dossier des déchets) a précisé à L'Orient-Le Jour qu'il ne connaît pas cette société et ne sait pas pourquoi elle a fait son apparition à ce moment précis. « Je me suis enquis de ses activités, elle n'a rien à voir avec la gestion ou le transport des déchets », a souligné M. Chehayeb qui a refusé de commenter l'émergence tardive de cette entreprise ou encore la différence de prix, précisant qu'il faut « poser la question à ceux qui ont des intérêts dans cette affaire ». M. Chehayeb affirme que rien ne devrait entraver le cours de l'accord avec la compagnie britannique Chinook qui devrait présenter au CDR, d'ici à demain vendredi, des preuves de l'approbation d'un pays « sous peine de perdre sa garantie de 2,5 millions de dollars, placée dans des banques libanaises, sachant que c'est à l'État libanais de payer cette somme, s'il n'honore pas son engagement envers cette compagnie, au cas où elle réussit à produire les documents nécessaires ».

Le dossier des déchets sera-t-il soulevé en Conseil des ministres aujourd'hui ? « S'il va l'être, il le sera hors de l'ordre du jour, répond M. Chehayeb. Et je répéterai alors ce que j'ai toujours dit : je suis résolument contre l'exportation. Nous y avons eu recours en l'absence de toute autre solution. Si quelqu'un peut proposer autre chose, qu'il le fasse. »




Ce coup de théâtre est-il de nature à remettre en cause le contrat avec une société unique ? Ou alors pourrait-il, comme le pensent certains, compromettre le processus d'exportation en faveur d'un retour à une solution interne? Quoi qu'il en soit, comme le notent certains observateurs, face à des négociations sur l'exportation, particulièrement obscures, l'apparition tardive et soudaine de cette entreprise pourrait être un indicateur d'un combat de coqs entre des factions politiques rivales qui se disputeraient la lucrative perspective de la gestion des déchets.

Source & Link: L'orient le jour

The Daily Star - STL holds fifth consecutive day of confidential proceedings, January 27, 2016

Ned Whalley




The Special Tribunal for Lebanon held a closed session Tuesday, its fifth consecutive day of confidential proceedings. Following the introduction of counsel, the court redacted its entire public broadcast save for brief announcements by the presiding judge. “All hearings and proceedings at the STL are held in open sessions - that is the rule,” tribunal spokesperson Wajed Ramadan told The Daily Star. “However, there are some exceptions. Judges may decide to hold a closed session if confidential matters need to be discussed.”

The court has bestowed protective measures on a large number of witnesses, obscuring their faces and voices, and many of the individuals referred to in the proceedings are done so anonymously. When asked to identify other persons of interest, judges will sometimes request that witnesses write a name on a piece of paper rather than speak it aloud in court. It is not rare for the tribunal to move briefly into a closed session during testimony, and counselors will often request the sessions to pursue specific lines of questioning. Public transcripts are redacted accordingly.

According to Ramadan, “the Trial Chamber may order that the press and the public be excluded from all or part of the proceedings for reasons of public order or morality, security, a state’s national security interests, nondisclosure of the identity of a victim or witness ... or the interests of justice.”

But the court has never held such an extended series of closed sessions. Maintaining the anonymity of victims and witnesses has appeared to be their most commonly used purpose, but the decision to move into a private session is made by the trial chamber, and it does not elaborate on its reasoning. Absent content or motivation, it is difficult to speculate.

The court has a self-imposed responsibility to conduct its proceedings transparently, and has at times made public the contents of closed sessions upon further review. But it also has a troubling history of the identities of witnesses being leaked to the press.

The tribunal has charged Al-Akhbar Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim al-Amin and his paper with contempt of court and obstruction of justice for publishing the identities of confidential witnesses in January 2013. His trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 24. In September, Kharma Khayat of Al-Jadeed TV was convicted on a similar charge and fined 10,000 euros ($10,800); both parties have appeals pending in her case.

The tribunal will resume Wednesday.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

The Daily Star - One in nine children globally live in conflict zones, January 27, 2016

Some 250 million children – one in nine children worldwide – live in countries affected by violent conflicts, UNICEF lamented Tuesday, saying it needed nearly $3 billion this year to help the most vulnerable of them.

“The number of children trapped in humanitarian crisis around the world is both staggering and sobering,” the U.N. children’s agency said.

UNICEF said it would need a full $2.8 billion in 2016 to help millions of children in humanitarian emergencies around the world.

The agency said its annual appeal had doubled in just three years as conflicts, as well as extreme weather, force growing numbers of children from their homes and expose millions more to severe food shortages, violence, disease, abuse and threats to their education.

“Around one in nine of the world’s children is now living in conflict zones,” the U.N. agency said in a statement.

This is a devastating number. Last year, children living in such areas “were twice as likely to die of mostly preventable causes before they reached the age of 5 than those in other countries,” it said.

UNICEF said the money it was asking for in 2016 would allow it to reach 76 million people – 43 million of them children – in 63 countries.

By far the biggest chunk of that amount – nearly $1.2 billion – is needed for aid in war-ravaged Syria and to help millions of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries.

More than 260,000 people have been killed in nearly five years of brutal conflict in Syria, while more than 4 million people have fled as refugees and some 13.5 million people remaining in the country are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

UNICEF, meanwhile, said a full quarter of the aid it wanted to deliver globally was linked to educating children in emergency situations, stressing that it wanted to double the number of children it helps to access education in crisis zones from 4.9 million in 2015 to 8.2 million this year.

“Education is a life-saving intervention in emergencies,” UNICEF representative Sikander Khan told reporters in Geneva.

It’s been shown, he said, that “if a child doesn’t go to school for five years, you have lost a generation.”

This does not bode well for Syria, where one in four schools have been destroyed and more than 2 million children are out of school.

Education does not just entail learning, but also helps provide children with a “sense of normalcy and hope for the future in the midst of violence, instability and disaster,” UNICEF stressed in its appeal.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

ILoubnan - Elearning centers to be set up inside Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon, January 27, 2016

An innovative elearning solution was launched by ITWORX Education in September for underserved and underprivileged Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. 80% of those children are not enrolled in school.

ITWORX Education is specialized in education technology solutions, adressing the needs of K12 education institutions worldwide. Its main shareholder is EuroMena, a private equity fund established in 2006 with the participation of the European Investment Bank and Proparco, which has since invested in over two dozen companies across Africa and Levant.

We asked ITWORX Education's CEO, Hatem Sallam, a few question on this specific project in Lebanon.

iloubnan.info: Practically, how does a “virtual schooling” work?

