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Beirut (AFP)
The head of the Beirut Bar Association, Melhem Khalaf, warned the two of a “bomb” inside Roumieh prison, the largest and most overcrowded Lebanese prison, after the first cases of the emerging coronavirus were recorded.
At the end of the week, the Internal Security Forces announced that they had registered 22 wounded in the prison near Beirut, 13 of them among the prisoners and the rest of the nine members of the security personnel. She said the wounded were transferred to a stone building that was prepared earlier in the prison.
“The virus inside the Roumieh prison is like a humanitarian bomb that no one can carry,” Khalaf told Agence France-Presse, while the prison houses some 4,000 prisoners, about three times its capacity.
A video tape leaked from the prison that had a large circulation showed a narrow corridor in which several inmates slept without any social distancing. In a narrow room, at least seven prisoners slept on mattresses on the floor next to each other.
Khalaf called on the Lebanese government to take “immediate measures” such as “separating prisoners who show symptoms of symptoms from others,” noting the willingness of various societies to carry out virus tests, which “would alleviate anxiety and reassure all people. “.
Lebanon’s prisons, especially the Roumieh prison, generally complain about a lack of basic services and hygienic conditions. Khalaf said that registering Covid-19 cases should be “an incentive to improve the quality of food and water because we are talking about inappropriate prisons in which the value or dignity of a person is not taken into account.”
Khalaf stressed the importance of reducing overcrowding in prisons through various steps, “the fastest and most effective is the judiciary, which must, with all available judicial, legal and human means, allow the implementation of laws and regulations. evacuations, with the exception of major heinous crimes and terrorism. “
He also asked the Minister of Justice of the interim government, Marie-Claude Najm, to attend the request for a special pardon in specific cases, such as cases of illness, for example, or those whose sentences have expired to the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun. , “which has the power to grant a special pardon,” which would reduce overcrowding rapidly. “
On Monday, dozens of families of Roumieh prisoners held a sit-in in front of the Beirut Palace of Justice, during which they demanded the issuance of a general amnesty law for their children, expressing their fear of the spread of the virus in prisons.
Health Minister in the interim government, Hamad Hassan, announced on Saturday that they will work with the interior and defense ministries to secure two hospitals in Bekaa and one in Beirut for prisoners and detainees.
The Corona infection count has seen a significant rise in recent weeks in Lebanon, especially after the terrible port explosion last month, raising fears about the health system’s ability to continue responding and absorbing the injured. .
As of Saturday night, the officially announced number of wounded reached 24,310, 241 of whom died.
© 2020 AFP
