Severe prison overcrowding, judicial backlogs, and selective justice resulting from political interference — much of it linked to years of Syrian and Hezbollah influence — have left Lebanon with a ticking bomb ready to explode, while sectarian disputes continue to delay a new general amnesty law. Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA
Severe prison overcrowding, judicial backlogs, and selective justice resulting from political interference — much of it linked to years of Syrian and Hezbollah influence — have left Lebanon with a ticking bomb ready to explode, while sectarian disputes continue to delay a new general amnesty law.
The amnesty draft law, repeatedly debated in parliament since its introduction in 2020, has been further delayed by fresh divisions that have continued since last April, amid renewed efforts to revive it.
The primary objective is to alleviate severe overcrowding in Lebanese prisons and detention centers, where some 8,700 prisoners — with 48% Syrians, Palestinians, and other nationalities — are being held in deplorable conditions. Many of the prisoners have been detained without trial for extended periods, in some cases for as long as 10 to 14 years.
Serving justice and restoring an efficient, independent judicial system emerge, however, as priorities in alleviating sectarian tensions in the country.
The crisis is not merely one of overcrowded prisons, but of a justice system gradually collapsing under political interference, decades of Syrian-Hezbollah security dominance, and Lebanon’s wider state breakdown — compounded by the 2019 financial crash, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recent wars between Israel and Hezbollah.
Fabricated case files, corruption, overburdened courts, a shortage of judges, and limited resources have left thousands of detainees in prolonged pre-trial detention.
Joseph Eid, a prominent lawyer and President of the Prison Committee at the Beirut Bar Association, said 83% of those detained are held without trial, with 6,300 in 25 prisons and 2,400 in 229 detention centers across Lebanon.
Eid, known for years of voluntary efforts to address Lebanon’s severe prison overcrowding and pretrial detention crisis, explained that Roumieh Central Prison, originally built to accommodate 1,000 prisoners, now houses 3,600 inmates, fueling frequent prisoner protests.
Detention centers, which lack adequate medical care, food, and security services while housing more than double their intended capacity, have effectively become prisons where detainees remain held for two to four years.
The recent Israeli-Hezbollah war, which erupted in October 2023, added further pressure by forcing the evacuation of prisons hit by shelling in southern Lebanon and transferring inmates to already overcrowded prisons in safer areas, according to Eid.
He said accumulating crises, economic conditions, shortages of judges and security forces, low salaries, and a lack of logistical resources have led to years-long pretrial detention.
“It is unacceptable for a detainee to remain in prison for five or 10 years without trial. Everyone has the right to a fair and just trial,” he told UPI.
As prison overcrowding increased, detainees’ conditions deteriorated due to limited medical care, shortages of medical supplies, insufficient funds for bail release, and families’ inability to provide support.
Sylvie Jabbour, legal consultant and lawyer at The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH), noted that many prisoners lost contact with family members who were displaced by the war and had been sustaining them with food, financial support, and medication.
“They don’t have any money to buy anything, not even a painkiller,” Jabbour told UPI.
She said that although trials have recently been sped up after a 10-year delay, transporting prisoners to court has emerged as another “major problem,” especially in cases involving multiple detainees held across different locations.
Pardoning and releasing prisoners has become the only way to address prison overcrowding and, most importantly, to redress the years of injustice endured by many detainees, whether through dropping charges or reducing sentences. Retrials would only prolong and deepen the crisis.
Drug-related offenses account for the largest share of crimes, followed by theft, then rape and murder, according to Eid.
He said that an estimated 3,000 prisoners could benefit from the new amnesty law if it is approved, even with the proposed exemptions under debate.
Although all parliamentary blocs have recognized that injustice has been inflicted on a number of detainees — especially 350 Sunni Islamists, 145 of whom are still jailed — MP Ahmad Kheir said that many of them would remain in prison due to attempts to further amend the agreed exemptions.
“This is the main point of contention, along with the issue of civil claims,” said Kheir, who has been actively engaged in the parliamentary discussions over the new general amnesty law, in an interview with UPI.
The Islamist detainees, put in jail for more than 10 years, mostly without trial and on what they say are fabricated charges by a security system dominated by Syria and Hezbollah, include cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir.
Al-Assir has been detained since 2015 and was sentenced to death by a military court for the killing of Lebanese soldiers during clashes in the southern port city of Sidon in 2013, which he says were provoked by Hezbollah.
Youssef Diab, a journalist who specializes in judicial affairs, said the jailed cleric paid the price for his staunch opposition to Hezbollah, which he has accused of being a “terrorist organization” and has called for its disarmament, saying that in return “none from Hezbollah was ever arrested or questioned, despite video and recording evidence” of the group’s involvement.
Diab explained that the Sunni community wants the amnesty to lift injustice from the Islamists, while Christians demand the inclusion of those who fled to Israel when it withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000, and Shiites seek amnesty for drug-related crimes.
“Everyone is putting pressure, and the political powers are dealing with the amnesty law according to their own interests,” he told UPI.
While Kheir argued that Islamists represent 1% of detainees, he said there is a need to close their cases and compensate those who were declared innocent after spending long years in prison.
He added that there has been concern about properly addressing drug-related offences, espionage, environmental crimes, and antiquities theft.
“If all political parties and sects agree to end the past era and turn a new page for all Lebanese, the amnesty law could be adopted; otherwise, it will remain another file ready to explode,” Kheir said.
Turning the page would also require restoring a fair judicial system free from political and security interference, building new model prisons, and adopting rehabilitation programs.
“Otherwise, we risk ending up with more repeat offenders,” Eid said.