Hatem Sallam: Generally speaking, the "virtual school" describes an institution that teaches courses entirely or primarily through online methods. It basically stands for an online learning platform offered by an educational organization whereby students can earn credits in their particular area of interest which can be counted toward graduation or advancement to the next grade. However, what ITWORX Education is introducing today goes beyond the limits of this concept as it has mapped out a course of action to create “virtual schools without borders” across strategic touch points, built around extensive digital content tied into curriculums, a state of the art online learning platform (WinjiGo), and smart technology-powered learning centers whereby education would be accessible BOTH offline and online. What we aimed is to launch a non-traditional educational initiative by using technology to provide extended access to learning opportunities that don’t require significant investments like building schools and many skilled teachers.



How was the virtual schooling experience organised in Lebanon?

In September, ITWORX Education piloted a successful virtual schooling experience in coordination with the Saad Nayel School, located in a refugee camp in the Lebanese city of Shtoura, near the Syrian borders. Members of the local community extended all their help to make the pilot happen inside the camp as we secured an Internet connection and procured the tablet devices, and made the necessary arrangements to gear up and operate the learning center.

We provided access to a web-based learning platform through which students could access lessons and collaborate with their peers and teachers, and we showed volunteer teachers how to plan their lessons and create digital content such as assignments and assessments.

The outcome was really encouraging as participating students were able to work with activities, quizzes and lessons through the online system and teachers were able to extend their reach without the extra effort.



How many children did benefit from it? How many adults were there to take care of the children and what was their professional background (more about teaching, or technology?)

The program primarily targets the education of one million Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, starting the first quarter of 2016.

As for the pilot project that was executed last September in Shtoura, there were around 40 students aged from 9-14 years of age. The project saw the light after 2 weeks of training for all students, teachers, and the SME (expert). The lessons tackled Arabic literature and Mathematics, including discussions and assignments.

This group of children have been hit the hardest by the war and have missed a number of critical years in their education. We were happy to offer them this learning opportunity, and their reaction was really rewarding.



What kind of relationship did you create with the Saad Nayel school?

The support of Saad Nayel School was unconditional as we shared the same goal which is to offer learning opportunities for Syrian children no matter where they are and whether they have access to technology or not. We thank them today for all their belief in our mission and going forward, we hope to replicate this success for other Syrian refugee camps across Lebanon and the region.



Did the persons in charge of the school show real interest in the project? Were they showing “good will”?

A common feeling of excitement was seen on the faces of all those who contributed to this pilot experience. In addition to the satisfaction and commitment of all directors in charge of the school, we were happy to see all children very enthusiastic to be part of the experience and their psycho-social well-being was really enhanced. Every day, the Syrian children logged in on their own, opened and completed assignments easily, sent posts to each other’s, and gained digital points as well. On the other hand, students' parents were happy that their children were simply learning in a safe environment while the volunteer teachers were glad to help with minimal training due to the simple design of the learning platform... The collective work is the reason behind the success of this first trial. We hope to travel with this attainment across all Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon; the home of over 1.1 million refugees.



Do you have to deal with the Lebanese Education Ministry? If yes, how is it going?

Evidently, such a large-scale and critical project requires day-to-day coordination with the governments of all concerned countries in the region. In Lebanon, ITWORX Education, partnering with their Excellences, Gordon Brown, United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, and Tom Fletcher, former UK Ambassador to Lebanon and currently Director of Global Strategy for the Global Business Coalition for Education - of which ITWORX Education is a member - continues its active consultations with the Ministry of Education to ensure the adoption of the program as part of the educational system in Lebanon and seek official accreditation.

The Ministry of Education in Beirut expressed high interest in this innovative e-learning initiative and we are building on our growing relationship to answer all enquiries and meet all regulations prior to the official launch of the project which greatly reduces overall cost per student per year and aims to alleviate the load carried by the Lebanese public schools, where over 150,000 Syrian students are having free access to education during the regular shift and the afternoon sessions. The adherence to the Lebanese educational curricula and the digitalization as well as the Arabisation of the content are key elements in our mission, and we are cooperating with the concerned authorities in Lebanon to meet all guidelines.



Will the eLearning project benefit the Syrian refugee children that are not living in a camp and are living inside the Lebanese communities? For example, some Syrian refugee families settled in the Metn area. Their children were enrolled in school three years ago but they were not accepted these last two years. Could the eLearning project give them a chance? How?

One of the main challenges we wanted to avoid by this initiative is to solve transportation difficulties. With this in mind, we aim to set-up learning centers inside the refugee camps, bringing the e-learning experience to the biggest group of Syrian refugees gathered in the same place, and ensuring their safety and security.

Source & Link: ILoubnan

The Daily Star - Lebanon rebuffs UK call to ease refugee restrictions, January 26, 2016

Philip Issa




The Lebanese government will spurn a U.K. request to loosen its restrictions on Syrian labor, Social Affairs Minister Rachid Derbas told The Daily Star in an interview Monday ahead of the third annual Syria Donors Conference. “Lebanon has been unstinting in its efforts to meet its neighborly and humanitarian obligations,” Derbas said. “But Lebanon is not a warehouse for people. Lebanon is weak and poor. And if this country has been able to endure [the refugee crisis] for such a long period, well this is one of the miracles of creation.”

With the London donor conference set to begin Feb. 4, politicians are having to return to the difficult question of how to distribute the humanitarian burden of the Syrian conflict, which has turned 4.6 million people into refugees, the vast majority of them in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. Lebanon is home to nearly 1.1 million displaced Syrians, according to the registration rolls at the UNHCR, though the agency halted new registrations last year.

The U.K. government has made it a point to spearhead the donor campaign, casting its efforts in both altruistic terms and in response to hard political realities.

On an unannounced visit to refugee settlements in the Bekaa Valley in September, Prime Minister David Cameron said British aid to the region, totaling 1 billion pounds ($1.56 billion) since 2012, has discouraged refugees from seeking asylum in Europe.

The flip side of U.K. aid is that it will only accept to resettle 4,000 Syrians a year. The government would like to keep it that way.

This month, International Development Secretary Justine Greening told international media outlets that the U.K. would ask Jordan and Lebanon to pledge at the donor conference to ease Syrian labor restrictions and expand access to education.

It will put the Lebanese government in a difficult position, which depends on foreign aid to cope with the refugee burden while at the same time views aid policy as a half-measure against the root of the crisis.

“It is incumbent on the international community to impose a peaceful solution on Syria, so that Syrians can return to their homes,” Derbas said. “This is the solution, instead of burdening [Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey] with the consequences of its inaction and, perhaps, conspiracy.”

