Lebanon holds first session in historic Syrian torture case as activists warn against judicial malpractice

Lebanon's military court held its first session Friday in the case of five state security members who allegedly tortured Syrian refugee Bashar Abdel Saud to death - one of the first times that security officials have been prosecuted for torture in Lebanon.

Abdel Saud, a 30-year-old Syrian living in Lebanon, died after he was picked up by state security officers and interrogated on 30 August 2022.

Members of state security claimed that Abdel Saud was in possession of a fake 50-dollar bill and was associated with the Islamic State group, a claim his lawyer strongly disputes.

On 29 November, one officer and four members of state security were indicted for charges of torture by a military judge, a move applauded by Amnesty International.

The defence of the state security members requested that the court proceedings be held in private, but the judge refused, citing the presence of international human rights monitors at the trial.

The court set the next hearing for the trial for May 2023.

Mohamed Sablouh, the lawyer for Abdel Saud's family, said to members of the press that one of the defendents told the court he had beaten the deceased during the interrogation.

None of the four rank-and-file members of security were certified to conduct interrogations.

"One of the defence lawyers asked the judge: All prior detainees were beaten across different security branches, why are you opening an investigation now?" Sablouh told a local media outlet on Friday.

Sablouh further derided a "culture of violence" that prevails within Lebanon’s security agencies which allegedly permits torture to take place.

Lebanon passed an anti-torture law in 2017, which makes torture a criminal offence.

Despite the existence of the law, rights bodies have said that dozens of complaints citing the anti-torture law have gone uninvestigated.

Although there has been praise for the initial first step taken by indicting members of state security, advocates have raised concerns about court proceedings.

Amnesty International has called for the case to be transferred from a military to a civilian court to ensure full accountability.

Abdel Saud’s lawyer has also raised concerns about the state's delay in issuing an autopsy – almost four months after Abdel Saud was killed.

"I requested that he not be buried, but they buried him anyway, and now if we disagree with the state’s autopsy, there will be no way for us to conduct our own tests," Sablouh told The New Arab.

He added that he fears that the defence will use the autopsy to claim Abdel Saud died from a drug overdose, rather than torture.

If so, the sentence for state security members could be reduced from twenty years to just one month in prison.

"The military court is facing a real test. If the crime is not prosecuted, it will be as if we are saying go ahead and torture detainees and we will cover it up for you. But if there is a lawful punishment, we will have taken the first step towards fighting the crime of torture," Sablouh said.