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Lebanon: Syrian disabled in Roumieh prison without trial for two years

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Behind the bars of Roumieh, the notorious Lebanese prison, and inside a cell Bock B, dwells Abdul Razzaq al-Adam, a Syrian disabled detainee, for more than two years without trial and without an attorney.
Despite his disability, the Lebanese authorities have detained him, a violation of Lebanese law, which exempts such prisoners, to be placed instead, in the worst case, in a special care center or in a specialized hospital until trial.

"There are three tragic cases in the prison of Roumieh, people with memory and disability, wearing diapers  and with no one asking about them, including al-Adam," said lawyer Mohammad Sablouh, representative of a number of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon.

Faez al-Adam, the detainee’s father, told Zaman Al Wasl that his son was on his way to fetch merchandise for the shop in which he worked, in Yarmouk camp in 2012. A shell fell and he suffered paralysis and severe damage to his spinal cord. In the absence of a treatment for his condition in Syria, he was brought through the Lebanese Red Cross to Lebanon in 2013, to be transferred between several treatment centers without any result. Abdul Razzaq underwent a surgical procedure of vertebrae fixation and spinal implants at Chtaura hospital.

Our correspondent reported that a Lebanese intelligence patrol broke into the house he rented in October 2016, confirming that the young man had been subjected to physical and psychological torture and interrogation for many hours without taking into consideration his health condition, which worsened as a result of sitting on a chair for four consecutive days during the interrogation.

He explained that his paralyzed son “was suffering from paraplegia, lacking sensation in the sensory and motor nerve from under the navel to his feet.  He pees in bags and cannot tend to himself, in addition to suffering from migraine and chronic pain in his broken back, as well as abdominal and stomach pains.”

A medical report, referred to by Zaman al-Wasl, indicates that Al-Adam has been suffering from paraplegia since 2012 and had a back operation and lumbar implants. He underwent an abdominal surgery for 4 years ago along with a few other serious injuries.

Our source pointed out that Abdul Razzaq, born in Damascus 1986, was tried five times since his detention without being brought to court or interrogated by the judge. On June 19, 2019, he was transferred to the Military Court in Beirut but was not removed from the car. His trial was for show and for routine purposes; the court is yet to release him.

He confirmed that Abdul Razzaq "has become a burden on his cellmates, who feed him and take care of the clothes and diapers and other supplies,” adding that his health deteriorates day after day, slowly dying.

Al-Adam wondered about the role of human rights organizations, the Red Cross and the United Nations and their position on the arrest of a paralyzed person, the reasons behind his arrest and why he is not released yet.

The prison, considered one of the largest in Lebanon, has more than 7,000 prisoners, although it was designed to hold only 1,500prisoners. Its inmates, from politicians and Islamists, live in substandard conditions, subjected to torture and daily harassment, which led to several strikes in the past years with the aim of improving the conditions of the detainees and speeding up their trials or public amnesty.


Reporting by Faris al-Rifai

Zaman Al Wasl
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