“As for changing the labor laws: This is not possible and it may not even be appropriate considering the high rate of Lebanese unemployment,” Derbas said. “It is hazardous to the stability of the host society.”

Responsibility for the welfare of Syrian refugees falls chiefly on the Social Affairs Ministry.

Lebanon will require $2.48 billion in assistance to meet its humanitarian obligations toward Syrians in 2016, Derbas said, with 37 percent of the amount to be invested in overtaxed host communities, and the remainder spent as direct aid for 2 million refugees and impoverished Lebanese citizens. “We hope for the whole amount, but we expect to receive more than 70 percent.”

Responding to Greening’s remarks on education, he said the government recognized the scale of need but lacked resources to reach all children.

“The Education Ministry doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate more than half of the [Syrian] students,” he said. “We will begin a new preschool program soon for children who haven’t reached grade school age yet, and we’ve presented this project [to donors].”

Despite the vast humanitarian network to support Syrian refugees, its capacity is overwhelmed by the sheer scale of need. In Lebanon, the United Nations has estimated that 70 percent of the refugees are living below the poverty line, and 90 percent are encumbered by debt.

Syrians are struggling here, and they are fleeing. Lebanese security forces arrest people-smuggling boats leaving Tripoli for Turkey or report deaths at sea on a near-monthly basis.

A Human Rights Watch report released January accused the government of criminalizing refugee existence in the country. Since January 2015, Lebanon has required Syrians to pay $200 per individual to renew their residency – an impossible amount for many families.

It has also required many to find citizens to sponsor their stay, allowing employers and unscrupulous business owners to prey on the vulnerable refugees, the report said. HRW estimated that over half of Syrians lost their legal status in the country in just one year.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

Naharnet - Roumieh prisoner stabs another inmate to death, January 26, 2016

The Internal Security Forces said on Tuesday that a Palestinian has stabbed to death a Lebanese inmate in Roumieh prison after accusing him of being the reason for his transfer to another cell.

A communique issued by the ISF general-directorate said the 25-year-old Palestinian inmate stabbed the Lebanese man in his neck and chest with a sharp object last Friday.

The Lebanese prisoner, who is 46 years old, was taken to hospital but he succumbed to his injuries, it said.

According to the ISF, the investigation concluded that the sharp object was an improvised weapon and had not been smuggled to the prison.

The prison's management seizes contraband and takes legal measures against violators during routine inspections of all cells, it said.

The overcrowding of prisons puts a lot of pressure on guards and creates tension among inmates, the communique added.

Roumieh is Lebanon's largest prison and has long been infamous for the poor conditions in some of its blocks, including overcrowding and harsh treatment.

Source & Link: Naharnet

L'orient le jour - Une feuille de route signee par 128 ONG, January 26, 2016

Un groupe de 128 ONG et rassemblements d'ONG a publié hier une « feuille de route » qui présente « une solution globale et durable respectant l'égalité entre les habitants et les régions, une solution locale, peu coûteuse et facile à mettre en place ».

Cette solution prévoit de débloquer le budget des municipalités (au lieu de le consacrer à l'exportation) afin de leur octroyer des responsabilités, ainsi qu'au secteur privé (investissements), aux habitants et à la société civile (réduction à la base, tri, surveillance...) et à la justice.

La solution est fondée sur la création d'une cellule de crise dans chaque caza pour régler le problème des déchets, la réactivation des usines de tri et l'aide aux usines de recyclage, l'utilisation de terrains pour le compostage en plein air et le développement de produits nouveaux à partir des déchets ainsi que de carburants alternatifs.

Source & Link: L'orient le jour

The Daily Star - Palestinians shut Ain al Hilweh UN office, January 25, 2016

Protesters Monday shut a U.N. refugee office in a south Lebanon Palestinian camp to pressure it to reverse vital aid cuts.

The protesters in Ain al-Hilweh said they will continue to press for their rights until UNRWA reverses its decision affecting hundreds of thousands of refugees residing in Lebanon's 12 official Palestinian camps.

The accused the cash-strapped agency of cutting aid to “end their (Palestinian) cause and their right to return (to Palestine).”

Palestinian protesters last week shut down UNRWA offices in Tripoli, Sidon and Tyre because of the agency’s recent decision to cut medical and educational support over the agency's financial difficulties.

Lebanon hosts an estimated 500,000 Palestinian refugees, a number which increased after many Palestinians left Syria since the start of the war.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

Naharnet - 5 Syrians arrested for illegally entering Lebanon, January 25, 2016

The army announced on Sunday that it has arrested a number of Syrians for attempting to illegally enter Lebanon.

It said that five Syrians were arrested at dawn in the Tallet al-Mrah-al-Masnaa region in the eastern Bekaa.

They were handed over to the General Security.

Two Syrian women were also discovered in the area.

They were found to be in poor health due to the cold weather and have since been transferred by the Red Cross to the al-Mayas Chtaura hospital.

One of the women later passed away.

Source & Link; Naharnet

ILoubnan - We Want Accountability calls for announcing health emergency in Lebanon, January 24, 2016

The activists of "We Want Accountability" Movement observed a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Public Health on Saturday in protest against the trash crisis.

In a statement, the protesters criticized the silence of the Ministry towards this environmental disaster. The statement warned against the spread of dangerous diseases resulting from the random burning of garbage.

The demonstrators called upon the Department of Health to announce a state of health emergency and to set up an emergency committee to evaluate the ecological dangers of trash and to provide recommendations for preventive measures regarding the impacts of this crisis.

The demonstrators also called for periodic testing of well water and drinking water, and free treatment of patients brought to hospitals due to pollution.

Activists headed eventually to the main entrance of the Ministry to submit their requests to Minister Wael Abou Faour.

Source & Link: ILoubnan

The Daily Star - UNRWA health cuts spark fears of agency's closure, January 23, 2016

Mat Nashed








Mohammad looks completely healthy at first glance. A 5-year-old Palestinian boy with fair skin and a boyish smile, he often plays in an alleyway just outside his tiny one-bedroom home in Shatila--a 67-year-old enclave located in the southern suburbs of Beirut. As his mother, Sondos, watched her son do so again, she revealed his desperate need to have an operation soon. “My son has epilepsy,” Sondos, a woman with nicotine stained teeth, told The Daily Star. “He had his first seizure in a playground when he was 2 years old. We can’t afford an operation and the hospitals here [in Shatila] don’t offer much help.”

Sondos is one of thousands of Palestinians in Lebanon incensed at the U.N. Relief Works Agency for modifying a health care program that will now require patients to pay for a portion of their primary care. While UNRWA insists the changes provide more coverage for people who have long-term illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, their message has done little to whither popular discontent.

