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
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 29 (UPI) — 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.