After the report "How I wished I would die" ... the Lebanese judiciary requests an investigation into accusations by the security forces of torturing Syrian refugees.

Lebanon's public prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Oweidat, asked the military court to investigate the report of Amnesty International, which accused the security forces of torturing Syrian refugees who were arrested during the past years on charges of "terrorism."

In a report it published last Tuesday entitled "How I Wished I Was Dead," Amnesty International documented violations of 26 Syrian refugees, including 4 children, who were arrested between 2014 and 2021 on charges of "terrorism", 6 of whom are still in detention.

She said that the security forces used "some of the same horrific torture methods used in the most notorious prisons in Syria."

The accusation was mainly directed at Army Intelligence.

The National Media Agency reported that Oweidat “requested the government commissioner to the military court to conduct an investigation into what was stated in the Amnesty International report regarding the arrest and torture of Syrian refugees in terrorism cases, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 65 ″ related to“ combating torture and other forms of cruel treatment or punishment. Or inhuman and degrading. "

According to the organization, the methods of torture included "beatings with metal sticks, electric cables and plastic pipes."

Detainees reported "hanging them upside down or forcing them into stressful physical positions for extended periods of time."

One of the detainees said that he was "beaten on his genitals until he passed out."

The organization also documented "the ill-treatment of two women who were subjected to sexual harassment and verbal abuse in custody."

The detainees were denied a "fair trial," according to the organization, which said that "in many cases, judges relied heavily on confessions extracted under torture."

The security forces arrested the 26 refugees after the year 2014, which witnessed battles between the Lebanese army and fighters from the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State Organization, who infiltrated from Syria and fortified themselves in a mountainous border area.

In the summer of 2017, the fighters of the two organizations left Lebanon following military operations and an evacuation agreement.

"There is no doubt that members of armed groups responsible for human rights violations should be held accountable for their actions, but the flagrant violation by the Lebanese authorities (...) constituted a mockery of justice," said Marie Forrestie, a researcher on the rights of refugees and migrants at the organization.

Lebanon passed the anti-torture law in September 2017. Lebanon estimates the number of Syrian refugees residing on its territory at about 1.5 million, about one million of whom are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.