Instead, camp residents and Palestinian factions in Lebanon fear that primary health care cuts are part of a greater conspiracy to eliminate UNRWA all together, an agency that many Palestinians consider vital in preserving their right to return to their homeland.

Manar, a Palestinian social worker in Shatila camp, said that she doesn’t even believe that UNRWA will reallocate the money to help the people they promise to care for. Coping with severe tonsillitis, she adds she’s unable to locate employment to pay for an operation that would relieve her from austere pain.

“UNRWA has always stolen money from us so we know they’re lying to us,” she said after the power cut out in her room.

“If they just took away the salary from one foreign worker in the agency, they could help 1,000 Palestinians in Lebanon with that money. Instead, the world wants UNRWA to disappear because then the Palestinian problem will disappear. ”

UNRWA is the only remaining U.N. body to directly address the needs of Palestinians since the U.N. Conciliation Commission for Palestine was discontinued in 1952.

The UNCCP was designated with the task to oversee international efforts to achieve a final and durable solution to the Palestinian question. More specifically, its mandate was to supervise the implementation of U.N resolution 194 which stipulates the right for Palestinians to return to their homeland after they were displaced during the creation of Israel.

In the eyes of many Palestinians in Lebanon, UNRWA has evolved to embody this task even though it’s not a part of its operational mandate. This is why any perceived cuts to UNRWA services are popularly viewed as an attempt to compromise their right of return.

Zizette Darkazally, the senior public information officer for UNRWA in Lebanon, Tuesday told the International Business Times that “[Palestinian] groups have portrayed [the health care changes] in a bigger context ... using inflammatory words like intifada [the Arabic word for uprising] and telling people, ‘UNRWA is going to disappear.”

Ali Barakeh, the spokesperson for Hamas, insists that viewing the new health care format outside of any political context undermines the significance of cut backs to the primary health sector.

“We fear these cutbacks come in the context of a project to cancel UNRWA and its work. These measures contravene the U.N. decisions that created UNRWA in 1949 and charged it with providing relief and work for Palestinian refugees in the Near East until they return to their homes,” he told The Daily Star over the phone.

A just solution, however, seems like an illusion to many young Palestinian refugees, as reflected in the increasing number of people who have smuggled themselves out of the country in the last few years.

In Lebanon, Palestinians are excluded from the political and social sphere. They are barred from working in over 25 high-skill professions, forming their own association, or owning property in the country. According to UNRWA, 60 percent of the population lives in abject poverty. It’s no surprise, then, that many fret over the thought of having to cover a portion of their health costs alone.

In Mohammad’s case, however, he may very well qualify for tertiary care, a provision that is supposed to have much wider coverage with the latest changes to the healthcare program. Yet his family isn’t convinced that’s the case, underscoring the larger issue of distrust between the agency and the very people its supposed to assist.

Their grievances were broadly on display Friday when nearly a thousand Palestinians gathered outside UNRWA’s headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Demonstrators said they came from all parts of the country to preserve the existence of an agency that they consider inextricably linked to their own. That is, they emphasized, until they return to their homeland in peace. “UNRWA is responsible for us,” insisted Manar, as she struggled to get up from the concrete floor of her home. “That is why we refuse to let them disappear.” – Additional reporting by Philip Issa

Source & Link: The Daily Star

The Daily Star - Activists urge Abou Faour to declare emergency over trash crisis, January 23, 2016

Activists Saturday demanded that Health Minister Wael Abu Faour declare a state of public health emergency over the persistent trash crisis that has etched away at the livelihoods of citizens since last July.

"Our health is not a game," a statement issued by the We Want Accountability movement said.

Around 15 protesters affiliated with the group rallied outside the ministry's new headquarters in the Beirut suburb of Bir Hasan to demand health measures that ensure the safety of people, as mounds of trash remained scattered around the capital and Mount Lebanon.

The statement called for the formation of a central emergency committee comprised of the ministries of health, interior, environment, agriculture and labor, in addition to the drafting of a contingency plan to fend off the effects of the amassing waste.

Protesters also asked the Health Ministry to alert citizens and provide a health guide to properly address the risks, as well as the required supplies to prevent odors and air pollution.

The statement urged municipalities to expose the groups and individuals responsible for burning the waste and refer them to the general prosecution over charges of intentional abuse, causing death, and public safety threats.

They also asked for a thorough follow up on the dumping of hospital and factory trash.

The movement demanded periodic tests for water contamination and the treatment of people sickened by the trash crisis at the expense of the Health Ministry.

"The establishment of health support teams is imperative... as the Education Ministry and municipalities should cooperate to remove waste accumulating near schools and day cares."

The small rally was accompanied by heavy security deployment near the premises of the ministry.

"We are not seeking to escalate," a female protester told MTV channel, underscoring that "it's a peaceful protest to deliver a message" to the minister.

Director General of Health at the Health Ministry Walid Ammar later approached the protesters to talk to them.

He was handed a list of their demands and was asked to convey them to Abu Faour.

Lebanon has been suffering from a massive waste crisis since mid-July when the country's largest landfill shut down.

The government had no plan of action following its closure, resulting in massive piles of garbage accumulating on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The Cabinet last month voted to export the country's trash. However, the plan has yet to be implemented.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

The Daily Star - What refugees tell us about arab states, January 23, 2016

Rami Khouri








How should we view and respond to the growing flood of refugees and migrants from the Middle East? Is this a temporary humanitarian challenge? An occasional security threat? A cultural and political concern for mostly white and Christian Europe? All of these are significant issues that need to be addressed, but perhaps the most important dimension of the growing refugees-migrants situation is what it tells us about the modern condition of the Arab world, and more specifically its critical vulnerabilities in the quality of statehood and the fragility of citizenship.

The current large-scale flow of Arab refugees, migrants and displaced people fleeing for their lives, and seeking new, more normal, lives elsewhere, is not a new phenomenon. Rather, it has been going on for much of the past century. The Armenians comprised the first wave of modern refugees into the Arab region a century ago. The Arab world has seen large-scale refugee flows out of our countries from that time, and even before, mostly due to regional and civil wars, from Palestine, Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq, Kuwait, Kurdistan, Libya and Syria.

So the existence of Arab refugees is a chronic, structural problem, not an occasional, unusual one. The mostly unorganized, often desperate, movement of millions of refugees and migrants from Syria and other lands across the Middle East and further afield today reflects immense human suffering by innocent civilians. However, it also threatens to destabilize neighboring countries and challenge European cultural and political traditions. Mainly, though, the expansion in the number of refugees in times of conflict is the frightening mirror of the modern Arab legacy of erratic, superficial statehood and citizenship.

