LBP 11 billion-to establish a Courtroom in Roumieh Prison fot the trial of Fatah al-Islam detainees
Addressing prison overcrowding
Since 2007, the government has been pondering solutions for the overcrowding problem affecting most of Lebanon’s prisons:
- Deporting the foreigners who have served their terms (1250 inmates)
- Implementing the enforcement of law on sentencing obstructed by the lack of judges
- Establishing more prisons and expanding existing ones
- Reducing the prison year to nine months (law approved in 2012)
Fatah Al-Islam suspects
In the course of examining the situation in Roumieh prison, a security problem stood out, namely the presence of 223 Fatah Al-Islam suspects arrested during the 2007 Nahr El-Bared clashes along with other Islamist inmates. These inmates place a serious security burden because their terror network extends beyond the Lebanese borders. The head of the central brigade for prisons proposed the construction of a special building within Roumieh Prison for the Fatah Al-Islam inmates, to avoid their interactions with other inmates. The building was to include a courtroom designed to avoid the stern security measures that would otherwise be needed to transport them outside the prison, let alone the delays in starting trials.
Establishment of Courtroom
The Council for Development and Reconstruction was designated to build the new premises including a courtroom, at an estimated cost was of LBP 11 billion. After the construction works were finished, trials finally began in September 2013, six years after the government had decreed the establishment of the courtroom. It is not to be overlooked that although this measure solved the problem of Fatah Al-Islam suspects and other Islamist inmates, overcrowding remains a huge concern in other prisons and extra billions should be earmarked to set up new premises.
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