Lebanon’s Prisoners’ Families Committee Warns: “Prisons on the Brink of Explosion”

The following statement was issued by Lebanon’s Prisoners’ Families Committee:

“We have repeatedly warned about the looming explosion in prisons due to ongoing injustice and the failure to implement fundamental solutions that would restore fairness and end our suffering..! We have tried many times to make our voices heard calmly and rationally, hoping that our pleas would meet attentive minds and responsive hearts, yet all we found was neglect, procrastination, and delay..!

As part of this ongoing cycle of injustice against us, you extend the Parliament while failing to resolve our issue..! You have treated us unfairly in verdicts and delayed trials for over 13 years..! The policy of double standards has become glaringly obvious to everyone. Moreover, as everyone knows, we suffer in prisons from shortages of food and medicine, and with severe overcrowding and the spread of diseases, families are unable to visit their children due to financial constraints and the current circumstances.

This is our final warning to the Lebanese state in general and to Parliament in particular. Pass the general amnesty law, or urgently approve the sentence reduction law: set the prison term to six months once, define life imprisonment and the death penalty, and release those who have served ten years without trial. We are on the verge of a major explosion, and those who warn have been excused.”