This is exacerbated by the reality that millions of Arabs have fled their countries in times of peace to build better lives abroad, because they could not live normal lives at home. Millions of young, educated Arab men and women have emigrated since the 1940s and now live prosperous, decent lives across the world. Melbourne, New York, Buenos Aires and Marseilles offered them and their families something valuable they could not find in their own countries: respect, rights and opportunities as a citizen, in societies covered by the equal application of the rule of law to all.

Wars like those in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere accelerate the scourge of the pan-Arab refugee crises and exile. This problem of our most able young people fleeing for greener pastures in times of calm should wake us up to the real threat of dysfunctional statehood that does not allow all citizens to live an orderly life defined by predictability, equity, protections, basic services and opportunity.

Like most other aspects of contemporary issues in the Arab world, accurate and complete data on refugees is not available, due to several reasons. They include the inability or unwillingness of many governments to track refugee movements; the often chaotic nature of how people flee in times of danger; and many refugees’ desire to transcend the controls of local governments to find a better life further away in Europe or other countries.

The numbers are frightening, as are the causes and consequences of millions of people fleeing for their lives for decades on end. Probably over 5 million Syrians have left their country since 2011 alone – and at least another 6 million Syrians have been displaced internally, alongside the over 250,000 people estimated to have been killed and the many more injured. The flows of refugees were also measured in the millions in most similar Arab episodes.

Long-term refugee problems and disenfranchisement also bring with them dangerous consequences, such as political radicalism, social destabilization, economic stresses on host communities, and occasional security threats. Refugee camps and smaller informal communities across the region have long been venues where radical militants and assorted criminals have set anchor, and engaged in terrorism and other crimes. Prolonged statelessness and refugee crises also trigger new conflicts, such as how the Palestinian refugees exacerbated conditions in Lebanon and Jordan, affecting Lebanese-Israeli and Iranian-Israeli relations.

The immediate challenge to meet the humanitarian needs of refugees, their legal status and rights, and host country concerns is only part of the actual challenges that refugees and migrants represent. The last 75 years or so in our region suggest that we must one day decide if we will ever address the sustained, structural and worsening weaknesses in statehood, political governance, and citizenship vulnerabilities across the Arab world. Refugees and migrants remind us of the deeper stresses, distortions and inequities within our own societies that cause the wars and desperation behind today’s refugee and migrant crises. No wonder nobody seems to know what to do about the refugees from Syria, or how to slow down the continuing flow of humans from there. For nobody seems prepared to acknowledge the deeper structural flaws in statehood and citizenship that have plagued so many countries in the region for decades. Normal people do not leave their countries unless their countries are abnormal.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

The Daily Star - Syrian refugee situation deteriorating - UNHCR chief, January 23, 2016

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi highlighted the deteriorating situation of the Syrian refugees after a tour of an informal tented settlement for Syrians Friday and promised to push for greater assistance at the upcoming donor conference in London. “As the years pass since the beginning of the crisis, refugees are becoming more and more vulnerable,” he said during a news conference in Beirut. “We have to speak from these camps to the politicians and tell them enough ... enough with these conflicts and enough with the war.”

Grandi conducted a tour of the Saadnayel refugee settlement in the central Beqaa Friday. He also called for peace, saying it was the ultimate solution for the refugee crisis. “I think that the most important thing is to hope for peace in Syria,” Grandi said. “Most of the people, if not all of them, want to go back to their homes ... but they won’t do that now because they are too afraid.”

Grandi also praised Lebanon’s accommodation of refugees. “We are very grateful to Lebanon for hosting such a large number of people,” he said. “This country hosts the largest per-capita refugee [community] compared to the population.” There are currently 1.1 million Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR in Lebanon, a nation of only 4 million people.

While Grandi expressed enthusiasm for the UNHCR’s efforts so far, he also pointed out that the agency’s finite resources are hindering the provision of vital services.

“There are many gaps in our system that our limited resources cannot fill,” he said.

He highlighted the success of UNHCR’s winterization program to help insulate and shelter refugees in Lebanon from the harsh winter weather. However, he cited specialized medical treatments as one of the shortfalls of UNHCR’s programs.

At the press conference, Grandi recounted the story of one family he met on his visit who had a son in need of special medical treatment for his eyes, a procedure that falls outside the scope of UNHCR’s medical services. “This is not something we can provide for everybody because it is too expensive ... these are areas that are difficult to manage, especially in the mass refugee situation that we have in the area,” Grandi said.

He did, however, vow to press for greater aid at the upcoming donor’s conference to be held in London in February 4. “I will make the case very strongly for refugees, to improve their conditions and the living conditions of the Lebanese host communities,” he said. Grandi finished his speech by promising reporters that, “We will see a lot of interesting proposals in London.”

Source & Link: The Daily Star

The Daily Star - Over 100 humanitarian UN agencies call for Syria ceasefire, end of sieges, January 21, 2016

More than 100 humanitarian and U.N. agencies called Thursday for an end to the war in Syria, appealing to governments and people around the world to add their voices to the demand for an end to the 'carnage.'

Oxfam, Save the Children, Caritas International, nearly 30 UNICEF branches and others called for an unconditional ceasefire to allow delivery of aid, freedom of movement for civilians, protection of hospitals, schools and water supplies, and the lifting of all sieges.

The agencies invited people around the world to show support for the appeal by sharing it on social media.

"More than ever before, the world needs to hear a collective public voice calling for an end to this outrage. Because this conflict and its consequences touch us all," the appeal said.

"In the name of our shared humanity ... for the sake of the millions of innocents who have already suffered so much ... and for the millions more whose lives and futures hang in the balance, we call for action now."

The civil war began with a Syrian government crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in early 2011. ISIS militants have since used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq, and Thursday's appeal said some 4.6 million Syrians have fled their country.

The United Nations says at least 250,000 people have been killed, 6.6 million people have been displaced in Syria and 13.5 million need humanitarian assistance. The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution in December endorsing an international road map for a Syrian peace process, but the U.N. special envoy for Syria said on Wednesday that talks due to start on Jan. 25 might be delayed.

Source & Link: The Daily Star

Now Lebanon - Solution for the ongoing garbage crisis in Lebanon, January 21, 2016

Dealing with garbage removal requires a more comprehensive solution than just collecting and treating garbage. Garbage is one of the biggest problems in Lebanon and around the globe since the world’s population is increasing rapidly. The majority of countries are facing this problem and need to put in place a long term political solution to deal with it. It is not an easy task, but it is necessary to devise sustainable global plan. All countries of the world are classified into 1 of the 3 categories: developed economies, economies in transition and developing economies.

