A Lebanese judge indicted five state security members on charges of torture in the case of a Syrian refugee who died in custody.
On September 2, the military prosecutor arrested a state security officer and four other members on torture charges before referring them to Najat Abu Chakra, a military investigative judge. On November 29, Abu Chakra indicted the five state security members on torture charges under the 2017 anti-torture law. The decision was only publicly reported on December 4.
In response to indictment, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Aya Majzoub said, “The fact that Lebanon is finally taking a step towards implementing its anti-torture law is an encouraging development that offers a ray of hope to [the victim] Bashar Abdel Saud’s family and other victims. For years, systematic practices of torture and other forms of ill-treatment and violations in detention centers have gone unpunished.”
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