Lebanese authorities hold hundreds of Syrian journalists, activists at notorious prison

Lebanese authorities are detaining hundreds of Syrian journalists and activists at the notorious Roumieh prison, east of Beirut, The New Arab's affiliate Syria TV reported on Thursday.

Sources from within the prison told Syria TV that around 300 Syrian journalists, media activists, and other political prisoners are being held there, emphasising that this number does not include Syrians held for ordinary crimes.

Tariq Shandab, a lawyer specialising in international law, said that many of the prisoners are media activists who supported the Syrian revolution against President Bashar Al-Assad.

"They were unjustly accused of terrorism by the General Military Prosecution," he told Syria TV.

Most of the political prisoners are being held under "anti-terrorism" laws and have been sentenced to terms ranging from one year to life in prison.

Shandab said that international organisations had failed to bring the issue to attention the public, while officials who had "politicised" the issue of terrorism to imprison the activists had not been held to account.

One Syrian photojournalist, Fadi Soni, told Syria TV that he was beaten by Lebanese General Security officers after he reported a robbery.

Soni had previously worked with media activists in Qusair, a Syrian town near the border with Lebanon once held by rebels but later taken over by the Syrian regime and Hezbollah.

He said that security forces had asked him about his colleagues and he responded "most of them were martyred", meaning they were dead.

One of the security officers responded, "you mean they rotted", leading the other staff to beat him.

"I had to confess to crimes I didn't commit. That was the only way to stop the security forces beating me all over my body," he told Syria TV.

One prisoner, currently being held in Roumieh and who used the pseudonym Ahmed, said that conditions in the prison were "very bad" with detainees being medically neglected and free medical care no longer being provided.

He said that many prisoners' families could no longer afford medical care for them with scabies spreading through the prison.

Syria TV reported that seven prisoners had died in Roumieh prison since the beginning of 2022. The prison has a notorious history of riots and violence and has failed to meet UN standards for prison facilities.