Lebanon falls under the economies in transition category. One of the positive points is that 60 % of Lebanon’s garbage is organic and the 40 % that is not organic should either be recycled or dumped. Sources of generated solid waste in Lebanon: Private homes/population, plants, agriculture, hospitals, restaurants, construction companies, etc.

Garbage treatment in Lebanon has been problematic, especially in the regions outside of the capital. The basic methods for the proper disposal of industrial wastes, by burying and/or burning, and hazardous wastes, such as used batteries, used tires, chassis (vehicle frames), are not mentioned in Lebanon’s waste management laws and regulations. In fact, there is not a long term plan to manage any type of solid waste. The law on waste management is very confusing and contradictory due to a multitude of ministries and administrations handling this file. The ministries and administrations involved are Health, Interior, and Environment ministries, the Council for Development and Reconciliation (CDR), and municipalities. In 2002, and referring to Environment Law 444, the government defined the regulations with the concerned ministries:

- Choice of sites, which can be used as dumpsites, places for sorting and waste treatment.

- A system was developed for the Ministry of Environment to follow for the total treatment of waste.

- Hazardous waste, wastes known to be harmful to human health, were listed and banned from being sold, stored, used or transported on Lebanese territory.

- List of wastes which can be imported sold, stored or used on Lebanese territory.

- Conditions to import sub-waste products.

According to Law 444, all quarry sites where operations have ceased must be rehabilitated by the person or legal entity responsible for its degradation. In 2006, the Lebanese government approved a long-term national trash strategy that was developed by the CDR. The new plan focused on:

- Implementing a recycling program in order to reduce the amount of waste buried in landfills; and the construction of a facility for sorting, recycling and composting the waste.

- Dividing the country into 4 service areas: northern Lebanon and Akkar, the Bekaa Valley and Baalbek, southern Lebanon and Nabatiyeh, Beirut and Mount Lebanon.

- Rewarding municipalities that effectively adopt the regulations—municipalities will receive funds for every ton of waste.

- Municipalities will be in charge of collecting and transporting the waste to the designated areas.

- Contractors will be responsible for funding related studies and executing and constructing the plant, which will be under their authority for a period of 10 years and will be compensated for each ton treated of treated waste.

- One or more dumpsites must be established in each of the 4 service areas mentioned above. They should also establish a plant for selective waste as well as compost.

- The compost should be used in agriculture.

- The contractors, ministry and the municipalities should conduct awareness campaigns to educate the public of the benefits of proper disposal of waste.

Since then, this plan has only been implemented in the Greater Beirut area. Governments that succeeded chose to incinerate the waste rather than recycle.

Today with the current crisis, a roadmap for a sustainable waste management plan must urgently be implemented. The plan should include the following:

1) It should specify who is in charge of handling the file (waste management), which ministry will have the final say even if there are multiple sectors involved.

2) The law should clearly specify who is in charge of waste management, because in 2002 this authority was given to the Ministry of Environment but its power was limited.

3) I suggest that the Ministry of Environment be given the final authority, which cannot be re-evaluated by any other authority.

4) Law 444 should be reviewed and updated.

5) Sorting garbage at home should be enforced by the government as well as written in the law.

6) Recycling paper, plastic, glass, should also be implemented and introduced as a law.

7) All hazardous waste, such as waste from hospitals, plants, batteries, etc., should be listed as hazardous and submitted to a particular recycling facility or be treated in an environmentally safe manner to prevent land and water pollution.

8) Incinerators should be banned if not used properly and only to provide energy.

9) Waste should be reduced at the source. Conduct awareness campaigns and lobby to reduce garbage; these campaigns should be led by the government and NGO’s.

10) A concrete and detailed national plan should be written and implemented, one that can be used as a road map for waste management treatment.

Source & Link: Now Lebanon

The Daily Dtar - Future, March 14 vow to revoke Samaha's release, January 18, 2016

Hussein Dakroub








Outraged by the Military Tribunal’s decision to release former Information Minister Michel Samaha on bail, the Future Movement and its March 14 allies pledged Sunday to challenge the release, which has sent shockwaves nationwide, threatening to cause further political and sectarian splits.

In addition to calls for the abolition or modification of the Military Tribunal’s jurisdiction, March 14 leaders demanded that Samaha’s release be referred to the Judicial Council, the country’s highest judicial body which looks into crimes that threaten state security and its verdicts cannot be appealed.

While public protests denouncing Samaha’s release continued for the fourth day Sunday in the northern city of Tripoli and the Akkar town of Halba, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called on Lebanon’s courts, judges and lawyers to observe a minute of silence at 12 p.m. Monday to protest the court’s decision.

“We want to say all of us with one voice: No to the release of criminal Michel Samaha who, unfortunately and shamefully, when he walked out of prison, the Military Tribunal which released him, entered [prison] and took his place,” Siniora said, flanked by a number of March 14 lawmakers, including Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb, who gathered in front of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s grave in Beirut Saturday in a show of solidarity against Samaha’s release.

“We will not allow the crime of Samaha’s release to pass, while many others languish in prison merely on the basis of suspicions,” Siniora said. “The Military Tribunal’s decision will only betray the blood of heroic martyrs and encourage the continuation of killings and assassination.

“Therefore, we will continue our struggle until this criminal [Samaha] and others get their just punishment along with other criminals who assassinated our great men,” he added, referring to the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri and a number of March 14 figures, for which the coalition blamed Syria.

Siniora, head of the parliamentary Future bloc, lashed out at the Military Tribunal’s decision to release Samaha. “This step smudged this tribunal’s reputation and undermined the prestige of the Lebanese sovereign institutions and dealt a crushing blow to the Lebanese people.”

“The Lebanese people were right when they decided to seek the assistance of the international judiciary because they were afraid that justice would not be attained through Lebanese institutions,” Siniora added, in a reference to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is trying suspects in the assassination of Hariri and 21 others. Five Hezbollah members have been indicted in the case.

Siniora denounced Samaha as “a public criminal” who was convicted in a terror plot with video recordings to incite strife.

He implicitly accused the Military Tribunal of falling under Hezbollah’s influence. “We will not allow these courts, that let the party of arms [Hezbollah] to influence them, to operate.”

Siniora voiced his support for a proposal by Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi to modify the Military Tribunal’s jurisdiction, which would include an article pertaining to the establishment of specialized courts that look into terror cases. The bid will also contain an article banning the trial of any civilian before the Military Tribunal.

Rifi was reported to be preparing to file a request to the Cabinet demanding that Samaha’s case be referred to the Judicial Council, as well as proposing the modification of the Military Tribunal’s prerogatives. “I will not back down until Samaha’s case is referred to the Judicial Council. This is not only my case, it’s the case of Lebanon’s dignity and justice to preserve the blood of martyrs,” Rifi said in remarks published by Al-Joumhouria newspaper.

