Dozens of prisoners escape from a Lebanese prison

Dozens of prisoners escaped from Baabda prison on Mount Lebanon, before the Internal Security Forces could detain several of them, while 5 died in a traffic accident while fleeing, at a time when security forces they chased the rest of the fugitives to stop them again.
In the details, while the cleaning worker was opening the door of a cell to clean it, yesterday morning, 69 prisoners at the Qasr Adl police station in Baabda (near Beirut) attacked him and attacked various security forces. After controlling them, the prisoners were able to escape, a security source confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat, explaining that the fugitives are mostly of Lebanese nationality, but there are also Syrians and Iraqis among them.
Although the source indicated that the fugitives are among the detainees, that is, those who have not yet been processed, explained that some of them are charged with serious crimes and others with misdemeanors, but none of them are accused of crimes related to The terrorism.
The source confirmed that there were no injuries or injuries among the prisoners inside the cells, as there was no confrontation, explaining that the wounded were limited to the foreign cleaning worker and soldiers who received treatment.
The official Lebanese news agency (the national media agency) reported that “a group of prisoners broke down cell doors” during the escape from Nazareth prison in Baabda.
Five of the escapees attacked a taxi driver and stole his car, before the car crashed into a tree, killing the five prisoners (three Lebanese and two Syrian) and wounding another of Syrian nationality, as a result of the traffic accident. occurred in the Hadath area near the place of the vessels.
Surveillance cameras monitored the moment of taking a taxi to escape in it, and a video clip showed how the prisoners attacked the driver, threw him to the ground and fled quickly with the car, before the traffic accident occurred.
The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces indicated in a statement that yesterday morning, 69 prisoners were able to escape from the windows of the Qasr Adl police station in Baabda, indicating that 15 of them were arrested again, while 4 surrendered. The statement pointed out that a traffic accident occurred after “a white Dacia public car collided with a tree, and it was found that several fugitive prisoners were on board after having robbed their driver, which caused the death of five and wounded one “.
The communiqué affirms that “investigations and investigations are intense, and searches are still being carried out to arrest the rest of the fugitive prisoners, and their number is 44 fugitives, at the time of the report’s issuance, 44 fugitives.”
As a result of the accident, the security forces cordoned off the area around the prison and conducted their patrols in the surroundings, and the Lebanese army installed roadblocks, while the Al-Hadath municipality near the prison issued a warning to the citizens asking them to alert and not open the doors of the houses to any Tariq before verifying their identity, and to report immediately. Without any suspicion, before the danger of the fugitives and the possibility that they sneak into the streets and buildings.
The President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, informed the Minister of the Interior and Municipalities, Muhammad Fahmy, about the details of the escape of the prisoners and asked them to search strictly, arrest them and investigate the circumstances of their escape.
Regarding the investigations, the government commissioner in the Military Court, Judge Fadi Akiki, went to the Baabda Court of Justice and inspected the headquarters and was informed of how the escape occurred, after coordination with the prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Oweidat. After the field inspection, Judge Akiki held a safety meeting with the relevant authorities and inspected the scene of the accident in which five of the detainees died.
The Mount Lebanon appeal prosecutor, Judge Ghada Aoun, confirmed to the French press that an “immediate investigation” into the incident had been opened. He did not rule out “the possibility of collusion between the escaped prisoners and the guards in charge of protecting their cells.”
Several families of the detained prisoners gathered in front of the Palace of Justice in Baabda, calling on the Lebanese government to reconsider the conditions of the prisons and prisoners, especially in light of the Corona epidemic. The families also again demanded a general amnesty law and an acceleration of trials, as some prisoners are detained without trial for a period that may exceed the prison term that would result from the crime they committed.
In front of the Palace of Justice, a mother announced that her son, who was one of the fugitives, had arrived at the house in the morning, but returned him and handed him over to the security forces.