A similar demand was made by Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea.

“If those who are defending Samaha’s release are saying that they only want justice and law, what would harm them if they vote inside the Cabinet on referring this case to the Judicial Council because it is the highest judicial authority in Lebanon?” Geagea tweeted.

The Military Tribunal’s decision to release Samaha on a LL150 million ($100,000) bail last Thursday, has drawn the ire of the March 14 coalition. The decision has also sparked fresh calls by Sunni preachers for the release of hundreds of Islamist prisoners held for years without trial on terror charges as part of a general amnesty. Samaha’s release has also led to the temporary closure of vital roads in Beirut and Tripoli in the past few days.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Fneish lashed back at March 14 politicians for denouncing Samaha’s release, equating their reactions to Daesh (ISIS) actions.

“There is a real problem in the performance of some [March 14 groups] with regard to Michel Samaha’s release, whereby we are faced with a case of political Daesh in Lebanon which does not accept the others and seeks to vilify them without presenting any evidence,” Fneish said during a ceremony in south Lebanon.

Fneish, one of two ministers representing Hezbollah in the Cabinet, called on the March 14 coalition to respect the judiciary’s verdict and avoid “intimidation.” “There is another stage which includes a verdict. How can there be confidence in the face of this intimidation you are exercising on the judiciary,” he asked.

Samaha was arrested in August 2012 and convicted last year by the Military Tribunal on terrorism charges after being recorded by an undercover police informant admitting to smuggling explosives from Syria into Lebanon with the intent of targeting religious and political figures in the north.

He was sentenced to four and half years in prison, but the verdict was annulled after an appeal was filed following complaints from March 14 politicians that his sentence was too light.

The Military Court of Cassation unanimously agreed to release Samaha on bail but he was banned from leaving the country or speaking to the media pending a verdict after his retrial.

Several hundred supporters of March 14 parties protested outside Samaha’s home in Beirut Friday to denounce his release.

The March 14 youth organizations called for a sit-in outside Al-Salam Mosque in Tripoli at 6 p.m. Monday to condemn Samaha’s release and demand that his case be referred to the Judicial Council.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Islamist inmates held at the Roumieh Prison Sunday temporarily suspended their hunger strike they began Friday to protest Samaha’s release following a meeting between the advisers of the interior and justice ministers with a delegation representing the prisoners. “We don’t want food. We want a general amnesty,” the inmates shouted as the two ministers’ advisers left Block B at Roumieh Prison.







Source & Link: The Daily Star

Iloubnan - Tunisia - LGBT rights group Schams suspended, January 15, 2016

The Tunisian authorities’ decision to suspend the activities of the LGBT rights group Shams is a setback for individual freedoms and equal rights in Tunisia, Human Rights Watch said today. Shams works on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights.

Shams registered with the government’s secretary general in May 2015, as an organization working to support sexual and gender minorities. On January 4, 2016, the first instance tribunal in Tunis notified the group that the court was suspending its activities for 30 days. The suspension followed a complaint by the government’s secretary general, who sent the group a warning to cease alleged violations of the association law in December. After the 30 days, the judiciary could order the association’s dissolution.

“Shams seeks to carry out basic human rights work, such as standing up for LGBT people who have been victims of violence,” said Amna Guellali, Tunisia director at Human Rights Watch. “This suspension denies them the chance to carry out this important work.”

The government’s complaint, filed by Kamel Hedhili, the head of state litigation, on December 15, 2015, alleged that the association deviated from its stated aim. The complaint, which Human Rights Watch has reviewed, quoted a media statement by the association’s members to the effect that Shams’s aim is to “defend homosexuals.” The complaint claimed that the wording violates article 16 of the decree law 88/2011 on associations, which requires associations to notify the authorities of any changes to its statutes. Hedhili also claimed that Shams has not completed its legal registration and thus lacks the legal status to pursue its work.

Neither point would appear to justify the suspension and potential shutdown of the organization under international law on freedom of association – under which such drastic acts should be restricted only to the most extreme cases. Furthermore, Shams presented evidence to the court suggesting that neither claim was factual. The law on associations, adopted by the transitional government in September 2011, requires associations to “respect the principles of the rule of law, democracy, plurality, transparency, equality and human rights,” as these are set out in international conventions that Tunisia has ratified, and prohibits incitement to violence, hatred, intolerance, and discrimination based on religion, gender, or region.

Shams’s statute, which Human Rights Watch has reviewed, is based on these principles, stating that its aim is “to support sexual minorities materially, morally and psychologically, and to press peacefully for the reform of laws that discriminate against homosexuals.” The government does not claim that Shams has engaged in violence or promoted intolerance or hatred, which could form a legitimate ground for its dissolution.

Furthermore, Shams has evidence that it completed the required steps for its legal registration. A receipt from the Official Journal of the Tunisian Republic, which Human Rights Watch has reviewed, shows that the association paid its announcement fees to the journal on May 19, 2015. Article 11 of the law on associations requires the journal to automatically publish the group’s statute “within fifteen (15) days of the date of deposit.” But the Official Journal has not published the association’s statute, the association’s secretary general, Ahmed Ben Amor, told Human Rights Watch.

The law on associations says that the judiciary has the authority to determine if an association should be suspended or dissolved. This involves a three-stage process, with an initial warning, followed by a government application to the Court of First Instance in Tunis for a 30-day suspension. If the association fails to correct any alleged infractions during that period, the court can order its dissolution.

Shams has drawn criticism from government officials due to its outspoken support for repealing article 230 of the penal code, which criminalizes sodomy and punishes it with three years in prison. Shams has publicly condemned recent arrests and prosecutions of men accused of homosexuality, including the conviction of a 22-year-old known as Marwen in the city of Sousse in September and the conviction of six male students on sodomy charges in December. Shams also denounced the use of forensic anal exams to “test” the men for evidence of homosexual conduct. The practice has no medical or scientific basis and can amount to torture.

In November, Ahmed Zarrouk, the government’s secretary general, called for Shams to be disbanded on the ground that it actively promotes the rights of homosexuals.

Shams has challenged its suspension at the administrative tribunal, a court in charge of settling disputes between the citizens and the administration, and is awaiting the decision.

Article 35 of Tunisia’s 2014 constitution guarantees “the freedom to establish political parties, unions, and associations.” Under article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Tunisia is a state party, any restrictions to the right to freedom of association must be “necessary in a democratic society” and “in the interest 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.” Article 2 of the covenant requires countries to adhere to all the rights in the covenant, including freedom of association, without discrimination on any grounds.

In his 2012 thematic report to the Human Rights Council, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association stated that: “The suspension and the involuntarily dissolution of an association, are the severest types of restrictions on freedom of association. As a result, it should only be possible when there is a clear and imminent danger resulting in a flagrant violation of national law, in compliance with international human rights law. It should be strictly proportional to the legitimate aim pursued and used only when softer measures would be insufficient.”

“The government’s harassment of Shams is in clear violation of international human rights standards,” Guellali said. “Suspending and closing an organization on such grounds would potentially put all rights organizations at risk.”

Source & Link: ILoubnan

Naharnet - Arrested and injured as activists storm environment ministry, January 14, 2016

Demonstrators and security forces scuffled outside the environment ministry in Beirut on Thursday after several civil society activists stormed the building to protest the authorities' failure to resolve the waste problem.

Anti-riot police pushed back “We Want Accountability” and “You Stink” protesters who called for more transparency on a plan to export Lebanon's garbage.

The protest was held after around 15 members of the two groups entered the Azarieh building in downtown Beirut and sat on the floor, clapping and shouting slogans against the authorities for failing to resolve the seven-month waste problem.

The 15 protesters were later arrested by police along with three demonstrators who intercepted the vehicle that was carrying the detainees outside the building. The eighteen activists were taken for questioning, according to an Internal Security Forces statement.

Two protesters and two policemen were injured in the scuffles, the ISF said.

Last month, the government approved the export of the garbage but the plan drew skepticism. And lately Holland’s Howa BV withdrew its proposal to accept the waste, keeping a single firm, Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining International.

Civil society activists stormed the ministry in September, asking for the resignation of the environment minister. The waste crisis erupted in July when Lebanon's largest landfill in Naameh was shut down.

Source & Link: Naharnet

Naharnet - Lebanon accused of turning back on Syrian refugees, January 13, 2016

After taking in more than a million Syrian refugees, Lebanon has quietly changed course in recent months, forcing refugees to return to Syria — where they are at risk of persecution or death — or stay illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, human rights groups say.

The situation is drawing attention at a time when Turkey and Jordan have also tightened their admission policies. A Human Rights Watch report published Tuesday warned that Lebanon's new regulations have "set the stage for a potentially explosive situation."

Even as conditions in Syria deteriorate in a fifth year of war, Lebanon last week forcibly repatriated 407 Syrians who were stranded at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport after Turkey tightened its visa restrictions with little notice. It was by far the largest such forced repatriation to date.

Amnesty International called the action "an outrageous breach of Lebanon's international obligations," which require that it not return vulnerable people to a conflict zone.

"Syrians have no value here. They've closed the door on us," said a 34-year-old refugee from Raqqa, the Islamic State group's de facto capital in northeastern Syria, who is now living and working as a doorman in Beirut. He refused to be named for fear of expulsion.

Lebanon in 2015 reversed a longstanding open-door policy for Syrians that allowed them to enter the country and reside here relatively unencumbered. At a minimum, they must now pay $200 per adult for a permit that lasts between six and 12 months, to say nothing of the onerous bureaucratic process that accompanies each application.

Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, said most of refugees have lost their legal status over the past year because of the new regulations.

"That's not just an abstract notion. If you don't have legal status, you basically cannot cross any checkpoints. So men cannot leave the house," said Houry.

Security checkpoints dot the country's Bekaa Valley and the north, where most Syrians are living.

"That means you have to send the kids to work, because they aren't usually stopped. It also means if a woman gets sexually harassed, she cannot complain to the police, because she will be arrested," Houry said.

The situation is similar in Turkey, which has over two million refugees. Ankara began implementing visa restrictions for Syrians entering the country as part of its efforts to stem the flow of migrants into Europe. That decision reversed a long-standing agreement that allowed visa-free entry to Syrians.

Jordan insists it has kept its borders open to Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict in 2011. However, it has increasingly tightened its admissions policy.

A remote stretch of desert between Syria and Jordan has been the only land access route for Syrian refugees since mid-2013. In recent months, growing numbers of refugees have amassed in an area near a berm, awaiting entry. Government spokesman Mohammed Momani said earlier this week that about 16,000 refugees are gathered there. He said 50 to 100 are allowed in each day, with priority given to women, children, the elderly and the ill, adding that "security is the first priority."

The U.N. refugee agency warned in December that conditions at the berm are deteriorating and that a majority of those waiting for admission, often for months, are women and children.

The U.N. refugee agency says Jordan hosts about 630,000 refugees. In recent months, thousands have left by plane to Turkey and from there to Europe, while others have gone back to Syria. The exodus was sparked, in part, by further cuts in assistance to refugees by cash-strapped aid agencies.

Syrians now have two avenues to stay in Lebanon, either by relying on their precarious status as a United Nations-registered refugee, or by finding a Lebanese citizen to sponsor them. Human Rights Watch said obstacles on the U.N. route were increasingly pushing Syrians into the murky sponsorship trade.

"The sponsorship requirement is a recipe for abuse," said Houry.

Of the 40 refugees interviewed for the report, only four have been able to renew their residency since January 2015.

Over a million Syrians are registered as refugees with the UNHCR in Lebanon — equivalent to one-quarter of the resident population — though the number has declined over the past year as families find their conditions untenable. They are thought either to have returned to Syria or attempted a perilous escape to Turkey or Europe.

There are many more Syrians who are not registered with the UNHCR,.

Over 90 percent of the refugees are trapped in debt, and 70 percent live below the poverty line, according to a recent United Nations study.

Anti-refugee sentiment has crept into the fragile Lebanese political order as the war in Syria drags on. In October 2014, months before the new residency regulations came into effect, the government voted to stop receiving refugees, and in January, it prohibited the UNHCR from registering any more.

The U.N. estimates around half of Syria's population has been displaced, perhaps the starkest indicator of the ruthlessness of the war.

Another Syrian refugee in Beirut, who identified himself by his nickname Abu Ali to remain anonymous to Lebanese authorities, said he came to Lebanon in 2012 and this year lost his residency because of the new regulations.

"I can't put my daughter in school because we are now illegally residing in the country," he said, speaking at the sandwich shop he works at in Beirut.

Short of options in Lebanon, some families have pooled resources to send a husband or son to Turkey, where they can then set off for Europe, seeking asylum.

An official at Lebanon's General Security bureau, in charge of immigration and border control, denied that the new restrictions are aimed at forcing Syrians to return.

"There was a lot of pressure at our border, and we had to organize our criteria for entry," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

"It is not to force people to leave."

Source & Link: Naharnet